Classic gridiron game is still entertaining

With less than a minute to play, heavily favored, undefeated Yale led its also-undefeated arch rival, Harvard, 29 to 13. In the final seconds, Harvard scored enough to confound the odds and end the game with a tie.

The year was 1968. The place was Cambridge, Mass., where they still refer to it simply as The Game. The movie "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" captures the nostalgia and awe of its 40th anniversary in a documentary that holds interest as the quintessential football movie of fact.

Filmmaker Kevin Rafferty has made a surprisingly entertaining documentary by using what would appear initially to be a rather predictable, even lazy, formula. He merely runs the official broadcast reportage of the game and intersperses comments from some 50 interviews with former players.

What comes across is a good deal better than just sitting around listening to a bunch of old guys reminisce about the big game (although at times it becomes perilously close to just that). The passage of time has broadened and matured their outlook on not only that game but also on the time in which it was played.

On the books it was a tie because there was no overtime in college football then, but the Harvard school newspaper was on to something when it printed the headline the next day: Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.

Yale was heavily favored. Although both teams were undefeated, Yale was ranked 16th in the nation. (Things have changed for the Ivy League since then.)

The movie could have been more important if it had captured a bit more of the time, 1968, but on the other hand, it is a relief not to be shown Vietnam War protests or school riots. We've seen that footage.

Because Rafferty was a Harvard undergrad, it is not surprising that he persistently pictures his school as a kind of down-to-earth place compared to a more preppy Yale, where coats and ties are worn to dinner.

Much is made of the fact that Yale led all the way and, according to this account, celebrated at half time. The Yale fans screamed, "You're No. 2!" after cheering, "We're No. 1!" The Yale band played "The Mickey Mouse Club" theme song to taunt its losing opponent. It's enough to rankle even those of us who normally couldn't care less who won the game.

There are several gossipy surprises.

Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones, who played for Harvard in the game, talks a bit about it and his roommate - future Vice President Al Gore. He reveals that the two had nowhere to go on Thanksgiving and learned to cook a turkey in a fireplace. Jones also reveals that Gore learned to play "Dixie" on a touch-tone telephone system.

One of the players, Bob Levin, says that at the time he was dating a Vassar undergrad named Meryl Streep, who, according to him, was a very quiet, shy type who helped tack up "We Won't Go" posters.

The other "star" in the game was Yale quarterback Brian Dowling, who was the inspiration for the character "B.D." in the "Doonesbury" comic strip. (Cartoonist Gary Trudeau went to Yale.)

Then there is one of the Yale players who roomed with Bulldog cheerleader George W. Bush for three years and tells about the drunken partying after a goal post was torn down at Princeton. George W. leading cheers? It's too bad the movie doesn't have visuals to illustrate.

Good stuff.

A surprise musical accompaniment plays over the final credits - a reasonable re-creation of Al Gore playing "Dixie" on a touch-tone telephone system.

Now, that's entertainment!

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com