‘HARVARD Beats Yale, 29-29″ was the typically scurrilous headline that appeared in a rag called the Harvard Crimson after the outlandish 1968 edition of the annual gridiron epic known on both campuses as, simply, “The Game.”
Footage of The Game between the storied New Haven institution and the overrated finishing school on the river Charles intermingles with kitchen-table recollections of players to yield a visually stale experience unlikely to interest many strangers to the Ivy League – although the contest heaved with craziness and the name-dropping is impressive.
The heavily favored Yale Bulldogs (ranked 16th in the nation) took a 22-0 lead but (hot, salty tears obscure my vision as I type the words) gave up 16 points in the final 42 seconds. These points came mostly because of Yale’s gloaty timeout with a minute left to play, a questionable pass-interference call, a personal foul on Yale when an overenthusiastic defender tried to knock out Harvard’s quarterback and, of course, a string of lucky plays by the Crimsonians.
Among the players were Tommy Lee Jones, a guard for Harvard; Calvin Hill, the Yale halfback who would go on to stardom with the Dallas Cowboys; and Brian Dowling, the cocky Yale QB who played in the pros but was immortalized as the perpetually helmeted “B.D.” in a fellow Yalie’s “Doonesbury” cartoons. Also: One of the Yale players was dating Meryl Streep at the time, and another was George W. Bush’s roommate (Jones was Al Gore’s).
Jones, interviewed here, is weirdly wooden and somber, as though he’s remembering D-Day. “I think everyone’s lives would be different if we hadn’t missed that extra point,” he says, and doesn’t seem to be joking.
The movie, which absurdly tries to paint the Harvard players as a group of working stiffs – you won’t be surprised to learn it was directed by a Harvard grad – also fails to capture the tenor of one of the most tumultuous years of the century. A couple of players recall some campus protests, and that’s about it.
Nor does the movie try to use the game to make some larger point. Here’s one: Even at its best and luckiest hour, Harvard can aspire only to equal Yale.
HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29
Super Bowl for swells.
Running time: 105 minutes. Not rated (profanity). At the Film Forum, Houston and Varick streets.