14 Hollywood Gridiron Greats

THE LONGEST YARD (1974)

Slim chance The Bad News Bears or Slap Shot would've been made if Burt Reynolds' prison football pic had fumbled at the box office. (That said, its success did thrust the 2005 Adam Sandler debacle upon us.) Surrounded by NFL all-stars, Reynolds shines as disgraced QB Paul Crewe, who reluctantly cobbles together fellow convicts to take on the guards' semipro team. Director Robert Aldrich was among the first to capture the sport's speed and violence up close, and Yard's triumph trumpeted the bankability of football, which had always played backup to baseball and boxing in Hollywood. —Jeff Labrecque