Knute Rockne, All American

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Knute Rockne, All American
KNUTE-ROCKNE-ALL-AMERICAN.jpg
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
William K. Howard (uncredited)
Written by Robert Buckner
Starring Pat O'Brien
Gale Page
Ronald Reagan
Music by Heinz Roemheld (uncredited)
Cinematography Tony Gaudio
Edited by Ralph Dawson
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
Running time
 98 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $645,618[1]

Knute Rockne, All American is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien portraying the role of Rockne and Ronald Reagan as player George Gipp, a.k.a. "The Gipper," as well as Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis, Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne. It also includes cameos by legendary football coaches "Pop" Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, William H. Spaulding, and Howard Jones, playing themselves.

Reagan's presidential campaign revived interest in the film, resulting in reporters calling him "The Gipper."[2]

The movie was written by Robert Buckner and directed by Lloyd Bacon, who replaced William K. Howard after filming had begun. In 1997, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.

Plot[edit]

Lars Knutson Rockne, a carriage builder, moves his family from Norway in 1892, settling in Chicago. His son, Knute, saves up his money and enrolls in college at the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Indiana, where he plays football.

Rockne and teammate Gus Dorais star in Notre Dame's historic 35-13 upset over Army at West Point in 1913. The game was historically significant as Notre Dame employed the seldom-used forward pass to great effect. The publicity from the Fighting Irish's surprise win creates Notre Dame football fans around the country.

After graduation, Rockne marries sweetheart Bonnie Skiles and stays on at Notre Dame to teach chemistry, work in the chemistry lab under Father Nieuwland on synthetic rubber, and, in his spare time, serve as an assistant coach of the Fighting Irish football team under Coach Jess Harper.

An outstanding freshman halfback, George Gipp, leads the Irish to greater gridiron glory. Gipp is stricken with a fatal illness after the final game of the 1920 season, however, and, on his death bed, encourages Rockne at some future date to tell the team to go out and "win one for the Gipper."

Notre Dame continues its football success with a backfield of stars dubbed "the Four Horsemen." Rockne, tragically, is killed in a 1931 plane crash on a trip to California, but his legend makes him a campus immortal.

Cast[edit]

Reception[edit]

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film "one of the best pictures for boys in years" and wrote that O'Brien conveyed "a valid impression of an iron-willed, dynamic and cryptic fellow who could very well be 'Rock.' As a memorial to a fine and inspiring molder of character in young men, this picture ranks high. But, like the Carnegie Foundation has done on previous occasions, we are inclined to question its overemphasis of the pigskin sport."[3] Variety called it "one of the best biographical picturizations ever turned out ... Pat O'Brien delivers a fine characterization of the immortal Rockne, catching the spirit of the role with an understanding of the human qualities of the man."[4] Film Daily wrote, "Pat O'Brien's life-like Rockne is brilliantly delineated; it's as though Rockne himself were striding across the field once more."[5] Harrison's Reports wrote, "Very good! It is the first football picture produced without any 'hokum'; it shows how teams are developed and what the game means to both players and coach ... The football scenes should prove thrilling to all."[6] John Mosher of The New Yorker said the story had been "suitably handled for its public of energetic young people and South Bend alumni."[7]


The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

"Win one for the Gipper"[edit]

This quote is ranked #89 on a poll of AFI 100 Years...100 Quotes. The phrase "Win one for the Gipper" was later used as a political slogan by Ronald Reagan, who was often referred to as "The Gipper" due to playing the role in the movie. A famous use of it was at the 1988 Republican National Convention when Reagan told his Vice President George H. W. Bush, "George, go out there and win one for the Gipper." It was also used at the 1996 Republican National Convention by Bob Dole, as the 1996 Republican National Convention was held in Reagan's home state of California. It was used again in the 2004 Republican National Convention by President George W. Bush in his acceptance speech when he stated "we can now truly win one for the Gipper," shortly after Reagan's death.

The speech is parodied in the movie Airplane!, which was released when Reagan was running for the presidency in 1980.

The Guardian describes the social conservatism that defined the role of "The Gipper" during the campaign:

Reagan, of course, took things even further, building his whole political identity as The Gipper around his four scenes as University of Notre Dame legend George Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne: All American. “There is a mystic something about football,” he once said. “There’s something very important in America that would be lost if those psychiatrists had their way and we ever lost our emotional attachment to this game.” In 1980 Reagan ran for president on the themes of leadership, restoration and rebirth (“For those who have abandoned hope, we’ll restore hope and we’ll welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again!”). His signature exhortation to “win one for the Gipper” was key to this message. The fact that Gipp himself probably never said those words is a neat illustration of how vaporous the equation between football and American strength has always been. Nostalgia and paranoia continue to nourish this equation today, as they always have; but they emerge, on closer inspection, from nothing. Trump, of course, has supercharged the presidential role as football’s protector-in-chief, ditching the misty nostalgia of the Reagan and Nixon eras for a communications strategy that can best be described as “engaged”, buzzing up in people’s feeds with a torrent of unsolicited advice for wicked players and weak-willed coaches and administrators. Indeed there’s a good argument he’s taken this non-constitutionally-mandated part of his job more seriously than any other.

Historical Error[edit]

In the 1928 Notre Dame-Army game at Yankee Stadium, where Rockne implores his team at halftime to "Win one for the Gipper," the final score is shown as a 7-6 victory for Notre Dame. The actual final score of the game was 12-6.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ed. Rudy Behlmer Inside Warner Bros (1935-1951), 1985 p 208
  2. ^ Cannon, Lou (1991, 2000). President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-891620-91-6.
  3. ^ Crowther, Bosley (October 19, 1940). "The Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2015. 
  4. ^ "Knute Rockne-All American". Variety. New York: Variety, Inc. October 9, 1940. p. 16. 
  5. ^ "Reviews of New Films". Film Daily. New York: Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc.: 8 October 7, 1940. 
  6. ^ "'Knute Rockne-All American' with Pat O'Brien, Gale Page and Donald Crisp". Harrison's Reports: 162. October 12, 1940. 
  7. ^ Mosher, John (October 26, 1940). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. New York: F-R Publishing Corp. p. 81. 
  8. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes" (PDF). American Film Institute. Retrieved 2016-08-14. 
  9. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-14. 
  10. ^ "AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2016-08-19. 

External links[edit]

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