IMDb > North Dallas Forty (1979)
North Dallas Forty
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North Dallas Forty (1979) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   1,759 votes
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Director:
Writers:
Peter Gent (novel)
Peter Gent (screenplay)
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Contact:
View company contact information for North Dallas Forty on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
3 August 1979 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
"Wait till you see the weird part." [USA Theatrical] more
Plot:
A semi-fictional account of life as a professional Football (American-style) player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s. more | add synopsis
User Reviews:
My Favorite Sports Movie more (30 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Nick Nolte ... Phillip Elliott
Mac Davis ... Seth Maxwell

Charles Durning ... Coach Johnson
Dayle Haddon ... Charlotte Caulder
Bo Svenson ... Jo Bob Priddy
John Matuszak ... O. W. Shaddock
Steve Forrest ... Conrad Hunter
G.D. Spradlin ... B. A. Strothers

Dabney Coleman ... Emmett Hunter

Savannah Smith Boucher ... Joanne Rodney (as Savannah Smith)
Marshall Colt ... Art Hartman
Guich Koock ... Eddie Rand

Deborah Benson ... Mrs. Hartman
Jim Boeke ... Stallings (as James F. Boeke)
John Bottoms ... Vip
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Additional Details

Runtime:
119 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: There are several lip-synch problems throughout, probably due to re-dubbing lines. more
Quotes:
Phillip Elliott: Hell coach, I love needles. more

FAQ

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful.
My Favorite Sports Movie, 16 July 2006
8/10
Author: carmine-giglio from United States

When this movie first came out (late 70's), I was still in high school and very naive as to the behind the scenes machinations of professional football. This movie was ahead of its time in its depiction since no other movie on professional football had ventured into this area exposing drug use, both off the field casual usage and to get players on the field, and indifference of ownership and coaching staff to players feelings and thoughts.

Nick Nolte was exceptional as Phil Elliot, the wide receiver whose character was based on Pete Gent, a wide receiver with the Dallas Cowboys who authored the book (North Dallas Forty) the movie was based on. He is a free spirit with little regard for authority but undoubtedly cares about his performance on the field. He cannot play by the rules because he doesn't make them. Mac Davis was great as quarterback Seth Maxwell, the jaded athlete who knows how to "bend" the rules to remain in good standing with the team.

Supporting cast, especially GD Spradlin as the coach modeled after Dallas Cowboys coaching genius Tom Landry, was excellent. If you have 2 hrs and want to catch a well-acted, well-written movie on the reality of professional football, then catch this flick. It preceded such films and Stone's Any Given Sunday, but its content is very relevant to football 30 years later.

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Great (Cynical) Sport Movies buckaroobanzai50
NORTH DALLAS AFTER FORTY jong19822004
Why did phil lie to seth? *SPOILERS jong19822004
score sounds like all the president's men's theshizznit-1
The investigator jong19822004
Screenplay or Script? Thomasco
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