| The Big Green | |
|---|---|
 | |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release date | September 28, 1995 |
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $17.7 million |
The Big Green is a 1995 American family sports comedy film by Walt Disney Pictures starring Olivia d'Abo and Steve Guttenberg, written and directed by Holly Goldberg Sloan. It also stars Bug Hall, Chauncey Leopardi, and Patrick Renna. The film is about the antics of a soccer team consisting of a misfit group of small town Texas kids who are coached by a teacher from England.
Plot[]
Anna Montgomery, a teacher who is on an exchange program from Surrey, England, is placed into a school in the fictional small town of Elma, Texas. She initially struggles to connect with her students, as they believe they are underachievers doomed to dead end lives. One day, instead of teaching geography to the inattentive class, Anna breaks the globe and uses her head to bounce it in an attempt to pique the kids' interest. After some confusion, the children start learning the game of soccer. After the first practice, Anna tells them she has entered them into a league in Austin, Texas, but their first game is the following day. The town Sheriff's Deputy Tom Palmer becomes co-coach while at the same time begins falling for Anna.
The team travels to Austin to play the Knights, who are the top team in the league. However, none of the kids fully understand how to play, and they lose 18–0. They decide not to play anymore, until they discover the talent of new classmate Juan Morales, but have to persuade his reluctant mother to let him play. The team, now known as the Big Green after the school's field, steadily improves with Juan, and they go on a remarkable run with a record of eight wins, two losses, and one tie, which earns them a re-match against the Knights in the championship. As the town goes crazy for the final, hometown boy and current Knights coach Jay Huffer returns to Elma, and finds in the bar the drunken and prejudiced father of Kate Douglas, one of the players. He tells Jay, who works as an auditor for the IRS, via bribery that Juan's mother is an illegal immigrant. Later, Tom is forced to investigate the matter, and learns that Juan's mother acquired a fake Social Security card and did not apply for amnesty; Juan was born in El Paso, which makes him an American citizen. Despite Tom ensuring protection, Juan and his mother are forced to flee Elma. Kate is left furious with both her father and Tom over the situation, but Anna convinces her to stay on the team.
On the day of the championship, Tom searches for Juan, but is unable to find him before the start of the match, and by halftime the team is down 2–0. With 10 minutes left in the game, Juan arrives with Tom and his mother, where Tom announces he got them a lawyer and is now the sponsor for Juan's mother, meaning they can stay in the country. Juan enters the game and sets up Elma's first goal, and with the last kick of the match, scores the equalizer to tie the game, 2-2, forcing the championship to be decided in a penalty shootout. In the final round with the score still tied, the Knights captain and son of the coach, Jay Huffer Jr., steps onto the field. The Big Green goalie Larry Musgrove, who suffers from visions of the opposition players becoming "monsters," manages to turn himself into a monster in his own fantasy, in order to psych out the opponent and save the kick. The final kick for the championship is taken by the Big Green's smallest and youngest player, Newt Shaw. He scores on his kick, giving the Big Green the championship. Huffer, having made a bet with Anna if his Knights were to lose, kisses the Big Green's goat mascot Ernie, much to his disgust.
The final scene shows a new billboard in Elma, featuring the team and highlighting their success on the field and in the classroom.
Cast[]
- Bug Hall as Newt Shaw
- Steve Guttenberg as Deputy Sheriff Tom Palmer
- Olivia d'Abo as Miss Anna Montgomery
- Jay O. Sanders as Coach Jay Huffer
- John Terry as Edwin V. Douglas
- Patrick Renna as Larry Musgrove
- Chauncey Leopardi as Evan Schiff
- Billy L. Sullivan as Jeffrey Luttrell
- Yareli Arizmendi as Marbelly Morales
- Anthony Esquivel as Juan Morales
- Jessica Robertson as Kate Douglas
- Jordan Brower as Nick Anderssen
- Libby Villari as Brenda Neilson
- Hayley Kolb as Sophia Convertino
- Haley Miller as Polly Neilson
- Ashley Welch as Lou Gates
- Ariel Welch as Sue Gates
- Jimmy Higa as Tak Yamato
- Gil Glasgow as Cookie Musgrove