A tie in a football game, some gridiron wag once said, "is like kissing your sister." True in many situations, but when a filmmaker has the courage to use "beats" and a tie score in the same movie title, he obviously has something in mind. And Kevin Rafferty had something in mind with "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29," opening this weekend.
Rafferty is, of course, a Harvard man. And also a cinematographer for Michael Moore along the way. His research in a variety of archives for footage of the famous 1968 football game is amazing, and even though we know the final score, and the fourth-quarter comeback for the Crimson, his work as an editor and interviewer still creates plenty of interest.
Yale was a team for the ages in 1968. Brian Dowling, the quarterback never had played a losing game in his life. Not just his Yale career, but his life. Calvin Hill, the great running back, went on to a brilliant pro career with the Dallas Cowboys. Dowling then became immortal when Garry Trudeau created the famous B.D. for his "Doonesbury" comic strip. Tommy Lee Jones, who roomed with Al Gore, played on the Harvard team, which was not considered proper opposition against the unbeaten juggernaut from New Haven.
With typical Ivy League provincialism, the Harvard and Yale folks always have referred to their annual match as The Game. Long after raccoon coats had been returned to their four-legged hosts, those in attendance at Cambridge or New Haven wore them, causing the late, great Red Smith, probably the best sports writer who ever lived, to note on one November afternoon, "The stands rose as one raccoon."
With a group of second-raters playing the finest game of their lives, Harvard rallied in the final seconds, scoring on a two-point conversion for the tie and creating a moment that neither school will ever forget. And even with all the sports cliches, Rafferty has put together an exceptional film.
Opening today at the Plaza Frontenac.
-Joe