FILM · 1974 · USA
The Longest Yard
37 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (37)
- #001
Producer Albert S. Ruddy says the film's inspiration came from a friend who was a promising football player. After a career-ending injury his life went downhill. He was working a minimum-wage job at a sandwich shop and was mistreated by his snobbish girlfriend. Ruddy took the script from there.
- #002
Michael Fox, who plays the announcer, wrote his own commentary.
- #003
According to producer Albert S. Ruddy in the DVD commentary, in the original script Captain Knauer was supposed to shoot Paul Crewe in the back when Crewe went to retrieve the ball at the end of the game, because Crewe was genuinely trying to escape. But when it came time to shoot the scene, it was decided the audience would be devastated by Crewe's death. The ending of the game was changed to show Crewe recovering the ball and realizing Knauer did not run.
- #004
Several of the players had previously played professional football. Burt Reynolds played at Florida State University, and Mike Henry played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Rams. Joe Kapp was the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. Ray Nitschke was the middle linebacker of the Green Bay Packers. Pervis Atkins played for the Los Angeles Rams, the Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders.
- #005
In the DVD commentary, Burt Reynolds states that Dinah Shore and his parents are among the spectators sitting in the end zone at the end of the game.
- #006
Burt Reynolds's brother, James Hooks Reynolds, is the player wearing the black number 65 jersey seen running beside Reynolds in the final part of the game. (Source: Burt Reynolds/DVD commentary).
- #007
Sonny Sixkiller, who plays "The Indian," is a Cherokee and was an outstanding quarterback at the University of Washington in the early 1970s, rescuing UW from its perennial last-place finishes in the Pac-8. In the season after Sixkiller left Washington, the Huskies returned to the cellar. Sixkiller went on to play in the World Football League before retiring from professional football in 1976, two years after this film's premiere.
- #008
According to the DVD commentary by Albert S. Ruddy and Burt Reynolds, Robert Aldrich did not like Michael Conrad and called him "Polish Princess." While shooting the scene between Paul Crewe and Scarborough, Aldrich liked the scene in which Nate says "There's only two things you've got left: Your pride and your balls…" so much that he rewarded Conrad with a candy, which Aldrich gave to whoever did the best work that day. Conrad, who had endured Aldrich's insults throughout the shoot, burst into tears. For the rest of the shoot Aldrich stopped calling Conrad "Polish Princess."
- #009
The drop kick the Mean Machine uses for a field goal remains in the NFL rulebook despite being rarely used. (As a scoring attempt, the drop kick can be used for a field goal or an extra point; the drop kick can also be used for kickoffs or punts.) Doug Flutie of the New England Patriots converted the last scoring drop kick into an extra point in the 2005 season. (This was the 43-year-old Flutie's last NFL game.) A drop kick had previously been converted in 1941. In 2018/2019 several kickoffs took place.
- #010
Richard Kiel, too large for the Mean Machine helmet in the locker room, can be seen here failing to put on a regular helmet. Later in the game his helmet is seen to have a different design from the other players'.
- #011
Richard Kiel said this was one of the two roles he was most proud of in his career. He stated that it was his first major A film, which gave him time to shine and helped him land a role in Barbary Coast (1975).
- #012
In the DVD version, James Hampton said he was originally supposed to play Unger but instead wanted to play Caretaker. The role of Unger was given to Charles Tyner.
- #013
Burt Reynolds was reported to have said that the late director Robert Aldrich deliberately framed and shot the film in the 1.33:1 Academy aspect ratio (intending it to be matted to 1.85:1 for theatrical release) because Aldrich did not want to see his vision later manipulated for TV screens through pan and scan.
- #014
The climactic football game runs a total of 47 minutes.
- #015
According to Hal Needham in an Atlanta radio interview, while the chase was being filmed someone was waiting there. As soon as the Citroen SM was pulled out of the river, he paid for it and took ownership.
- #016
Although he is seen throughout the film, the assistant warden [Mort Marshall] has only one line. After the game ends he says to the warden, "His-to-ree!"
- #017
The then-Governor Jimmy Carter facilitated the production in Georgia.
- #018
One of the first football films to show a wide receiver standing in the offensive line. From the earliest days of American football until the late 1960s, the receiver (later usually referred to as the split end) would put his hand on the ground in a stance similar to that of an offensive player.
- #019
Burt Reynolds wanted to shoot in his hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida, but was denied access. Despite this, he mentions it both on camera and on a sign reading "Entering West Palm Beach," but this was shot in Savannah, GA.
- #020
While Sonny Sixkiller ("The Indian") was playing quarterback at the University of Washington, Burt Reynolds traveled from Hollywood to Seattle to meet him. Sonny's Cherokee heritage was unusual for a starting college quarterback, and Reynolds may himself have had some Native American ancestry. Sixkiller later theorized that this may have had something to do with Reynolds taking a role in the film.
- #021
After the wrecked Citroen was pulled out of the water, producer Albert S. Ruddy sold it for $7,000, believing it was the car from the film.
- #022
Among the early examples of product placement on the stadium signs were Eastern Airlines, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Tony Lama Boots, Gatorade, Rawlings, Coca-Cola, Continental Trailways, Adidas, Goodyear and Muriel Cigars.
- #023
Over the years, fans and film critics have variously insisted that the football game between the Mean Machine and the guards was either entirely scripted or entirely improvised. The truth lies between these views. The script outlined which plays each offense would run, but did not specify how those plays would be executed, and each defense was given the freedom to line up and to blitz/attack as they saw fit. The only exception was the plays on which the touchdowns were scored, because waiting for the hard-hitting players who actually played to score would take too long and cost too much money in production overages.
- #024
In the scene where Shokner performs martial arts moves, the pattern he executes is Chon-Ji, the first form of Tae Kwon-Do.
- #025
It was among the 500 films on the American Film Institute's 2000 list of nominees for the 100 Funniest American Movies.
- #026
Burt Reynolds wears the same jersey number (#22) in The Longest Yard (2005).
- #027
Marcel Simeon (Tannen) is shown throwing hay bales onto a flatbed truck. An average hay bale weighs about 80 pounds (though propeller bales are likely to weigh considerably less).
- #028
Charles Tyner, who plays the con man in this film, had previously played a guard in another famous prison film, Cool Hand Luke (1967).
- #029
According to Burt Reynolds in the DVD commentary, director Robert Aldrich did not like actor Michael Conrad (team manager Nate). Reynolds and producer Albert S. Ruddy (who recorded the commentary with Reynolds) never understood why.
- #030
Two years after appearing in this film, Burt Reynolds and Bernadette Peters were to appear in Mel Brooks's Silent Movie (1976), but they did not share any scenes together in that film.
- #031
Bernadette Peters has very big hair and is the only woman in the film apart from the people in the stands (and Crewe's girlfriend).
- #032
Eddie Albert plays Warden Hazen; coincidentally, the main street in New York City's Rikers Island prison complex is Hazen Street.
- #033
Burt Reynolds and James Hampton also appeared together in three other films: Fade In (1973), Hustle (1975) and W. W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975).
- #034
Burt Reynolds also reunited with Alfie Wise in Hooper (1978).
- #035
Although the hay bales Sonny throws onto the flatbed truck were hollow props, in reality each bale would weigh 100 lbs or more.
- #036
Team doctor Gus Carlucci was also a medical doctor in real life.
- #037
The film entered Variety's "50 Highest-Grossing Films" list of September 4, 1974 at number 37 with a weekly gross of $53,000. By the end of the year it ranked 9th among the year's highest-grossing films with a gross of slightly over $7.6 million, while The Exorcist (1973) led with $31.5 million.
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