The Slaughter Rule (2002) Reviews

• A Compelling Story Beautifully Told

  rgtharp952007-07-13

  This movie has recently been playing on Showtime in my area and I was interested in watching it because I am a fan of both Ryan Gosling and David Morse. I first became a Ryan Gosling fan after seeing him in The Notebook. I have to say his performance in this film did not disappoint. David Morse's performance was one of his best. After reading all the comments and replies here I just wanted to add some of my thoughts about the film and what I felt the filmmakers were going for. First of all, I am not a fan of movies that are neatly bundled into a happy ending by the end of the film. I like those films that portray life as it really is and that make you THINK. The most memorable aspect of this film, indeed the most heartbreaking, is Gid's torment and loneliness in life. I don't think he was gay, just a lost soul looking for acceptance, friendship, indeed reciprocal love if you will, and a sense of purpose in life. Roy's character seemed to be looking for most of the same things. He had a father who wasn't there for him in life and a mother so bitter over the divorce that she was too busy trying to find love of her own to take the time to nurture her own son. I found the comments regarding the relationship between Gid and Studebaker very interesting re: were they homosexuals? Just because two men form a friendship in life doesn't mean they are gay. To me, Studebaker's jealousy over Gid's interest in Roy is just a natural human emotion. Haven't you at times been jealous when a friend of the same sex showed interest in someone new? Does that make you gay? Also, it doesn't seem there was anyone else in the town who gave a damn about him (Studebaker) so any threat to that bond frightened him. Their friendship was most likely just that of two lost souls trying to get by in life. It made me think so much more of Gid that he did not pass judgement on Studebaker -- he cared enough about his well being to try to stop his drinking, to give him his insulin injections, to try to get a room for him at the shelter on that last bitterly cold night. The scene in which Gid is hugging Roy and won't let go was very powerful. Roy, who had been told by others that Gid was gay, must have had that thought foremost in his mind and misinterpreted Gid's demonstration of affection. Perhaps Gid, remembering that Roy had just lost his father, wanted to show him that he is not alone, that there are people in the world who really care. Perhaps Roy reminded Gid of the boy who drowned and he was transferring his feelings of guilt over that tragedy into that embrace. For whatever the reason, Roy's embarrassment which quickly progressed to rage that Gid might be demonstrating some sort of homosexual intent, are a damning indictment of our society. Homophobia at it's worse. The scene in the hospital at the end of the movie when Gid takes Roy's hand and places it on his forehead was very moving. Roy did not pull his hand away; instead, in this simple, gentle gesture, the filmmakers were showing us that Roy had overcome his fear of demonstrating affection toward another as well as overcoming any homophobic thoughts he might have had about Gid. The acting was first rate all around. Compelling story line. Beautiful Montana scenery. Sound quality not the best but I would definitely recommend this film to others.

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• A Poignant display of loss, recovery, and redemption.

  goathaven12002-06-14

  The Slaughter Rule is one of the few unique films that captivates the viewer straight from the opening sequence. The film opens with a haunting shot, as twin brothers Alex and Andrew Smith take there camera through a barb-wire fence to reveal a helpless dying deer, literally struggling for its every last breath of life. Enter Roy Chutney, a high school student who is cut from the varsity football team just three days prior to losing his estranged father. Much like the deer, Roy never gives up in his struggle to live his life in wake of tragedy, even after losing just about everything that held meaning in his young adulthood. Roy is eventually approached by the local paper distributor Gideon (played with remarkable passion and sustain by the brilliant David Morse). Gideon asks Roy to join his roughneck 6-man football team. Upon joining, Roy is taken under Gideon's wing and must eventually confront the small-town rumors that linger regarding Gideons sexuality, and turbulent past. The Slaughter Rule is unlike any high school football movie ever made. First of all, the film omits any of the standard hallway and classroom scenes that frequent every other film of the genre, It also discards the glorified high school football stadiums that almost give the impression they could be home to the next super bowl. Instead the scenes in this film are mainly set in country bars, private bedrooms, and cold icy fields, where the viewer can almost feel themselves being slammed into the frozen tundra alongside the players themselves. Where most football movies feature strong, good-looking, "prom king" type players, The Slaughter Rule uses gritty, "normal-looking" kids, that could easily be seen tossing the pigskin around in any small middle American town. Eric Edwards stunning cinematography, and alt/country musician Jay Farrar's folk influenced score, help make The Slaughter Rule one of the most promising directorial debuts in recent years, and was by far the best film I saw at the 2002 Lake Placid Film Festival. I strongly urge anyone who has ever experienced loss from death or rejection, to watch this film. For those of you who have not, pull that letterman jacket out of the closet and rent Varsity Blues. Jesse Haven is a 19 year old film student from Burlington, Vermont Questions or comments?? Email me

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• Underrated Effort

  B242003-01-14

  As a subscriber to Sundance Channel, I am intrigued by recurrent programming patterns in the films shown. Recently, for example, there has been a spate of male-oriented psycho-sexual dramas that go deeply into themes usually represented in mainstream cinema as subconscious or accidental phenomena. In The Slaughter Rule as well as other recent offerings like L.I.E. or Priest or Taboo (originally Gohatto), characters reveal emotions that seem designed specifically to break new ground in the amorphic area between ordinary storytelling and what some would call pornography. The common word to describe this is "disturbing." But just as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Midnight Cowboy, and Harold and Maude opened people's eyes in the 60's and 70's to the possibilities of "disturbing" cinema as literature, these new films may lead in my view to an entirely new public attitude about the inherent validity of the effort. To be sure, The Slaughter Rule is a flawed film. So are many others of its kind to date. Its premise, however, is sound. One can nitpick about cinematic values, geographical anomalies, or plot distractions, etc., but to be able to see disparate fictional characters get under each other's skin is what makes any drama come to life. Added to that in this case is a very competent job of producing, directing, and editing. Moreover, no one can quarrel with the acting performance of David Morse. Coming to grips with overtly sexual themes in films -- particularly those that deal seriously with "disturbing" but very real kinds of human emotions -- is a challenging task not only for moviemakers like the Smiths, but also for viewers. I give this movie an "E" for effort and a solid 9 out of 10 for everything else.

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• Football as Male Life in Cold Montana

  noralee2003-05-18

  I don't usually find movies first by their soundtrack, but I first heard of "The Slaughter Rule" because Jay Farrar, of the late Uncle Tupelo, did the score and song selections, including by Vic Chestnutt, the Flatlanders, and the Pernice Brothers. So I was intrigued when I saw it was on Sundance Channel as it hadn't appeared on screens in New York. The debut jointly written/directed feature of twin brothers Andrew and Alex Smith, the film has a lot of similarity to Tom Cruise's early "All the Right Moves," even down to charismatic young star Ryan Gosling clearly being a movie star hunk of the future. Set in the brothers' home area of rugged (and very desolate) Montana in the fall, this film takes its working class football frame of athlete seeking father figure and coach conflict much further in examining maleness and the implications of the homo-eroticism of such sports much further. It bravely (particularly by David Morse in a touchingly agonized performance) goes into the breach of what much discussion of current scandals has avoided, at the confused nexus of pedophilia and sexual identity, particularly for teen-age boys. There's also a dollop of racial issues via the very realistically portrayed poverty of the Native Americans. The women are mostly helpless within this overwhelmingly male environment, and their best choice for survival is just to leave, as unromantically satisfying as that is. This ranks in the gritty tradition of sports movies as a setting to demonstrate social tensions like "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" than more popular fare.

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• An interesting study of relationships

  Silence912003-05-07

  "The Slaughter Rule" is an interesting, moving study of male relationships, with the movie portraying how the limits of male bonding are tested through past and natural emotion. Ryan Gosling is deep and effective as a teenage jock who's life has seen it's rocky roads, and then he meets a quiet, mystifying older man who wants to recruit him for a six man football team. What Gosling doesn't know is about the Man's past, which turns out to test their growing relationship. It's an often slow but alluring tale, absorbing you in to the story of characters that are both familiar and alien, and ending up with an odd but truthful ending that pulls out all the raw, closeted emotions that the two men have for each other, and it's home-movie-style video shoot and beautiful country scenery brings it to life.

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