Rudy: Special Edition

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Loosely based on a true story, David Anspaugh's Rudy is a heartwarming tale that deserves much better than this hackneyed DVD edition. Sean Astin stars as the film's title character, a mousy young man with one burning ambition: to play football for Notre Dame University. Everyone knows that Rudy's dream is mere pie in the sky, due to his twig-like physique and mousy physical strength. But some dreams are worth fighting for, and with the help of a sympathetic groundskeeper (Charles S. Dutton), Rudy wins the respect of even the most devout naysayers as he pursues his quest. Although Columbia TriStar bills this DVD incarnation of Rudy as a "special edition," the extra features are as scrawny as the story's diminutive hero. Apart from three infomercial-quality featurettes about the film and an isolated score from composer Jerry Goldsmith, the disc has little to offer. The anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer looks superb, but even so, Rudy isn't anything like the "special edition" it purports to be.
—Joe Barlow

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