Themes: High School Life, Faltering Friendships, Football Players
Main Cast: Ryan Gosling, David Morse, Clea Duvall, David Cale, Eddie Spears
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
Plot
A teenager at a personal crossroads finds himself questioning the things that have given his life meaning in this independent coming-of-age drama. Roy Chutney (Ryan Gosling) is a high school senior in a small Montana town. Roy doesn't have an especially close relationship with his mother Evangelline (Kelly Lynch), and he hasn't seen his father in years. That doesn't prevent Roy from feeling emotionally devastated when he learns that his father has killed himself, and Roy's self-esteem takes a beating when he's cut from the high school football team shortly afterward. Roy wiles away his time swilling beer with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs (Eddie Spears), and falling into a romance with Skyla (Clea Duvall), a barmaid at a local tavern, but it seems Roy's short time on the high school gridiron impressed Gideon Ferguson (David Morse), a local character who coaches a semi-pro six-man football team when he isn't delivering newspapers or trying to score a gig singing country songs at nearby honky-tonks. Gid thinks Roy has potential, and asks him to join his team; encouraged by Gid's belief in him, Roy agrees, and he persuades Tracy to tag along. While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps restore Roy's self-confidence, he finds it doesn't answer his questions about his future or his relationship with Skyla, and when Gid's overwhelming interest in Roy begins to lend credence to the rumors that Gid is gay, Roy starts to wonder just why he was asked to join the team. Jay Farrar, founder of the acclaimed alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, composed the film's musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
From its evocative title onward, The Slaughter Rule is an intricate and moving drama enhanced by exceptional performances. Accomplished character actor David Morse (Dancer in the Dark) brings subtle power to a dauntingly complex role as Gideon, who has a genuine desire to bring out the best in his team of cast-off boys. But this desire is tied into his more selfish, darker needs. Ryan Gosling, who had a manic edginess as a Jewish neo-Nazi in Henry Bean's The Believer, shows some range here playing Roy Chutney, a character whose violence and anger simmer beneath a calm, passive surface. Roy's resentment of his absent, now deceased father is evident, put across by the sharp script. When Skyla (Clea DuVall) runs into Roy sometime after the funeral, she apologizes to him: "I keep forgetting Mr. Chutney was your father." Gosling practically throws away Roy's sardonic response: "He kept forgetting, too." Set during the white glare and unforgiving winter in Montana, amid desperate people, The Slaughter Rule probes deeper into the complex nature of bonds between men than typical sports movies. The volatile friendships between Roy and Tracy Two Dogs (Eddie Spears) (who has his own father issues), and Gideon and his dependent buddy, Studebaker (well-played by New York City performance artist David Cale), are the aching heart of the film. These are men in various stages of life, striving to connect with others, but doomed by their own reliance on macho self-reliance, unconsciously expressed in coach Gideon's football credo, "Don't get hurt -- give hurt." Gosling is a young actor with heat, and he's made some very interesting career choices. Filmmakers Andrew J. Smith and Alex Smith deserve tremendous credit for their honest and thoughtful feature debut. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Robert Hawk - Associate Producer, Josh Fagin - Associate Producer, Kevin Goodman - Associate Producer, Felicia Fasano - Casting, Mary Vernieu - Casting, Christopher Cronyn - Co-producer, Kristin M. Burke - Costume Designer, Alex Smith - Director, Andrew J. Smith - Director, Brent White - Editor, Gavin O'Connor - Executive Producer, Jerry McFadden - Executive Producer, Jay Farrar - Composer (Music Score), Brian Ross - Musical Direction/Supervision, John Johnson - Production Designer, Eric Alan Edwards - Cinematographer, Michael Robinson - Producer, Greg O'Connor - Producer, T. C. Chantler - Sound/Sound Designer, Alex Smith - Screenwriter, Andrew J. Smith - Screenwriter
The Slaughter Rule is an independent film, released in 2002 and starring Ryan Gosling and David Morse. The movie, set in contemporary Montana, explores the relationship between a small-town high school football player (Gosling), and his troubled coach (Morse). The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
Plot
A teenager at a personal crossroads finds himself questioning the things that have given his life meaning in this independent coming-of-age drama. Roy Chutney (Ryan Gosling) is a high school senior in a small Montana town. Roy does not have an especially close relationship with his mother Evangelline (Kelly Lynch), and he has not seen his father in years. That does not prevent Roy from feeling emotionally devastated when he learns that his father has killed himself, and Roy's self-esteem takes a beating when he is cut from the high school football team shortly afterward. Roy wiles away his time swilling beer with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs (Eddie Spears), and falling into a romance with Skyla (Clea Duvall), a barmaid at a local tavern, but it seems Roy's short time on the high school gridiron impressed Gideon Ferguson (David Morse), a local character who coaches a semi-pro six-man football team when he is not delivering newspapers or trying to score a gig singing country songs at nearby honky-tonks. Gid thinks Roy has potential, and asks him to join his team; encouraged by Gid's belief in him, Roy agrees, and he persuades Tracy to tag along. While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps restore Roy's self-confidence, he finds it does not answer his questions about his future or his relationship with Skyla, and when Gid's overwhelming interest in Roy begins to lend credence to the rumors that Gid is gay, Roy starts to wonder just why he was asked to join the team.
Production
Jay Farrar, founder of the acclaimed alternative country bands Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, composed the film's musical score.
Filming for the movie largely took place in Great Falls, Montana and a series of small towns in the Great Falls vicinity.
The title of the film comes from the term "slaughter rule", sometimes also called "mercy rule", where an athletic competition is prematurely ended when one team is ahead of the other by a certain number of points prior to game's end, so as to avoid the losing team being further humiliated by the winning team. An example is the 45-point rule used in six-man football competition in Texas.
