User reviews

A superintendent and five high school students set out to show that everyone, even Mexicans, is welcome on the golf course. They start a golf team with a single goal: to win and reach the state championship. Along the way, they face racism and obstacles but do not waver in their goal.

This is an inspirational true story about a group of teenagers and their coaches going against the odds and societal norms. The film has a bit of comedy, emotion, drama, and golf. The film quickly gets to the main parts of the story, sharing details and backstory along the way. The film is not heavy on golf but has enough to keep golf and non-golf fans interested. The film sheds some light on how non-white American soldiers were treated during and after the war, which is eye-opening and heartbreaking. This is a great sports film, regardless of whether you are a golf fan.

For as long as there have been movies, the "underdog" niche has been popular. What's not to like about watching someone (or someones) come from behind to show the rest of us that, in the right circumstances, anything is possible? Golf might seem at first like a poor fit for this category, but of course the real story is about discrimination. It works. Jay Hernandez is the glue that keeps the attention of the audience, and he basically steals every scene not otherwise nailed down. Quaid has recently started a "second career" as an older actor playing older parts. And he is good in all of them. The 1950s are a welcome distraction for viewers in an age where modern and now both seem somehow inauthentic and wrong. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Just watched the Long Game on Netflix and I'm not sure I've spent much time writing reviews for formulaic 'underdog movies' between 6-7 stars. However, I enjoyed the movie but moreover was blown away at the screen presence of Jay Hernandez who plays the lead. This guy carries, Quaid is a great backup for a movie like this, heck I expect him in every underdog movie, don't you? Story is decent but delivery can be everything sometimes and Jay Hernandez nails it.

I hope he gets a few other big dynamic movie roles because I think he's got it. Maybe not the immediate draw of a Hardy or Dicaprio, but definitely a Clooney.

Hey Hollywood, sign em up!

I enjoyed this movie. I was predisposed to because of the parallels in my own life in the 1950s in a small southern town. The nearest golf course was 30 miles away so I built my own clubs from old broom sticks and pieces of 2X4 lumber. I built a small course in our long back yard. At one point my dad bought me a 9-iron and a few real balls. Finally in 1962 I made it to the course, I played with a borrowed set of clubs, it was the beginning of 60+ years of golf for me.

So these rural Texas kids, of Mexican parents, had a similar affinity for the game. Five of them worked as caddies at the local "whites only" country club. But they wanted to play the game so they spent leisure time crafting their own rough golf course, using balls they scavenged after hours and discarded golf clubs.

A new school superintendent who loved golf showed up for the new school year, he too of Mexican ancestry, found out about the five boys, and began the quest to form them into real golfers. Plus dealing with the racism of the time and overcoming it to grow into fine young men.

While the characters and the story are true the screenplay was built from a book written after extensive research and interviews. So it is authentic to the real 1950s story but of course includes fictionalized scenes and dialog to make it an entertaining movie. Much of the movie was shot in the nearby towns of Smithville and Bastrop in the areas west of Houston.

It is a well-crafted and entertaining movie. My wife and I, both avid golfers, enjoyed it, streaming at home.

The Long Game is based on true events of a group of Mexican American caddies who are set out to learn the sport of golf. In 1956, South Texas region the boys create their own course because they are not welcome on the same course as white golfers. Jay Hernandez plays the superintendent of the local school district and he takes the kids under his wing along with Dennis Quaid to help nurture them into fine golfers and to compete against all the other golfers. Oscar Nunez acts as the principal of the high school, Cheech Marin as the groundskeeper, Jaina Lee Ortiz and Gillian Vignam are the spousal support system for the boys and Brett Cullen as the local judge who disallows the boys to compete on his grounds. This movie was the Field Of Dreams type of feel good film but for golf. The boys did win the championship in 1957 and some of them went on to compete in the PGA. Overall it was a good family movie, I would recommend it.

This 2023 independent film, "The Long Game" released by Mucho Mas Media has Latinx star power of celebrity talent from Jay Hernandez to Cheech Marin set in 1950s Texas golf courses. It's directed by Cuban American director, Julian Quintana, born in Los Angeles but is based in Austin Texas.

This is a film adaption about a segregated golf course, surrounding Mexican American teens, who were caddies. Through their mentorship with an older Mexican American, San Felipe School Superintendent and WW II Marine JP Peña (played by Jay Hernandez) created the San Felipe Mustangs high school golf team.

Incidentally, there's a biographical book, "Mustang Miracle" (2012: Author's Press) by Humberto Garcia. The book documented this history that happened in Bordertown Del Rio, Texas (where he was born and raised). This film and Garcia's book chronicle these teens' discrimination in the late 1950s then became champions in teen golf tournaments.

The film also shows the harsh discrimination toward Mexican Americans in Texan borderland towns. Other actors like Dennis Quaid play Frank Mitchell, a white golfer supporter of the San Felipe Mustangs along with Cheech Marin playing as "Pollo", Del Rio golf course attendant. Amidst the younger cast of Latinx actors is Julian Works who brilliantly plays the role of young golfer Joe Trevino.

I could have told you the story after 5 minutes. The familiar story of prejudice discrimination and the underdog. I almost turned off so full of cliches and nothing new. Very Hollywood commercial. I did finish and enjoyed but not original or above average. Discrimination of Mexicans. Lots of hateful people trying to keep Mexicans out of golf tournaments and anything other than subservient positions. Characters realistic and likable. If you need easy mindless entertainment this is it. If you want something more, find an alternative since so many. The world still fractured. People still need to exercise their power over orhers.

I am a non-golfer.

I never played, and I never will.

It is from my point of view not a real sport.

Like pool, snooker it is a boring ball game, not enough physical and mental action, no real confrontations. I prefer sports like Tennis, or better football (soccer for you US people)

But the movie is not. It is about passionate young and elder people, trying to find their way through the obstacles mostly unfair of life.

It has a lot of very very nice, emotionally intelligent little scenes about wisdom and effect of our decisions and actions.

I can't emphasize enough how well these scenes are made.

So many characters well drawn. The director Julio Quintana born in the USA after her parents left Cuba shows he feels how Mexican immigrants felt. Not anymore Mexicans and yet not real Americans.

No-man's-land..

I specially liked the symbolism in the scene were a golfers girlfriend explains how she intends to become a writer by already writing now shorts stories of peoples daily life. Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.

Actors are all great, but I fell for Jaina Lee Ortiz.

It is a men sports, is it not still today?

She is not even mentioned on the cover, standing far in the back.

What a shame, She did not have too many words to say, so she made her presence mainly by her very subtle body and face expressions. Nevertheless she played a strong female character.

She has great potential, and I hope we see more of her anytime soon.

This is a wonderful family indie film. The second half of the movie is worthy of an Oscar. I laughed, I cried two or three times, had goosebumps, and really enjoyed the story. My only comment is it has a bit of a slow burn set up but it was still totally entertaining throughout. It was extremely well shot and directed, and oh by the way Cheech is a gem! I wish he had more lines he's such a natural. Actually my teenagers really enjoyed it too.

Finally; Although the setting is 1950's The Long Game still feels very current and topical in today's political environment. Cheers to a great team for pulling this off, I enjoyed it just as much if not more the second time I saw it!

It's 1956 Del Rio, Texas. JB Peña (Jay Hernandez) is the new principal at San Felipe High School which serves mostly local Mexican-American kids. His mentor Frank Mitchell (Dennis Quaid) tries to get him into the exclusive country club, but they reject him as a member. At the school, he encounters five teenagers who are caddies at the club, but would never be allowed to play there. He decides to form a high school golf team with those kids.

This is the standard underdog sports movie with a whole lot of social commentary. It is a little long and a little slow around the middle. Although I wouldn't know what to cut. It is trying to say a lot with a lot of characters. I do wonder about the climatic arrest. It's too convenient to happen at that moment and feels manufactured. Maybe it actually happened. This movie just needs a little less, but it's plenty good.

The Long Game, not just another golf movie. It is a perfect inspirational film for the family. A movie about a piece of golf history that isn't talked about enough. Filled with inspiration, courage, resilience and unity among friends. A story about overcoming adversity in 1950's. The Long Game is lead by a great cast which includes Jay Hernandez, Dennis Quaid and Cheech Marin. Cheech was overall one of my favorites. There is a touch of humor throughout and even some moments that will give you goosebumps.

Great reminder of how far we have come and how much farther we still need to go in the world today. Highly recommend.

Overall it's a decent watch. It provides everything that you would hope for and expect from a movie that tries to display racism and underdogs trying to overcome it to achieve success. The acting is passable and doesn't detract from the story , but neither does it really elevate it. The characters are likeable , but not enough is really shared about them to give them enough depth. They try to include the coach's war story , which is a nice addition to build from, it just feels like it needs a little more to really make it hit home, like a flashback. The love story with Joe also feels a bit forced and added on for the sake of it.

In conclusion, it's a fine addition to the sports genre and tells a story that I wouldn't have otherwise known about, but at the same time feels a bit cookie cutter with not much to really make it stand out or differentiate it from other films like it.

"Docudrama" implies to me a certain amount of accuracy.

I would think that making such a point and so many references to the coaches' experience in WWII that someone would have realized a cursory survey of the historical references by someone who was a little bit knowledgeable about the European Theater of Operations would be a worthwhile exercise.

Specifically: Coach Pen~a was shown early in the movie in an Army uniform with a ""Screaming Eagle" patch on his shoulder.

The Screaming Eagles were the 101st Airborne Division ("Band of Brothers").

They are part of the Army and not the Marines.

The Marines didn't fight in the ETO, they were deployed to the Pacific.

The 101st didn't fight at Monte Casino, their first action was Operation Overlord, the Normandy Invasion.

It would take nothing away from the drama of the story to make a few corrections that wouldn't jar the sensibilities of anyone with a passing knowledge of military history.

If you love golf, or movies about the Mexican-American struggle in America, you'll love this move. I don't have anything emotionally invested in either and so as usual, as a big movie and history buff, I couldn't but help pick out the problems with this movie from those standpoints. And there are some problems.

There were enough historical goofs and anachronisms in this movie that I ended up starting the "Goofs" section for this movie's IMDB page with a list. Go check that section out. Some lazy screenwriting here.

From a filming standpoint there were two main problems.

First, this movie was obviously not filmed in Del Rio or anywhere close to South Texas. The scenery of what is supposed to be Del Rio in this movie is filled with rolling hills, lush green grass, and lots and lots of deciduous trees. If you are at all familiar with the different regions of Texas, this area looks like the Austin area, home to a lot of film makers. The real Del Rio, and much of South Texas, would be flat, any grass not on carefully irrigated lawns would be struggling to stay green for much of the year, and palm trees would be as common as deciduous trees in the background.

Second, the cinematography was as modernistic as the film makers could get with their budget. Lots of sweeping shots across distances that are so common and easily done these days with drone cameras. Lots of moving shots of the actors with a handheld camera, from far away to closeups. Thankfully, they used either Steadicam or optical stabilization in their cameras and so these shots didn't have that jittery handheld look that can cause motion sickness from watching the movie (the classic "Blair Witch" vomit cam). But, obviously, these very modern high tech (and now relatively cheap to do) shots take away from the historical feel of what should be a period piece set in 1956, when the only motion shots that were commonly done were on tracked dollies, and two or three camera fixed closeups were the norm. There was a section midway in the movie where the shots were reprocessed to look like the old 8mm film from that time period, I guess to throw in some of that old period piece look, but, again if you're familiar with the look of 8mm film, that was a bit too obviously reprocessed. Real 8mm film actually looks better than that segment.

So, enjoy this movie as a golf buff or a righteous warrior for Mexican American civil rights. Or, actually you can enjoy it, somewhat, to spot the film making mistakes.

The cast does well with the script they were given. Dennis Quaid is always a pleasure to watch. It tells a golfing story you probably don't know about.

So why only seven stars? Because this is just Hollywood formula, with little thought. It seems today that Hollywood can only set a movie in the 50s or 60s if they want to talk about racism. This is unfortunate, because while racism was certainly a thing, it did not define the era. Technological progress, music, movies, the leaps in logistics, actual education. Youth watching this will think everyone was a bigot, while very few actually were. We were all powerless to change things, except over time.

Here's a hint. Country clubs kept out most people. Still do. It is mostly a function of income and the dues would have been more than most school administrators could afford. Exclusivity is their primary product - what the prospect's handicap was or their love of the game would not have been a concern. Membership in the country club was a way to convince yourself that you were now important. In the following decades, racial rules for membership became relaxed, but guess what, most of us still can't get in.

There are still plenty of movie makers who grew up in this era. Can't someone produce a love letter to this wonderful time, and not just more hate mail?

This film made a nice change from all the other genres currently available. The fact it was based on a true story aswell helped you to appreciate how hard life was in the 50's for none white Americans. It was great they had JB to encourage them and keep them in line and make them realise revenge wasn't the option but made them the better person. Golf can be a very snobby game and was worse in the 50's. Thank heavens even women are allowed in clubs theses days, with some amazing professionals on the tours. The only thing I found strange was the colours of the outfits, cars, houses all in green. What was the obsession with this colour in the movie ? Very strange. Good film.

Jay Hernandez, in his role of the Mexican-American coach of a golf team, gives Thomas Magnum's vibes. The good, gentlemanly character is carried on in his coaching of a group of 5 rather misfit golfers. Based on a real story, this movie gives an insight about the discrimination faced by the Spanish-speaking amigos who did not fit in with the pure American blood. Despite the hardships, snatched away opportunities and a constant reminder of "you don't belong here", five young students etched their names in the history of the sport by creating a record score during the state championships.

To say that it is just another sports-centered movie wouldn't be entirely correct. It lacks the peak adrenaline sections where the game becomes a do or die situation, neither the main player makes a comeback after an injury as one would generally expect from a classic sports genre movie. Rather it takes a not so big moment and presents it in a not so big manner. It's calming to watch, entertaining of course, but calming.

Down to earth film about real people. Based on a true story about Hispanic golfers. Long overdue about diversity in sports. Great cast and beautiful film. Can't say enough kind words about this movie. Award winning stars including Dennis Quaid and Jay Hernandez. Too many movies today are all special effects and lasers, not this one. It's about real people in real world situations. Can't say enough about this cast and the great acting. This film is long overdue and should make a difference in what movies should be about. Greatest supporting actors too. Please make more movies like this. A real story!

A real-life sports drama from last year reuniting the stars of 2002's the Rookie, Dennis Quaid & Jay Hernandez, in this tale of a group of Mexican American kids who have a penchant for the game of golf but being the segregated 1950's the hill they must climb to compete is a high one. Hernandez who served w/Quaid in the military & who both belong to the same country club formulate a plan to get their team on the boards as it were even though both their competitors & judges work against having them succeed. Seeing enough of these films kind of numbs one to the real-life drama being imparted (this one reminded me a lot of McFarland USA w/Kevin Costner) but the vibrancy of seeing a lot of Spanish faces on screen (w/the camerawork relying on a lot of Steadicam shots for dialogue sequences) & the virtue of the yarn, made this one an easy watch but I still hate golf. Also starring Cheech Marin, I mean why not, as a sage old groundskeeper & Brett Cullen, I remember him playing a crooked politician in The Dark Knight Rises, playing the country club head.

The Long Game is based on a true story and is really inspiring. The movie touches upon racism, being an underdog, and the nuances of trying to "fit in" and succeed within a system while simultaneously trying to change the system. The movie immerses you in the story and makes you feel the ups and downs of the characters. The acting is fantastic and really draws the viewer into the depth of each character. In particular, I thought Julian Works did a remarkable job capturing the different influences of his character beautifully from his relationship with his dad to the toll that racism has on him and how he processes all of it throughout the movie. For me, it was just what the doctor ordered, a story of triumph against tremendous odds. Really great for the whole family.

A feel-good movie based on a true story. I was willing to excuse the errors and anachronisms because the movie was clean and could be watched with a family without embarrassment. Yet I still wonder why the filmmakers didn't make an effort to fix errors. One reviewer already mentioned that the locale bore no resemblance to Del Rio. But many viewers might not have known that. More glaringly wrong to me was the constant appearance of the 50 star U. S. flag, when there were only 48 states in 1957. That could easily have been corrected at little cost. Nevertheless I did enjoy the movie and recommend it.

The problem with so many sports movies is that they don't actually care about the sport itself. The Long Game is no different.

It seems as if nobody involved in the movie actually knows a thing about the game, and it seems as if most of the actors never had a club in their hands before they were cast in the film. Shots are shown obviously flubbed, but the film doesn't show where the ball goes, not ever. Sometimes you can see the actual ball shooting off to the side. The movie doesn't care. Their swings are terrible; at the end of the movie we see film of the real kids, now those kids know how to swing a club.

I guess maybe if you nothing about golf, you might enjoy the story, but the writing is so bad and the dramatic tension is simply absent. They hit the ball around a bit and then suddenly they are in the state tournament. Uhhhh ok.

Cheech Marin (always inexplicably in a ball cage even when he is standing around off the course) and Randy Quaid who doesn't really serve any purpose just sorta mail this one in.

Great story what these kids accomplished. Too bad the movie just doesn't seem to care enough to do it justice.