The Greatest
Game Ever Played is a biopgraphical film about Francis Ouimet and his triumph
at the 1913 US Open where he defeated his golfing idol Harry Vardon in an epic
playoff. Adapted from Mark Frost’s 2002 book about the game, the film depicts
Ouimet’s honest upbringing in Boston, his work from a young age as a caddy, and
his father’s ambivalence towards the sport of golf for its elitist nature in the
early 1900’s.
Golf has
played a huge role in my life so far. I grew up playing the game at a
competitive level and have always loved watching it on TV. Therefore, naturally
I was drawn to this film and more engaged in it than others who are lesser fans
of the game would otherwise be. However I must look at the film in the most
objective way possible in order to review it. Truthfully I have mixed feelings
on it. The subject matter and ‘story fascinated me. I loved the way the movie
portrayed the game of golf as very much a gentleman’s sport in Victorian times.
One of the main themes of the story was to display just how severe this elitism
was on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, which gave Ouimet’s story as a hero an
emotional weight. He overcame both the odds in both a golfing sense and a societal
sense, changing the face of golf forever. Watching this film very much made me
realise how far golf has come to the get to the point that is is at today, but
also reminded me that it is not even completely there yet in terms of
overcoming prejudice. Augusta for instance has only just inducted its first
female member. This history is encapsulated quite well in The Greatest Game
Ever Played and I must admire it for dong the full story justice. 
The film
shows us several phases in both Ouimet and Vardon’s lives. We see that these
two golf legends both followed very similar paths to win their respective
majors. Vardon of course was much more prolific, winning 6 British Open’s in
his career, more than anyone in history. Yet there are definite parallels in
the character’s stories, the most important of which is that neither of them
came from well-to-do backgrounds. I liked how we got to see both Vardon and
Ouimet as children utterly obsessed with the sport of golf. There is a very
touching scene where the young Ouimet gets to meet Vardon who had just won the
US Open in 1900. It sets the precedent for the following events of the film
very nicely by creating an earlier connection between them. Soon we get
introduced to Ouimet as a teenager, played by a young Shia LaBeouf. He has all
but abandoned his dream to become a golfer, instead focussing on becoming a prominent
businessman. This is until he gets offered a place in the 1913 US Open and his
whole future is thrown into question. He declines initially, but eventually
changes his mind. His decision angers his father, who is convinced that the
game of golf is evil and set on scamming his son. All this preliminary
backstory helped me to care more about Francis and his motivations for chasing
his dreams.
The main
bulk of the film is spent focussing on the championship, and this is maybe
where it will lose those who aren’t golf fans. I was happy with how the
tournament action was shot and described though, it is a credit to Paxton than
he didn’t feel the need to make it too audience friendly yet still tense and
watchable for more casual golf fans. That being said, being so into golf, I can
clarify that the swings of almost every player were not very good. I realise
that players back then would have swung the club very differently to players
today, but we’re talking about Harry Vardon here, one of the greatest players
of all time. I liked the nods to Vardon’s famous grip though, perhaps his most
enduring legacy. The championship scenes were really entertaining, and the
final holes felt very suspenseful despite being predictable. Ouimet’s victory
was a cathartic and actually emotional moment. Seeing his father there in the
adoring crowd during the celebrations was genuinely moving because you
understood that his change of heart involved a lot of pain.
My main
issues with this film lie in the acting and script. I don’t think anyone gave
an outright bad performance, but there were only 1 or 2 that stood out and a
fair few missteps. Shia LaBeouf was only 19 when he took on this role, and for
the most part he does a pretty good job. It is nothing special, but he gave the
character a fair amount of scope and depth. It did feel quite one dimensional
at times though, like I knew how he was going to act in each scene. I didn’t
particularly feel the performances of Stephen Dillane as Vardon and Stephen
Marcus as Ted Ray. It felt like they relied too heavily on one particular persona,
the stiff upper lipped golfers who gave people piercing glances when they
wanted to convey an emotion. I would have liked Vardon to have had much more
dialogue so that I could have got to know him better. Peter Firth played the
eccentric newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe and gave perhaps the best performance
in the movie. His pompous snobbery was as disgraceful and shocking as it should
have been, provided by the great dialogue he was given. The child actor who
played Francis’ caddy Eddie, Josh Flitter, did a reasonable job considering his
age, although he did often come off as very cartoonish. He did add some great
comic relief to the story, but I’m not sure he always fitted the tone of some
of the more serious scenes. All in all, it was a mixed bag on the acting front.
The script had both highs and lows, but with a great story to fall back on, it
didn’t detract too much from the film’s impact.
Despite
having a few issues with The Greatest Game Ever Played, I really enjoyed
watching it. It gave me a fascinating insight into the history of the game I
love so much. I cared about Francis and his struggle to overcome the harsh
prejudices of the sport in order to fulfil his dream to win a major. The movie
will definitely split opinion, which will have a lot to do with whether you
like golf and care about the characters. Even so, there is more to this story
than just a young boy winning a golf competition, so give it a fair chance.
Acting: 60
Narrative:
85
Visuals: 70
Music: N/A
Overall:
72/100
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