The Longest Yard (2005)

 This movie is a 2007 remake of the original with Burt Reynolds. Some might be surprised to find that there are at least three professional wrestlers acting in this film, playing three of the prison guards. Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Summary

-When a former NFL player is arrested for drunk driving and sent to prison, the warden learns of his former NFL life and challenges him and the inmates to a game of football, guards vs. convicts

Cast

-Adam Sandler: Paul "Wrecking" Crewe

-Chris Rock: Caretaker

-Burt Reynolds: Coach Nate Scarborough

-Nelly: Megget

-Michael Irvin: Deacon Moss

-Walter Williamson: Errol Dandridge

-Bill Goldberg: Battle

-Terry Crews: Cheeseburger Eddy

-Bob Sapp: Switowski

-Nicholas Turturro: Brucie

-Dalip Singh: Turley

-Lobo Sebastian: Torres

-Steve Reevis: Baby Face Bob

-David Patrick Kelly: Unger

-Tracy Morgan: Ms. Tucker

-Edward Bunker: Skitchy Rivers

-William Fichtner: Captain Knauer

-Bill Romanowski: Guard Lambert

-Kevin Nash: Guard Engleheart

-Steve Austin: Guard Dunham

-Brian Bosworth: Guard Garner

-Michael Papajohn: Guard Papajohn

-James Cromwell: Warden Hazen

-Cloris Leachman: Lynette

Did You Know?

-Cloris Leachman, who plays the warden's secretary, appeared in another movie with Adam Sandler, Spanglish, which came out a year earlier

-Shortly before the funeral for Caretaker, Unger is heard talking to one of the guards. At first it sounds like he is saying "Boss". But it's actually "Boz" he's saying. The guard he was talking to is played by Brian "Boz" Bosworth, a former NFL player himself

-ESPN announcer Dan Patrick plays the police officer who pulls over Paul Crewe

-The character Deacon Moss' name is derived from NFL players Deacon Jones and Randy Moss

-In the warden's office, four football helmets are seen on his shelf. They are for NFL team Houston Texans, AFL team Dallas Texans, Allenville Prison and University of Texas

-Adam Sandler mentioned Colonel Sanders for the second time in one of his movies. He and the famous founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken were both born on the same day-September 9

-The inmates call their team the Mean Machine. In the 1974 edition, the team of inmates called their team the Mean Machine

-Burt Reynolds, who plays inmate Nate Scarborough, did play football in real life. He played for Florida State, but it was cut short after a serious knee injury during his sophomore year

-This film was released on the same day as the film Madagascar, a film also featuring Chris Rock

-This is another movie where "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Terry Crews appear together, on opposing sides. The other movie where they appear on opposing sides but in the same film is The Expendables

-David Patrick Kelly plays Unger, a pyromaniac, in this film. In the 1994 film The Crow, he plays T-Bird, another pyromaniac obsessed with fire and explosions

-This is not the first time Adam Sandler has played a character who has used "Colonel Sanders" as an insult to someone. In the 1998 film The Waterboy, his character calls one of his professors "Colonel Sanders" after being insulted

-Out of all the guards, only two have actual NFL playing experience-Brian "Boz" Bosworth and Bill Romanowski. They were both considered controversial. "Boz" was known more for his over the top and questionable fashion sense than his skills on the field and was labelled a draft bust after three years on the field. Bill Romanowski, however, is widely known as one of the dirtiest players in the NFL. Both were known for their alleged steroid usage

Bill Romanowski

Brian "Boz" Bosworth

-When the original 1974 version was released, Adam Sandler was only seven years old

-Burt Reynolds, who plays Nate Scarborough in this film, played Paul "Wrecking" Crewe in the original

-This movie was supposed to be filmed at a prison that had closed recently in Jefferson City, Missouri. But city workers weren't able to get the prison up and running in time for production

-When Capt. Knauer is taking Paul Crewe through the prison yard, he mentions he played college football for University of Miami. He also mentions that while none of the inmates are former teammates, some of the guards are. In the late 1980s, there was a game between University of Miami and Notre Dame. It resulted in a brief rivalry billed as "Catholics vs. Convicts"

-Because the football game scenes took place during El Camino College's fall semester, the stadium set stayed up during the college's home games. Some of the extras in the crowd are El Camino College students.

-Paul was supposed to have played football for Florida State and professional for Pittsburgh. Burt Reynolds was an All American running back for Florida State and, like Adam Sandler, is an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan

-The Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Saturday Night Special" is played at the beginning of the original and this remake. Also, just like the original and remake, Crewe is watching a football game before arguing with his girlfriend. But, unlike the original, Crewe doesn't hit his girlfriend; he locks her in the closet

-A lot of the inmates are seen with long hair or facial hair. In reality, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice requires inmates to be clean shaven and hair "trimmed from the back of the hair and necks", essentially guaranteeing all inmates are bald and beardless. Smoking is also banned from Texas prisons and has been since 1994

-While training for the football scenes, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin tore his hamstring

-This movie features a combination of both former NFL players, wrestlers, singers. The cast features wrestlers "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg, The Great Khali (Dalip Singh). The cast features former NFL players Bill Romanowski, Michael Irvin, Terry Crews, Brian Bosworth and singer/rapper Nelly. In an interesting sidenote, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Bill Goldberg were football players prior to taking up wrestling

Dalip Singh aka "Turley"

-Of all the six members of the rap group D12, five of them make an appearance as convicts playing basketball. The missing sixth member is Eminem, who Paul references as "Slim Shady"

-The film was shot at a part of the New Mexico State Penitentiary. Called "Old Main", the part they used was closed down. This part of the prison seen one of the worst riots in history. It occurred on Feb. 2, 1980. Nowadays, the prison is available for film use

-The picture Chris Rock shows Paul is a real-life picture of his mother and him. The photo appears in a book she wrote called Mama Rock's Rules