A Movie Review of Gridiron Gang, a Sport Drama by Phil Joanou

Based on a true story, a worker at a juvenile detention center tries to start a football team to help kids from rival gangs learn how to overcome their differences. Sean Porter works at a juvenile detention center in Los Angeles, where gang warfare makes it impossible to get the teenagers to get along with one another. When one of his transformed teens gets murdered once he’s released from the center, Porter is heartbroken; between that and his mother dying, life doesn’t seem to be fair.

However, he finds inspiration in his passion which is football. He asks his supervisors to allow him to put together a football team, and while they think it’s not such a good idea, they allow him and his co-worker Malcolm to make it happen. He selects some kids and requires them to be a part of the team, and at first it doesn’t go so well because some of the teammates are from rival gangs; in particular, Willie and Kelvin, two talented players on the team, are wanting to kill each other when they get the opportunity.

In the long run, they begin to all play together as a team. When they are finally accepted into a league they go by the team name “The Mustangs”, the first game couldn’t go any worse. They play the best team, get beaten, and Porter shouts at the children for their efforts when he finds out these are the kind of children that quit under difficultly.

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With his mother’s encouragement he apologizes and gets them back on his side and they begin winning; after one game Willie and Kelvin even shake hands. They eventually get into the playoffs and they are booked to play the group that had beaten them so badly in their first game.

When one of Willie’s former gang associates shows up and shoots Kelvin, Willie fights the gang member instead of Kelvin, which surprises everyone. Although Kelvin has to sit out and they are still scared from the first beating, they rally in the second half and beat their opponent. In the end the eventually lose the championship title, but a point has been made in that Porter’s new founded system is a success and will be part of the detention center for the years to come.

One of the significant rhetorical strategies that is in the “Gridiron Gang” would have to be Value of the Individual which is when a person is valued as an autonomous, unique, decision- making personality, worthy of concern and possessing intrinsic identity. Sean Porter shows empowerment from helping his team by training them how to play football. He takes a leadership position and is able to emphasize with each of his players in different ways based on their personality; in one example he emphasizes with a player named Willie and tells him that he should forgive his father in order to move forward with his life. Porter is self-aware in that his actions impact others, he has motivational support, and shows empathy towards others; when the team plays well he rewards them and treats them as individuals not as gang members.

After he finds out that the team is angry and disappointed with their first game result, he decides not to put the blame on his team and instead tries to motivate his team by saying “I still don’t believe that they’re 38 points better than you. I still don’t believe that they’re better team. I would not trade you for them” (Gridiron Gang). Porter also takes his mother to the hospital and visits her regularly, he prioritizes his mother’s health over his job as clearly shown in the sentence, “I just think when you’re sick maybe it’s not a good time” (Gridiron Gang).

Although Sean Porter is the main character of the movie there are other characters who also share the value of the individual. The most important however, would probably be Willie Weathers who is one of the players. Willie comes from gang 88, the reason why he is brought to the Kilpatrick Detention Center is because he shoots and kills his abusive father in protection to his mother. While at Kilpatrick he meets another gang member named Kelvin who comes from gang 95, (which is the gang that ends up killing his cousin) they immediately hate each other and Willie tells Kevin “I’ll kill you right here right now” (Gridiron Gang).

Willie and Sean develop a friendship because Sean shows how much he cares about him and that he doesn’t want Willie to end up dead like his cousin Roger Weathers, he also shares a moment about his father who was similar to Willie’s. After spending some time training for football and developing a brotherhood- like relationship with his teammates, Willie changes his values for the better. He works hard and doesn’t give up as easily as before and him and his arch nemesis Kelvin become friends, which can be seen whenever Willie saves Kelvin from being shot during a game, they eventually forget about their differences and start working together.

Achievement and Success which is when an occupational achievement has become a measure of personal merit and failure is often associated with personal inadequacy, would have to be another significant rhetorical strategy for the movie “Gridiron Gang”. The first game the Mustangs play against is the best team in the league which is Barrington. The game starts out somewhat positive for the Mustangs, as they recover a fumble on the first drive, but they are later beaten by Barrington, losing by a total of 38 points. After starting 0-2, the Mustangs start winning games as they learn to work together. Kelvin and Willie shake hands for the first time whenever they win a game by one touchdown after Kelvin blocks the offensive for Willie. Near the end of the season, the Mustangs head to the playoffs.

One of Willie’s gang members, who goes by the name Free, stops by the field. Free realizes that Kelvin is a 95 member and they both get into a fight, Free shoots Kelvin in the shoulder and prepares to put another bullet in Kelvin’s head but, Willie runs toward Free and tackles him to the ground saving Kelvin’s life. Free is astonished of how Willie helped Kelvin and not him. Unfortunately, although Kelvin survives he will not be able to play in the finals. Kilpatrick is then almost forced to forfeit the playoffs due to the scare of a future gang attack, but

Sean’s boss steps in and prevents the forfeit by convincing volunteer police officers to patrol the game. In the playoff game it is a rematch against Barrington, the first team that the Mustangs played and lost to. The Mustangs go into half time 14-0. Willie gives a motivational speech and they go out and beat Barrington on the last play of the game. It’s then revealed in the narration that they lost the championship game 17-14, but no one called them losers. A few months later, Sean’s football program is officially made a part of in Kilpatrick.

Another significant rhetorical strategy that is in the movie “Gridiron Gang” would have to be Change and Progress which is when human nature can be improved and society is moving to a better way of life. Nothing is impossible and change has become a value in itself. As I have previously stated, a numerous amount of change and progress occurs throughout the film. However I haven’t mentioned the change in those who are in charge of the detention center. Not only does society change to allow the gang members to play football, but so does Paul and Ted who are the authorities at Kilpatrick.

At first they don’t want to make any changes in the program and they insist that Sean should obey the rules that have been enforced for years. They don’t support Sean’s idea about creating a football team, but after progress and some winnings of the team, they begin to support the team and come to watch the games. They also help the team to be allowed to continue their game after the shooting incident by convincing the league’s authorities that they can gather the needed security to guard the field.

This movie greatly expresses what others thought was impossible to be possible, no one thought that a bunch of violent gang members could possibly play football with other schools without causing a fight and even mock the detention center for the idea. Once the team starts to gain a respectful reputation people start to see that the gang members are able to coexist with each other and other teams. Society learns that they shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and start becoming fans of the team and start cheering and supporting them during their games.

Another significant rhetorical strategy that is in the movie “Gridiron Gang” would have to be Ethnical Equality which is the belief that individuals, regardless of their racial characteristics, are morally, politically, and legally equal and should be treated as such. The kids come from different social and ethnic backgrounds, when the kids are together on the field there are people who are African American, White, Mexican, and Asian. Sean Porter treats each individual player the same which shows that there is no inequality within the team.

Every player manages to get along with each other fairly quickly despite being from different gangs and having a different ethnicity. Even Kenny Bates, who is the only white kid on the team, gets respected by everyone even though he is surrounded by people from different racial backgrounds. All of the players that are in gangs unite and forget that they were once rivals.

What I think is the most dominant rhetorical strategy would definitely have to be Reaffirmation of Leadership which is a practical skill regarding the ability of an individual to lead or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. Sean Porter is the main influence of leadership in “Gridiron Gang”, throughout the entirety of the movie he is always leading the team through just about everything.

He encourages the kids to stop being losers and to become someone who can accomplish something useful, “You’re going to have to apply yourself, become a better student” (Gridiron Gang, 0:21:12 – 0:22:10). He tells the team that the only way that they’re going to win is by doing everything his way, not their way, “On the gridiron, we play football. On the gridiron, we do it my way. Not your way! My way! Your way got you here” (0:21:12 – 0:22:10). The team should do everything he instructs; for example, getting along with everybody from different backgrounds and gangs, and become a team who works together, “Everybody listen up. Whatever neighborhood you came from, whatever gang you claimed, whatever hood you from, this is your hood now. You have to learn to get along with people from other hoods, different backgrounds” (0:21:12 – 0:22:10).

Before they start their first game, Sean motivates the team so that they can play and win the game, the reason why Sean motivates the team so much is so he can prove to not only the team, but to everyone that even though they are in a detention center, they can do something that will make everybody see them differently. Sean tells the team that they need to keep their heads up and work hard in order to win the game; unfortunately, they don’t but they now know what it’s like to play in an actual game and both the team and Sean later use that experience to help train them to be better. Sean is such a great leader that even though he is the coach, he involves himself in the team’s training and invites Willie to tackle him so that he can make touchdowns; Sean puts on some football gear and gets ready to play the defensive so that Willie can learn to play the offensive and block the defense.

The main reason why Sean uses such great leadership is because he believes that he can turn the kid’s lives around and make them go from rival gang members who threaten to kill each other, to a team that works together to accomplish their goals. He uses leadership because it is effective to his team who, at first, do not have specific goals to accomplish since they spend their lives in the detention center; therefore, he wants to give each of them the opportunity to make something of themselves and become capable of accomplishing more than they ever could or imagine doing.

He uses leadership because every one of the kids on his team have low self- esteem and confidence issues and show zero interest in their lives in the future, Sean wants to boost their self-esteem and confidence by allowing them to play football, feel what it’s like to work together as a team, and win something that they have worked hard for, and also to start gaining interest in what they want to do with the rest of their life.