Search - Go Tigers! on DVD

Two thumbs up for "Go Tigers"

Michael S. Wills | Ithaca, New York USA | 11/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The documentary film maker, Kenneth Carlson, succeeds in building his comedy of manners toward a dramatic conclusion. This documentary is a comedy in the sense "Go Tigers" has a happy ending, the main characters' situations in life improve throughout the film and the film is generally sunny though there are dark undercurrents to life in the city of Massillon, Ohio.

"Go Tigers" is not about the game of football, it is about the effect of the game on a small town. Massillon is barely a city and its ~30,000 people maintain a high school football stadium for 15,000+ people with a professional quality field and sports plant. The Massillon High School is a football factory and the film follows three players and selected family members through an undefeated season.

There are some fantastic sequences of football that overshadow current U of A play because these boys are so consistently good. The game sequences gloss over the details of play, showing over the top fans, the band, parents of the central characters, cutting in and out to fantastic plays. That is why I say it is not "about" football because, while the score board and play boards are shown there is minimal coverage of rules, technique, field position or strategy.

Locker room half time pep talks are given center stage. The locker room scenes feature pointless rants and strings of obscenity by the players interspersed by level headed coaching and inspirational sermons by all Massillon's denominations. The team always comes out energized by this motivation.

Massillon is NOT a wealthy city, so a theme is "where does the money come from"? The choices made by citizens are a plot thread that runs through the lives of three players and their families. You'll need to see the film if you want to know more.

I will say, the strength and conditioning coach is an awesome, professional caliber athlete. There is an all too brief walk on part by an opposing team's mascots who are fall down laughing funny.

The film covers town darkness, but not with a great deal of emphasis. For example, the live tiger cub mascot mauls a small child in front of his mother. The film maker is not blatant about the subtle points that are made about Massillon.

My one criticism of "Go Tigers" is that this film is 20 minutes too long. It lingers over several football games in way too much detail, but at the same time not enough. The games are covered in a superficial way without enough reference to play to make the games interesting. Excited fans don't move the plot forward and you see them over and over and over and....
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