The Greatest Game Ever Played
July 2006 Reviewed by: Mischa Hayek Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Bill Paxton’s The Greatest Game Ever Played is based on the true story of 20-year-old caddy Francis Ouimet, who takes on the great English golfer Harry Vardon in the US Open golf championship of 1913.

Francis Ouimet (Shia LaBeouf) has grown up across from the famous Brookline Country Club in Massachusetts and has developed an incredible expertise with the clubs, having won many local amateur championships. Despite his abilities, he is only a caddy and, coming from a poor immigrant family, has no way of becoming a member of the upscale club where golf is considered the sport of gentlemen and not of the masses. His father (Elias Koteas) does everything to discourage his son from participating in the game, preferring him to concentrate on a career in business and to earn "an honest day’s wage." However, a couple of club members for whom Francis has caddied know of his ability and convince him to compete for their club as an amateur in the US Open.

The DVD picture has excellent brightness, contrast and detail, and the colors are punchy and vibrant. The sound quality is equally as good. Dialogue is clean, clear, and easy to discern, and surround-type effects are used quite well. There is good frequency extension from top to bottom and, in particular, effective use of very low bass to help convey various moods. This is a great-looking, excellent-sounding transfer -- not necessarily reference-quality, but not far off either.

This single-disc DVD release has more special features than most. There are two audio commentaries, one by director Bill Paxton and another by screenwriter Mark Frost. There is also a short special, "A View from the Gallery: On the Set of The Greatest Game Ever Played." In addition to interviews with Paxton and the actors on their experiences making the film, the short illustrates some of the techniques used to make The Greatest Game Ever Played visually unique from other golf films. "A View from the Gallery" tends toward too much mutual admiration for my taste, but it is to be expected from such casual, on-set exchanges.

Two other featurettes are well worthwhile. "From Caddy to Champion: Francis Ouimet," is a black-and-white television special filmed in 1963 just before the beginning of the 1963 US Open at the Brookline Country Club on the 50th anniversary of the legendary game. Seventy-year-old Francis Ouimet takes us for a walk on the last few holes of that same course where he competed against Harry Vardon and the other famous English champion, Ted Ray, in 1913. He recounts the legendary game and talks about golfing then and now.

The other featurette, "Two Legends and the Greatest Game," is a short biography of both Francis Ouimet and Harry Vardon, interjected with snippets from the film. It provides valuable insight into these two men and the impact each had on the game. Their real-life contributions, which were enormous, were unfortunately not fully impressed upon us in Paxton’s film.

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