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Gracie (film)
Encyclopedia
Gracie is a 2007 American historical sports drama film directed by Davis Guggenheim
. It stars Carly Schroeder
as Gracie Bowen, Dermot Mulroney
as Bryan Bowen, Elisabeth Shue
as Lindsay Bowen, Jesse Lee Soffer as Johnny Bowen, and Andrew Shue
as Coach Owen Clark.
Gracie takes place in New Jersey
, United States in 1978 before Title IX
(which was passed in 1972) had a chance to take effect and when organized women's soccer was still very rare in the United States. Gracie, the film's central protagonist
, overcomes the loss of her brother by convincing her family and school to allow her to play varsity soccer
on an all-boys team. It is loosely based on the childhood experiences of Elisabeth Shue
.
The novelization Gracie (by fantasy
and science fiction
author Suzanne Weyn
) was released in June 2007.
), who lives in South Orange, New Jersey
, is crazy about soccer, as are her three brothers, neighbor, and former soccer star father (Dermot Mulroney
). Although Gracie wants to join her brothers and father in the nightly practices, she is discouraged by everyone except her elder brother, Johnny (Jesse Lee Soffer). The game at their school comes by with Johnny as the star on the team, the last shot is about to happen and he misses it. He then is sad, but gets over it. He then gets in his friend's car and drives off.
Tragedy unexpectedly strikes when Johnny, the star of the Columbia High School
varsity
soccer team, is killed in a car accident. Struggling with grief
, Gracie decides that she wants to replace her brother on the team. Her father does not believe that girls should play soccer and tells her that she is neither tough nor talented enough to play with the boys team. Her mother, Lindsey Bowen (Elisabeth Shue
), is a nurse who lacks the competitive drive of the rest of her family and who fears for Gracie's safety. Lindsey later confesses to Gracie that she would have liked to become a surgeon
, but that option was not available to her as a woman.
Feeling rejected and depressed, Gracie begins to rebel; she stops doing her schoolwork, is caught cheating on an exam, and experiments with wild and self-destructive behavior. She is finally caught by her father almost having sex with a guy she met near the docks when telling her friend "I want to do something that I've never done before." This serves as a "wake-up call" for her parents, particularly her father. He quits his job to coach her in soccer. When the school board rejects her request to play boy's soccer, it is revealed that he wanted her to play women's field hockey
. Gracie files an appeal with the school board. Citing the newly passed Title IX
, Gracie argues that since a girl's soccer team does not exist, she should be allowed to play on the boy's varsity soccer team. The school board allows her to try out for the team. After very rough tryouts, she makes the junior varsity
squad and has to decide if she is willing to play at that level. She decides to make the most of playing on junior varsity.
One of the coaches asks her to come to the championship soccer game. After saying no at first she finally goes. Her team is up 1-0. The other team ends up scoring to make it 1-1. They go to a sudden death round, the first one to score wins, to see who wins. Their new captain, Kyle, gets hurt and Gracie goes in for him. She misses the free kick, but ends up scoring with the move that her dad taught her.
generations. As Gracie's parents were most likely both products of what is now referred to as the Silent Generation
(children born during the Great Depression
and World War II
), they would have been raised to adhere to traditional gender role
s. This would include discouraging a girl from participating in "boys sports" such as soccer as opposed to "girls sports" such as cheerleading
or gymnastics
. Gracie, on the other hand, came of age during the 1970s, when new and controversial ideas about gender
were being introduced.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, noted an additional generation gap between those in the film and those in the audience, many of whom grew up with the United States women's national soccer team
(which played its first game in 1985) as a reality:
Other critics have also noted the multiple generation gaps. Kevin Cahillane observes in the New York Times that, "this being 1978 (before Title IX
turned a generation of girls from onlookers into athletes), her desire goes against the wishes of the coach, the principal, the other players and her heartbroken parents." In another article for the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis further argues that, "[Gracie] is accustomed to having her abilities overlooked [...] When tragedy strikes, and Grace channels her grief into a resolution to play on the all-male varsity team, even her best friend is horrified. As everyone knows, only lesbians play soccer."
The film closes with the following remarks: "Thanks to Title IX
and brave girls like Gracie, there are over 5 million girls who play soccer in America. Since 1991 the U.S. Women's National team
has won Soccer's World Championships two times." (FIFA Women's World Cup Champions 1991, 1999)
The film is loosely based on life events concerning the Shue family. Former Melrose Place star, Andrew Shue
(who developed, produced, and had a supporting role in the film) initially conceived of it as a story about his late brother William, the oldest Shue sibling and was captain of the Columbia High School
soccer team that won the New Jersey state championship
in 1978; he died in an accident in 1988. As Andrew developed the idea with his brother-in-law (Davis Guggenheim
, the director of An Inconvenient Truth
) the storyline began to shift towards Guggenheim's wife, Elisabeth Shue
, Andrew's older sister. She became the model for Gracie and William the model for Johnny. Andrew Shue noted in an interview that,
This refers to Elisabeth's Shue's decision at the age of nine (in 1972) to play soccer on an all-boys team, making her the first girl in the South Orange and Maplewood areas of New Jersey
to do so. Shue stated in a 2007 interview that she did this because, "There was no other choice back then. There was no girls team to play on." Shue continued to play on the team until 1976, when she turned 13. Of her decision to leave the team, Shue stated, "the movie is really what would have happened if I hadn’t quit [playing soccer]. I quit because of what people would think of me. The pressure from the boys. The awkward development of my body. I really, really regret it. I wish I’d been brave enough."
Andrew, Elizabeth, and their brother John (who was also a producer on the film) along with Guggenheim then engaged in an extensive search to find the right actress to portray fifteen year old Gracie. The search was promoted via the website, findinggracie.com. The role eventually went to athlete - actress Carly Schroeder
. Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat argue that Schroeder "puts in a stellar performance as the teenager who becomes a warrior when most of her peers are cheering from the sidelines."
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Filming partly took place at Columbia High School
, both the setting of the events of the film as well as the actual high school attended by the Shue family. Filming also took place in various locations in South Plainfield, New Jersey
.
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly
argued that, "in 1978, a high school girl playing competitive soccer wasn't just novel — it was barely heard of. This amiable rouser, based on the experiences of Elisabeth Shue and her family tries to convey how gutsy and role-smashing it is for [...] Gracie to cleat her way onto an all-boys soccer team. So why is Gracie as processed as an after-school special
? You miss the knockabout edge of Bend It Like Beckham
— though the ending, in its Pavlovian
sports-flick way, pumps you up." Scott Tobias of the The A.V. Club
suggested that, "though Gracie fashions Shue's story into ready-made inspirational formula, it's nonetheless vivid in its particulars, from the looks and sounds of late-'70s
New Jersey to the portrait of a soccer-driven family reformed by loss." Lael Loewenstein of the Los Angeles Times
stated that Gracie is "an earnest, well-acted, poignant drama that nevertheless runs afoul of sports movie clichés."
The film received a 59% rating from Rotten Tomatoes
(51 fresh and 35 rotten reviews).
songs, many of which are from the year 1978.
.
Davis Guggenheim
Philip Davis Guggenheim is an Academy Award-winning American film director and producer. His credits as a producer and director include Training Day, The Shield, Alias, 24, NYPD Blue, ER, Deadwood, and Party of Five and the documentaries An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for 'Superman...
. It stars Carly Schroeder
Carly Schroeder
Carly Brook Schroeder is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing Serena Baldwin, the daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe in the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles. She also had a recurring role on the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire...
as Gracie Bowen, Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
as Bryan Bowen, Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
as Lindsay Bowen, Jesse Lee Soffer as Johnny Bowen, and Andrew Shue
Andrew Shue
Andrew Eppley Shue is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series Melrose Place . He is currently on the Board of Directors for Do Something and is the co-founder of the social networking website CafeMom.-Early life:Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware...
as Coach Owen Clark.
Gracie takes place in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States in 1978 before Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
(which was passed in 1972) had a chance to take effect and when organized women's soccer was still very rare in the United States. Gracie, the film's central protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, overcomes the loss of her brother by convincing her family and school to allow her to play varsity soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
on an all-boys team. It is loosely based on the childhood experiences of Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
.
The novelization Gracie (by fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author Suzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn is an American author. She primarily writes children's and young adult science fiction and fantasy novels. she has written over fifty novels and short stories, and is best known for The Bar Code Tattoo and The Bar Code Rebellion books...
) was released in June 2007.
Plot
It is 1978 and 15-year-old Gracie Bowen (Carly SchroederCarly Schroeder
Carly Brook Schroeder is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing Serena Baldwin, the daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe in the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles. She also had a recurring role on the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire...
), who lives in South Orange, New Jersey
South Orange, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,964 people, 5,522 households, and 3,766 families residing in the township. The population density was 5,945.3 people per square mile . There were 5,671 housing units at an average density of 1,987.5 per square mile...
, is crazy about soccer, as are her three brothers, neighbor, and former soccer star father (Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
). Although Gracie wants to join her brothers and father in the nightly practices, she is discouraged by everyone except her elder brother, Johnny (Jesse Lee Soffer). The game at their school comes by with Johnny as the star on the team, the last shot is about to happen and he misses it. He then is sad, but gets over it. He then gets in his friend's car and drives off.
Tragedy unexpectedly strikes when Johnny, the star of the Columbia High School
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...
varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
soccer team, is killed in a car accident. Struggling with grief
Grief
Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions...
, Gracie decides that she wants to replace her brother on the team. Her father does not believe that girls should play soccer and tells her that she is neither tough nor talented enough to play with the boys team. Her mother, Lindsey Bowen (Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
), is a nurse who lacks the competitive drive of the rest of her family and who fears for Gracie's safety. Lindsey later confesses to Gracie that she would have liked to become a surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
, but that option was not available to her as a woman.
Feeling rejected and depressed, Gracie begins to rebel; she stops doing her schoolwork, is caught cheating on an exam, and experiments with wild and self-destructive behavior. She is finally caught by her father almost having sex with a guy she met near the docks when telling her friend "I want to do something that I've never done before." This serves as a "wake-up call" for her parents, particularly her father. He quits his job to coach her in soccer. When the school board rejects her request to play boy's soccer, it is revealed that he wanted her to play women's field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
. Gracie files an appeal with the school board. Citing the newly passed Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
, Gracie argues that since a girl's soccer team does not exist, she should be allowed to play on the boy's varsity soccer team. The school board allows her to try out for the team. After very rough tryouts, she makes the junior varsity
Junior varsity
Primarily in North America, junior varsity or JV players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition , usually at the high school and college levels in the United States and Canada. The main players comprise the varsity team...
squad and has to decide if she is willing to play at that level. She decides to make the most of playing on junior varsity.
One of the coaches asks her to come to the championship soccer game. After saying no at first she finally goes. Her team is up 1-0. The other team ends up scoring to make it 1-1. They go to a sudden death round, the first one to score wins, to see who wins. Their new captain, Kyle, gets hurt and Gracie goes in for him. She misses the free kick, but ends up scoring with the move that her dad taught her.
Cast
- Carly SchroederCarly SchroederCarly Brook Schroeder is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing Serena Baldwin, the daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe in the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles. She also had a recurring role on the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire...
as Grace Bowen - Dermot MulroneyDermot Mulroney-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
as Bryan Bowen - Elisabeth ShueElisabeth ShueElisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
as Lindsay Bowen - Jesse Lee Soffer as Johnny Bowen
- Christopher Shand as Kyle Rhodes
- Karl Girolamo as Curt
- Vasilios Mantagas as Craig
- Donny Gray as Donny
- Emma BellEmma BellEmma Jean Bell is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Parker O'Neil, one of the main characters in the 2010 film Frozen, and as Amy in The Walking Dead. Bell played the female lead in the thriller-horror film Final Destination 5...
as Kate Dorset - Hunter Schroeder as Mike Bowen
- Trevor Heins as Daniel Bowen
- Josh Caras as Peter Wicker (as Joshua Caras)
- Madison Arnold as Granddad
- John DomanJohn DomanJohn Doman is an American actor best known for playing Deputy Police Commissioner William Rawls on HBO series The Wire from 2002 to 2008 and Colonel Edward Galson on Oz in 2001....
as Coach Colasanti - Andrew ShueAndrew ShueAndrew Eppley Shue is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series Melrose Place . He is currently on the Board of Directors for Do Something and is the co-founder of the social networking website CafeMom.-Early life:Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware...
as Coach Owen Clark - Karl SchellscheidtKarl SchellscheidtKarl Schellscheidt is an American soccer player, educator and entrepreneur. He was born on April 28, 1968 and was raised in Union, New Jersey. He is the son of soccer coach and player Manfred "Manny" Schellschedit...
as Referee Jay Gavitt
Historical background
The premise of the film rests upon the conflicting expectations of two different AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
generations. As Gracie's parents were most likely both products of what is now referred to as the Silent Generation
Silent Generation
Silent Generation is a label for the generation born from 1925–1945 notably during the Great Depression and World War II . While the label was originally applied to people in North America, it has also been applied to those in Western Europe and Australasia...
(children born during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
), they would have been raised to adhere to traditional gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s. This would include discouraging a girl from participating in "boys sports" such as soccer as opposed to "girls sports" such as cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
or gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
. Gracie, on the other hand, came of age during the 1970s, when new and controversial ideas about gender
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
were being introduced.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, noted an additional generation gap between those in the film and those in the audience, many of whom grew up with the United States women's national soccer team
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...
(which played its first game in 1985) as a reality:
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
turned a generation of girls from onlookers into athletes), her desire goes against the wishes of the coach, the principal, the other players and her heartbroken parents." In another article for the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis further argues that, "[Gracie] is accustomed to having her abilities overlooked [...] When tragedy strikes, and Grace channels her grief into a resolution to play on the all-male varsity team, even her best friend is horrified. As everyone knows, only lesbians play soccer."
The film closes with the following remarks: "Thanks to Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
and brave girls like Gracie, there are over 5 million girls who play soccer in America. Since 1991 the U.S. Women's National team
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...
has won Soccer's World Championships two times." (FIFA Women's World Cup Champions 1991, 1999)
Development and casting
Andrew Shue
Andrew Eppley Shue is an American actor, known for his role as Billy Campbell on the television series Melrose Place . He is currently on the Board of Directors for Do Something and is the co-founder of the social networking website CafeMom.-Early life:Shue was born in Wilmington, Delaware...
(who developed, produced, and had a supporting role in the film) initially conceived of it as a story about his late brother William, the oldest Shue sibling and was captain of the Columbia High School
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...
soccer team that won the New Jersey state championship
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.-State championships:...
in 1978; he died in an accident in 1988. As Andrew developed the idea with his brother-in-law (Davis Guggenheim
Davis Guggenheim
Philip Davis Guggenheim is an Academy Award-winning American film director and producer. His credits as a producer and director include Training Day, The Shield, Alias, 24, NYPD Blue, ER, Deadwood, and Party of Five and the documentaries An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for 'Superman...
, the director of An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
) the storyline began to shift towards Guggenheim's wife, Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
, Andrew's older sister. She became the model for Gracie and William the model for Johnny. Andrew Shue noted in an interview that,
This refers to Elisabeth's Shue's decision at the age of nine (in 1972) to play soccer on an all-boys team, making her the first girl in the South Orange and Maplewood areas of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
to do so. Shue stated in a 2007 interview that she did this because, "There was no other choice back then. There was no girls team to play on." Shue continued to play on the team until 1976, when she turned 13. Of her decision to leave the team, Shue stated, "the movie is really what would have happened if I hadn’t quit [playing soccer]. I quit because of what people would think of me. The pressure from the boys. The awkward development of my body. I really, really regret it. I wish I’d been brave enough."
Andrew, Elizabeth, and their brother John (who was also a producer on the film) along with Guggenheim then engaged in an extensive search to find the right actress to portray fifteen year old Gracie. The search was promoted via the website, findinggracie.com. The role eventually went to athlete - actress Carly Schroeder
Carly Schroeder
Carly Brook Schroeder is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing Serena Baldwin, the daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe in the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles. She also had a recurring role on the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire...
. Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat argue that Schroeder "puts in a stellar performance as the teenager who becomes a warrior when most of her peers are cheering from the sidelines."
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...
, both the setting of the events of the film as well as the actual high school attended by the Shue family. Filming also took place in various locations in South Plainfield, New Jersey
South Plainfield, New Jersey
South Plainfield is a Borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 23,385....
.
Reviews
At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper gave Gracie "Two Thumbs up," stating, "You've seen it before, but you'll rarely see it better." Gracie is a New York Times Critics' Pick. Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis described Gracie as "a familiar underdog story told with unusual sensitivity [...] “Gracie” connects the adversity-drama dots — the beat-down, the bounce-back, the last-minute support from an unexpected quarter — with a subtle awareness of the shock waves of bereavement. Balancing the emotional complexity is Chris Manley’s refreshingly unaffected cinematography; the drama of a free kick, like that of a good movie, is best viewed through a steady lens." Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun Times, stated that "It's a sweet and uplifting film, and though quite predictable, gives us a family drama that showcases simple truths about overcoming seemingly impossible odds and leaves you with a warm and very satisfying feeling deep down. It's a solid, hopeful and inspiring story that reminds us of what we might call "old-fashioned" values about perseverance and making your dreams come true. Old- fashioned? Not at all."Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
argued that, "in 1978, a high school girl playing competitive soccer wasn't just novel — it was barely heard of. This amiable rouser, based on the experiences of Elisabeth Shue and her family tries to convey how gutsy and role-smashing it is for [...] Gracie to cleat her way onto an all-boys soccer team. So why is Gracie as processed as an after-school special
After school special
The American Broadcasting Company coined the term after school special in 1972 with a series of made for television movies, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues, that were generally broadcast in the late afternoon and meant to be viewed by school age children, particularly...
? You miss the knockabout edge of Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 comedy-drama film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...
— though the ending, in its Pavlovian
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....
sports-flick way, pumps you up." Scott Tobias of the The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
suggested that, "though Gracie fashions Shue's story into ready-made inspirational formula, it's nonetheless vivid in its particulars, from the looks and sounds of late-'70s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
New Jersey to the portrait of a soccer-driven family reformed by loss." Lael Loewenstein of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
stated that Gracie is "an earnest, well-acted, poignant drama that nevertheless runs afoul of sports movie clichés."
The film received a 59% rating from Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
(51 fresh and 35 rotten reviews).
Soundtrack
The soundtrack contains a number of popular classic rockClassic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
songs, many of which are from the year 1978.
Songs included in the CD
The CD was released in 2007 by Lakeshore Records.- "Don't Look BackDon't Look Back (Boston song)"Don't Look Back" is a single by the American rock band Boston. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. It is the title track to their second album, Don't Look Back....
" - BostonBoston (band)Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts that achieved its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists... - "Fox on the Run" - SweetSweet (band)Sweet was a British rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s as one of the most prominent glam rock acts, with the classic line-up of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.Sweet was formed in 1968 and achieved their first...
- "Rock Steady" - Aretha FranklinAretha FranklinAretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
- "Funk #49" - The James Gang
- "Hanging on the TelephoneHanging on the Telephone"Hanging on the Telephone" is a song written by Jack Lee and first performed by Lee's short-lived US West Coast power pop trio The Nerves, who placed it as the lead-off track on their 1976 EP, the band's only release. New Wave band Blondie popularised the song when it was released as the second...
" - BlondieBlondie (band)Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s... - "JailbreakJailbreak (Thin Lizzy song)"Jailbreak" is a song by Thin Lizzy that originally appeared as the title track on their 1976 album Jailbreak. Along with "The Boys Are Back in Town", it is one of their most popular songs, and is a classic rock radio staple, receiving steady airplay....
" - Thin LizzyThin LizzyThin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums... - "Free RideFree Ride (song)Free Ride is a song written by Dan Hartman and performed by The Edgar Winter Group. The single, engineered by Jim Reeves, was a top 20 U.S. hit in 1973, hitting number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The song is sometimes mistakenly attributed to The Doobie Brothers or Boston, perhaps because of...
" - Edgar Winter Group - "Born Under the Wrong Sign" - NazarethNazareth (band)Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975...
- "Jackie Blue" - Ozark Mountain DaredevilsOzark Mountain DaredevilsThe Ozark Mountain Daredevils are a Southern rock/country rock band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri, USA. They are most widely known for their singles "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" in 1974 and "Jackie Blue" in 1975....
- "You Are the WomanYou Are the Woman"You Are the Woman" is the title of a 1976 Top Ten hit by Firefall: written by Rick Roberts, then the group's frontman, the track is distinguished by the performance on flute of Firefall member David Muse....
" - FirefallFirefallFirefall is a rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, who had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The band's biggest hit single, "You Are the Woman", peaked at #9 on the Billboard charts... - "The Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
" - Doc Severinsen & The Tonight Show Band - "Heart of GlassHeart of Glass (song)"Heart of Glass" is a song by American New Wave band Blondie, written by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. Featured on the band's third studio album, Parallel Lines, it was released as a single in January 1979 and topped the charts in several countries, including the US and UK.Rolling...
" - BlondieBlondie (band)Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s... - "Bad Intentions" - Dweezil ZappaDweezil ZappaDweezil Zappa is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor.-Early life:Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of musician Frank Zappa and Adelaide Gail Sloatman, who worked in business. He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon, younger sister Diva and younger...
Score Album
Lakeshore Records also released a CD of the film's score, composed by Mark IshamMark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
.
- Free Kick (3:03)
- Johnny (3:22)
- Gracie's Revelation (2:22)
- Shit Sandwich (1:56)
- I Am Tough Enough (1:04)
- Granddad (1:21)
- Let Me Help You (1:13)
- Asphalt Soccer (1:42)
- You Were Like A Star (1:32)
- Appealing The Board (1:45)
- Lindsay's Speech (1:06)
- I Coach YOU Now (:56)
- First Two Cuts (2:48)
- Third Cut (2:18)
- JV Practice (2:27)
- Letting Go (1:14)
- Gracie's Free Kick/Beating Kingston (8:57)
See also
- Woman warriorWoman warriorThe portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore and mythology, gender studies, and cultural studies.-Archaeology:...
- List of women warriors in folklore
- Title IXTitle IXTitle IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
- Bend It Like BeckhamBend It Like BeckhamBend It Like Beckham is a 2002 comedy-drama film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...