Any Given Sunday (1999)

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers (WGA):

Daniel Pyne (screen story) and
John Logan (screen story) ...

Release Date:

22 December 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Life is a contact sport.

Plot:

"Any Given Sunday" is a behind the scenes look at the life and death struggles of modern day gladiators and those who lead them.

Plot Keywords:

Coach | Prescription Drug Abuse | Television | Institutional Discrimination | Self Destructiveness

Awards:

3 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Al Pacino	...	Tony D'Amato
Cameron Diaz	...	Christina Pagniacci
Dennis Quaid	...	Jack 'Cap' Rooney
James Woods	...	Dr. Harvey Mandrake
Jamie Foxx	...	Willie Beamen
LL Cool J	...	Julian Washington
Matthew Modine	...	Dr. Ollie Powers
Jim Brown	...	Montezuma Monroe
Lawrence Taylor	...	Luther 'Shark' Lavay
Bill Bellamy	...	Jimmy Sanderson
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Patrick 'Madman' Kelly
Lela Rochon	...	Vanessa Struthers
Lauren Holly	...	Cindy Rooney
Ann-Margret	...	Margaret Pagniacci
Aaron Eckhart	...	Nick Crozier

Also Known As:

Gridiron (USA) (working title)
Monday Night (USA) (working title)
On Any Given Sunday (USA) (working title)
Playing Hurt (USA) (working title)
The League (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language and some nudity/sexuality.

Runtime:

150 min | USA:156 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Brazil:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #37161) | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:R(A) | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Cardozo Hotel - 1300 Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

'Tom Arnold' was originally cast but had to pull out

Goofs:

Continuity: In the last game, Julian Washington #33 approaches the referee from the right side without his helmet, but in the next shot he's coming from the left side with his helmet on. The helmet appears and disappears in the subsequent shots.

Quotes:

Christina Pagniacci: No intensity, no victory.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Cold Open (#1.2)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

ROCK AND ROLL PART 2

A Dizzying, Entertaining Peek Into Pro Football...Stone Style

Sports movies are tough to make. Creating the essence of the actual event is the toughest. Most films fall short in the editing process of the event or through sheer carelessness and lack of knowledge. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY is somewhat of an exception. It is hard-hitting and bloody like NORTH DALLAS FORTY. It is actually conventional when you think about it, like a warped RUDY. It is a hell of a lot more realistic than say, NECESSARY ROUGHNESS. These are all football films with varying degrees of success (except ROUGHNESS), but Oliver Stone, in his usual over the top way, throws a dizzying, mind-splitting film at us, much like the sport itself. This is why I liked it.

Oliver Stone began a wicked spell of filmmaking with JFK, evident in its editing style. Fast-paced, black and white mixed with color, documentary-like methods ensued in NATURAL BORN KILLERS, NIXON, and the ghastly U-TURN. Nothing is new here with ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Football is a battlefield Stone chooses to depict and depict it he does. Even the most ardent fans of the sport do not really know what it is like for a quarterback to drop back and get rid of a piece of pigskin before 11 players maul him. You certainly get the idea watching this.

Al Pacino is the dried up head coach of the fictional Miami Sharks and he barks out the usual coaching cliches you hear in press conferences after real games. Pacino also seems to be sleep-walking through the picture. At times, he appears drunk even when he is not supposed to be. Cameron Diaz's character, a young chick owner, (yeah right) destroys any credibility the film may have had going in (Even the NFL would have nothing to do with this movie). Her constant bickering is so over-done, you almost feel like hurling much the way Jamie Foxx does every time he enters a game as the team's 3rd string quarterback. Realisticly speaking, this is not a very sane film about football. It is a maniacal celebration of the game. The scenes on the field are the ones I cherished. Beware of the locker room or domestic sequences.

No one has ever put such energy into football scenes in a film before. He definitely had some good consultants. There are some comical cameos - Johnny Unitas and Dick Butkus play opposing coaches. Lawrence Taylor can actually act a teeny bit and Jim Brown shares the film's best off the field scene with Pacino in a bar. Stone tries to show us how the game has changed. He resonates past glory with quotes from Lombardi, dissolves showing Red "the Galloping Ghost" Grange, and even Unitas handing off to Ameche. TV has changed everything, says the coach, and he is right. It seems to be all about the money nowadays.

That is the message, but you'll find yourself losing that idea in the lunacy of ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and the bone-crushing, ear-damaging football scenes. They are filmed and cut with such raw intensity, you feel like playing afterwards. This is definitely a film for football fans only unless you like big, sweaty men. Is there a big game at the end that needs to be won? Yes, and this surprised me considering how unconventional Stone usually is. Basically, surrender your senses and thought process to Stone's most entertaining film in quite some time.

RATING: ***