The Mighty Ducks
I will not quack at the principal. I will not quack at the principal…
PRE-GAME 🏒
Welcome back to Balls on Film! 👋🏻
Firstly, I’d like to apologise for the slight delay in this week’s edition hitting your inboxes. I’m still recovering from some horrendous jet lag, and have been behind schedule following some flight delays. Normal service will resume next week!
I‘ve just returned from a week break in New York City, and attending the New York Yankees-Los Angeles Dodgers series. The whole thing was an incredible experience from start to finish, despite my Yankees losing two of the three games. I’m still feeling jet-lagged and trying to recover from the ridiculous amount of indulgent food that I consumed. Stadium food is certainly different in the US, to say the least. Here in the UK, the best you can hope for is a lukewarm pie or a questionable burger served from an even more questionable white van outside stadium grounds. At Yankee Stadium, I was dining on filet mignon with tater tots & Parmesan cheese, and washing it down with bourbon and peach cocktails. We’ve got a lot of catching-up to do over here!
A few of you have sent me messages over the last week saying that you’ve decided to give Apple TV’s Trying a shot after my recommendation. I’m glad, and I hope you’re all enjoying it as much as me.
kindly highlighted my recommendation, and Balls on Film, in her newsletter this week. I’m looking forward to checking back in to read her thoughts on the show later. Beth writes about TV and film. You should check out her work.
A quick reminder: if the newsletter isn’t going to your inbox, and going to junk mail instead, please be sure to locate the mail in your junk folder, and mark it as not spam. Alternatively, just reply to any email from me with a quick hello, and it shouldn’t happen again! 😊
With that, let’s get to it. This week, we’re stepping on to the ice to revisit what is, in my opinion, one of the best ‘gateway’ sports movies there is.
Are we Ducks or what?
FIRST HALF 🏒
I said that The Mighty Ducks is one of the best gateway sports movies there is, and watching it again now only confirms this. It’s one of those movies that appeals immensely to both kids and adults, and probably one that got a lot of kids into the genre at the time. Hockey wasn’t really a thing that was popular or even available to watch on TV in Scotland when this was released. I still remember first seeing this, and then immediately begging my parents to buy me EA Sports NHL on the Sega Mega Drive - or Genesis, for the US folks reading. It’s the film that introduced me to the sport. Heck, it even spurred the creation of a whole, professional, real-life hockey team of the same name. It’s a film that’s still immensely popular with both kids and adults to this day. It’s two sequels perhaps not so much, but we’ll get to those and the TV show revival which I actually love, another time.
The story introduces us to Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), a successful, but arrogant lawyer who is haunted by his childhood hockey memories. Bombay is sentenced to community service following a DUI. His assignment: coaching a struggling youth hockey team, the Ducks. The team consists of mostly kids with little to no actual hockey skills, and whilst initially reluctant, Bombay - you guessed it - gradually starts to bond with them and rediscovers his own love for the game.
Bombay is a real piece of shit at the beginning, and if we just ignore the fact that someone just convicted of a DUI is allowed to be in charge of looking after children (hey, it was the 90s, right?), his transformation from selfish curmudgeon to caring coach is absolutely wonderful.
Of course, it’s all helped along by a fun cast of characters. The ragtag team includes a quirky bunch of kids including Charlie (Joshua Jackson), the natural leader of the group, and the one whom Coach Bombay takes under his wing the most. The rest include the likes of Goldberg (Shaun Weiss), the anxious goalie, strong-willed Connie (Marguerite Moreau) and Fulton (Elden Henson), the tough, quiet kid with power who stands up to bullies, but can’t skate to save his life. It’s the entertaining team mates and their chemistry who give the film its heart, and make Bombay’s transformation much more entertaining. The ways in which they melt his icy exterior provides room for plenty of laughs and team bonding. The first meeting between them is one of the film’s most fun scenes.
One of my favourite aspects of the film is the way in which it explores mentorship. Sure, it’s nothing new - there are elements of it in this film that echo The Karate Kid - right down to the fantastic Lane Smith doing his best John Kreese impression as Coach Reilly. When he villainously tells the kids on his team to ‘finish him off’ when referring to an ex player who gets transferred to the Ducks, I was half expecting him to fight Coach Bombay at the end and put his fist through a glass window. Now, if Mr. Miyagi had slept with Daniel’s mother in the Karate Kid, I’d have definitely found the similarities a whole lot stranger. I love the flashbacks to Bombay as a kid being coached by Reilly, who has apparently stopped ageing at this point, and how he uses those demons to become a better coach to the Ducks - and a very different coach than Reilly himself.
Story time - the scene in which the Ducks get their new uniforms is one that always sticks with me. Not only is it one of the key moments in Coach Bombay’s transformation, but it reminds me of a time when I was a kid. My mother had gifted me a brand new Mighty Ducks cap, and I was ecstatic. It was my prized possession. Dark green, with a purple brim and the classic Ducks logo emblazoned on the front. I wore it every day, and all of my friends wanted one too. Walking along the street with a friend one day, a group of much older kids approached me and asked me where I got it from. They all looked pretty threatening at the time, and definitely were the types of kids I’d have went out of my way to avoid back then. I remember mumbling something about someone buying it for me, just hoping to get away, when one of them just snatched it off of my head and walked off. Outnumbered six to one, I was helpless. They disappeared around the corner, and I never saw my hat again. I felt crushed. If only I’d had my own Fulton to come along and save the day!
Look, I know I sound like I’m gushing a lot about a kids sports movie, but it’s such a nostalgic, feel-good tale and I can’t help but love it. Sure it’s cheesy and there’s probably no way in which a successful lawyer would still be so deeply haunted by his days playing Pee-Wee hockey. In all honesty though, I don’t care. I can’t not watch this and have a good time. The film is great both on and off the ice.
The hockey scenes themselves, while a little unrealistic at times, are immensely fun to watch and always have me fully invested. The final game against Coach Reilly’s Hawks is particularly gripping. Just don’t analyse them too much!
On its surface, The Mighty Ducks may not offer anything new, particularly if you’ve watched quite a few sports movies like I have. It’s a classic underdog tale, and there’s plenty of humour, conflict and entertaining, over-the-top game scenes that follow the usual tried and tested sports formula. What makes this film a standout, however, are the big personalities of the kids, the emotional depth of Bombay’s character arc and the story’s earnest execution.
HALFTIME 🥅
Let’s take a break for halftime. Grab a coffee and settle in for the second half.
This week, I picked up Baseball: The Movie, by
. Noah writes about movies and baseball - and baseball movies. He’s one of my favourite writers here on Substack, and I can’t recommend his book enough. It’s not simply a rundown of baseball movies, or a list of justnthe best ones. It’s a journey through time, a lesson on why baseball and movies align so perfectly, a love letter to the genre and a book that is filled with interesting stories and movie facts that you may never have heard before. Noah is also one of the best storytellers there is, and his passion for the subject practically jumps off each page. Also, how can you not love that cover!
You can buy a copy of the book here.
This week, I’m bringing you yet another Apple TV+ recommendation. They really are putting out some of the best content around these days.
My recommendation for the week is Loot, starring Maya Rudolph. It’s about a character named Molly (Rudolph) who divorces her billionaire husband (Adam Scott) and inherits a huge $87 billion settlement, and a charitable foundation that was set up in her name. She goes to work at the charity in an attempt to find herself and help others - with often hilarious results. It’s a workplace comedy that pokes fun at the ultra rich - including our main character, who is incredibly tone deaf despite meaning well. You’ve probably already seen the infamous ‘Hot Ones’ scene on social media, which a lot of people still think is real. Despite some of its lavish sets and billionaire characters doing incredibly over-the-top things, the show works best when it focuses on its fantastic ensemble cast and more down to earth side. It’s a very sweet-natured, human story from the some of the team behind Parks & Rec, which should give you an idea of what to expect. I just wish it consisted of 20+ episode seasons rather than 10. As much as I love the show, it would certainly benefit from more episodes. The sitcom is still one of those types of shows that just doesn’t slot into the streaming model quite in the same way that others do.
Let’s get back to the ice. It’s time for the second half.
SECOND HALF 🏒
Let’s jump into some weekly awards and bonus content.
BEST SCENE 🏆
The scene that first comes to mind is the initial meeting between Coach Bombay and the team. It’s still the funniest part of the whole movie, but I have to give this award to the scene in which the kids quack at their principal after they get into a fight. It’s the scene that brings them together, and also where the movie’s most memorable quote comes from.
BEST LINE 🏆
Gordon Bombay: Did you really Quack at the Principal?
Ducks: Yeah.
Gordon Bombay: Are we Ducks or what?
MVP AWARD 🏆
Coach Bombay takes it. Emilio Estevez is great, and despite the trivia below, I can’t imagine anyone else in this role. Bombay’s redemption arc, and watching him rediscover his love for the game is brilliantly done.
IMDB TRIVIA HIGHLIGHT 🏆
Actors considered for the role of Gordon Bombay before it was given to Emilio Estevez included Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Michael J. Fox, and his own brother Charlie Sheen!
Who would you have cast as Bombay, if Emilio Estevez wasn’t an option? Let me know in the comments.
BEST LETTERBOXD REVIEW 🏆
I mean, we were all thinking it. Right?
BONUS FEATURE 💿
Ahead of the TV show premiering on Disney+ in 2021, some of the original cast reunited to discuss making the film, and to meet some fans. It’s a nice clip that shows how much the film meant, and still means to a lot of people.
And just because it’s so awesome, I couldn’t not share the animated series intro here.
POST-GAME 🏒
As I mentioned last week, The Sandlot is going to be our next film, and was suggested by
a couple of weeks ago. Let me know what your favourite sports movie is in the comments, or what you’d like to see covered next.I’m working on a new weekly feature for the newsletter, which will be separate to this Friday edition. I’ll share more details about that next week. Hopefully, I’ll have fully recovered from my jet lag by then!
Stay safe, everyone! See you next week.
~James
Thank you for the shoutout. I love ❤️ Mighty Ducks. 🦆 and am a big Estevez fan. My first post from 2021 is an ode to sports films. It was the Super Bowl hence the connection. I almost forgot until I started reading your stack. Great post! Keep them coming and I hope the jet lag gets better. For the last few weeks it’s been graduation and end of school activities. I, too am tired!!
Countdown to your Sandlot article starts now! Really excited to see more content in addition to your detailed Friday movie reviews!