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12 Mighty Orphans

Greenbelt Films

Santa Rita Film Co.

Sony Pictures Classics

United States of America

English

Luke Wilson

Vinessa Shaw

Wayne Knight

Martin Sheen

Jake Austin Walker

Scott Haze

Levi Dylan

Jacob Lofland

Rooster McConaughey

King Orba

Treat Williams

Larry Pine

Lillie Fink

Josie Fink

Slade Monroe

Preston Porter

Ron White

Woodrow Luttrell

Jacob Audirsch

Gavin Warren

Michael Gohlke

Bailey Roberts

Tyler Silva

Manuel Tapia

Austin Shook

Sampley Barinaga

Natasha Bassett

Carlson Young

David Lambert

Lane Garrison

Robert Duvall

Austin Robert Russell

Kellen McAlone

Aaron Beck

Lucy Faust

Jeff Swearingen

Lee Ellis

Keath Kibbey

Kelly Frye

Zach Rose

Heath Freeman

Brian Lafontaine

Scott Sayers

Robert Henry

Troy Dungan

Robert Musgrave

Jake McAlister

Hal Jay

Matt Herring

Kelly Dealyn

Breckyn Hager

George Young Jr.

Gil Prather

Angelique De Luca

Harry Hudson

Michael Lockwood Crouch

John Anthony Torres

Braden Balazik

Jack Doke

Nicholas Reed

Keegan Bouton

Alex Bilbrey

Casey Grisham

Cooper Justin Grisham

Victoria Paige Watkins

PaulaSu Grisham

David McFarland

Kevin Meyer

Ekaterina Baker

Matt Barr

Dominic Cancilla

Anne Fleitas

Ryan R. Johnson

Ty Roberts

Ryan Ross

Camille Scioli-Mcnamara

Kyle Stroud

Mark Orton

James K. Crouch

Drew Boughton

Bryan N. Blanton

Scott Colquitt

Bryan Venegas

Juliana Hoffpauir

Lesa Foust

Chris Frazee

Brad Harper

Johnny Marshall

Caleb Robertson

Jazzie Dash

Kat Hess

Russell Towery

Jim Dent

Michael De Luca

Houston Hill

Brinton Bryan

Rhett Bennett

Greg McCabe

J. Todd Harris

CinemaSerf

Luke Wilson is quite effective here as a football coach (Rusty) who, with his teacher wife (Juanita) and his daughter arrive at a run down orphanage, home to 150 children of all ages abandoned by their parents in the midst of the Great Depression. Pretty quickly, they get the general idea that those in the establishment are considered more like the inmates of a prison, and those running it are at best indifferent, at worst ruthlessly exploitative of their charges. Rusty sets out to try and galvanise the disparate young men into some sort of cohesive unit. Initially, they are sullen, demotivated and would rather fight each other than try to play a game and the task looks impossible, but luckily he has some help from school doctor "Hall" (Martin Sheen) a worldly dipsomaniac with a thorough knowledge of American football and of human nature. The younger cast are made of relative unknowns, but as with the aspirations for their their team, they bond well - especially Jacob Lofland as the skinny Snoggs; Slade Monroe as the chunky quarterback Wheatie and a there is strong, heartfelt effort from Jake Austin Walker - the sort of recalcitrant-in-chief Hardy Brown. The coach enables the boys to feel something other than despair for the first time in their lives - he gives them hope, a sense of purpose and of family. Wayne Knight - whom i always recall as the dodgy IT bloke from "Jurassic Park" (1993) is really quite good as the odious teacher Frank Wynn, who uses the youngsters as cheap labour - and is brutal with his paddle if anyone steps out of line. Director Ty Roberts has done well to illustrate the sense of abandonment felt by the youngsters, and to a certain extent by the school management too, but more so - he manages, through some sparing appearances from Treat Williams - to share with us the sensational effects these young men had on the ordinary men and women of the USA - desperate for something positive to get behind after years of poverty and gloom. For reasons that make no sense to me, the timeline has been shifted from the mid 1920s until the late 1930s. It's not that it makes a great deal of difference to the narrative it's just curious that the end credits are accompanied by interesting mini-bios of the boys that don't remotely tie up - unless they were flying bombers WWII at a very early age. Still, it is a well structured production which has just enough of the facts to keep it real, but just enough imagination to enable me to feel engaged with the men, their efforts and ultimately, I rather enjoyed it.

12 MIGHTY ORPHANS | Official Trailer (2021)

Behind the Scenes of 12 Mighty Orphans | The Reel Dallas

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12 Mighty Orphans

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Luke Wilson

Vinessa Shaw

Wayne Knight

Martin Sheen

Jake Austin Walker

Scott Haze

Levi Dylan

Jacob Lofland

Rooster McConaughey

King Orba

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