Touchback (2011)

In October of 2010, my wife and I were attending the Ohio State-Purdue football game. During timeouts and halftime at the closed end of Ohio Stadium, they would film brief scenes. We knew beforehand that this was going to take place, but we didn't know the name of the film. It wasn't until last night -- nearly eight years later -- that I would actually get to watch this movie. This film takes place in the early 90s, around the same time I was attending The Ohio State University. Students at OSU come from all over the state, the country, and the world. But during my time I became friends with several of those similar to the main character of this film, who come from small Ohio towns in less than ideal situations just wanting to better themselves.The main character -- Scott Murphy -- was the star quarterback at Coldwater High School and was the state's Mr. Football with a scholarship offer to Ohio State. But he severely injures his leg on the final play of the state championship game as he scores the winning touchdown. The movie begins several years later as Scott works on his farm in Coldwater. He's married to a former classmate and band member from his high school with two children. Scott finds himself in debt and his farm is struggling due to an early frost and a broken header on his combine. To add insult to injury, his high school teammate who played both in college and the NFL returns to Coldwater with Scott's former cheerleader girlfriend. As his depression mounts, Scott decides to kill himself via carbon monoxide poisoning in his truck. After he passes out, he's back in 1991 as a high school senior. But here's the thing: for nearly the rest of the movie, he's in a DREAM. Other reviewers have suggested that he's transported back in time or it's like the movie "17 Again." It's not. It's just a dream. There's no shot at redemption, nor does he alter his future by making any different decisions, including the final play of the state championship game, Later, he wakes up to discover that his truck ran out of gas. Scott then walks to town, but finds no one there and heads back to the farm. When Scott returns, the citizens are out in full force picking his soybean crop by hand. In the end, he appears happy with the decisions he made in his life with no regrets. Overall, it's a very good movie. I thought it was well written and well executed. Yes, the high school football players depicted in the film all look like they're in their 30s. But other than that small detail, I enjoyed the film very much.

Not sure if I would've gone out to watch this, but definitely would've rented the DVD, however, no it's on Encore. I think this would've been a more popular movie if more people knew about it and perhaps more money had been put into it. But I really enjoyed this movie, for me it had a lot of meaning. I thought the scenes with his mother were particularly powerful and profound. At the end of the day it's not about the money, the best looking girl or biggest house, it's about being happy with what you have. I also liked the scenes of him going back and trying to correct the things he had done wrong...who wouldn't want to be able to do that?

I give it a ten sleeper. It did not appeal to me but I had some time so I watched it. What a life lesson!!! Its a good reminder that if we want change make it happen stop living in the past. Kurt Russell has always been a favorite actor and his attitude is contagious. I loved it, its a little slow at times but adds to the suspense even tho you know what is probably going to happen...Modern Its a wonderful life.Ten lines huh??? Well that was all I had to say I was trying to be concise I would hope that would suffice. However, I didn't realize ten lines was so hard to write when I had run out of things to write they shouldn't make you write ten lines. But, there you go this is ten lines for your comment page.

Touchback gets lost in flashback.Touchback was slow to start. Nothing seemed to change all the way through the movie. The flashback didn't change anything in the end. The future was not changed at all. Scott Murphy was called Mr. Football during high school. He was the star player on Coldwater's football team. Coldwater was a small farming town with very little to offer. His dreams were to go to Ohio State to play football and to live in a big city.Scott Murphy permanently injured his leg playing football. He was crippled and in a leg brace. He was a fireman and a farmer. He didn't make a lot of money to raise his family. He and his wife had two children. They were both girls. His high school football coach, Coach Hand was played by Kurt Russell in the movie. Scott was offered a scholarship to Ohio State. This was his dream and what he wanted. This could only happen if he was not injured and able to play on the team. His dreams were shattered but new dreams emerged.His mother worked so he would have a truck to drive to collage. He really liked his truck and kept it. His mother never watched his games. She knew he was good.The parts I liked about the movie were the football game scenes. The action shots showed the players working as a team to score and win the game. The parts of the movie I did not like were the scenes of the town and farm fields. I don't care for small towns and country living.I thought that Scott was portrayed very well in the movie. Coach Hand, played by Kurt Russell, did a very good job. He played a really good coach in the movie.I would only recommend the movie to people who like small town football teams. I would rate this movie, Touchback, as a three star movie.