Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton, Rhys Ifans, Jon Favreau, and Jack Warden, in his final motion picture role, star in Howard Deutch’s 2000 sports comedy The Replacements. The Washington Redskins, who won all three replacement games without any of their regular players and went on to win Super Bowl XXII, were the subject of the movie, which was partially based on the 1987 NFL strike.
The Falco–Martel quarterback debate is quite similar to the Doug Williams and Jay Schroeder post-strike Washington controversy, even though the movie tells the narrative of the replacement players. The America’s Game:
The Super Bowl Champions episode of NFL Network dedicated to that squad was narrated by Hackman. With four games remaining in the season, a player’s strike breaks out in an undisclosed professional football league. Owner of the Washington Sentinels, Edward O’Neil, gives former coach Jimmy McGinty a call and informs him that the league will use replacement players to finish the regular season.
McGinty is asked to coach the Sentinels for the remainder of the season, adding that winning three of the next four games will guarantee the Sentinels a spot in the playoffs. McGinty agrees, provided that O’Neil stays out of the way and he is free to sign the players he wants.
The Replacements Filming Locations
The movie was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The following places were used for filming, per the Internet Movie Database: Toronto, Ontario, Canada (outside football stadium and airport); Brampton, Ontario (inside Airport) Canada’s Burlington, Ontario (inside and outside: airport); Oakville, Ontario, Canada (outside Jimmy’s High School; flashback: a high school football game) Margaritaville in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Canada’s Vaughan, Ontario (inside the mall)
Plot Of The Movie
To assemble a winning, if not entertaining, team, McGinty brings together players with a variety of skills. McGinty selects Shane Falco, a former Ohio State All-America quarterback whose career collapsed following a crushing Sugar Bowl defeat.
Falco currently resides on a houseboat in a D.C. marina and earns a living by maintaining the hulls of private yachts. At first, Falco says no, but McGinty convinces him that Falco still has the potential to be the player he was always meant to be. On their first practice, the striking players welcome the replacement players with contempt, calling them “scabs” and hurling eggs at them.
Falco, arriving late, has his truck overturned. When the other tryouts go wrong, head cheerleader Annabelle Farrell, who has to recruit new cheerleaders because the originals reportedly left out of sorrow for the players, hires strippers. She takes Falco home after practice, surprising him with her extensive football knowledge. The team doesn’t get along when they play Detroit in the substitutes’ debut game.
Falco attempts to rally them, but on the final play, he makes a mistake by calling an audible that misses the winning score because he anticipates a blitz. Falco receives harsh criticism from McGinty, who states, “Winners always want the ball when the game’s on the line.”
While the substitutes are somberly mourning their defeat at a neighborhood bar, a few striking players—led by their prima donna quarterback, Eddie Martel—show up and start making fun of them. Falco confronts Martel, which sparks a fight. The substitutes are taken into custody, but while they are there, they become close, dancing in their cell to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” until McGinty comes to their rescue.
The following day, Farrell tells Falco that he’s the only quarterback she’s seen in a while who puts his teammates’ needs ahead of his own, and they begin to bond. When McGinty asks the players what their worries are during a “chalk talk” the next day, they start to realize that they’re all scared of not making it through their second opportunity at football.
McGinty encourages the group to draw strength from their shared terror. The following game, the Sentinels play San Diego, and although they fall behind early again, they rally to win 17–16 thanks to a 65-yard field goal from Welsh kicker Nigel.
At the pub that Falco runs now that her father has left for her, she bumps into Farrell. They have a quick chat, have a beer, and then a passionate kiss. In their next game, the Sentinels play Phoenix on the road and come close to losing, but they win on a few crazy plays.
