Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights is a 1990 book and 2004 movie that documents the coach and players of a high school football team and the small, economically-depressed Texas town that supports and is obsessed with them. The book was authored by H.G. Bissinger and follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panther football team of Odessa, Texas as they made a run towards the state championship. The events culminate in a loss in the semifinals against Carter High School from Dallas, Texas who went on to win the state championship, but were eventually stripped of their victory after it was revealed that Carter's principal changed the grade of Carter cornerback Gary Edwards to allow him to be able to play football. The movie version of Friday Night Lights was released in the United States on October 6, 2004 and starred Billy Bob Thornton as Permian Coach Gary Gaines. The movie was mostly based on the same story, but had some details modified for dramatic effect. Some differences included: - In the movie, Carter and Permian played for the state championship when they actually played in the state semifinal game.
- The Carter-Permian game was played in front of 10,000 people in a heavy downpour at the University of Texas's Memorial Stadium in Austin, not in front of 55,000 in the Astrodome in Houston.
- While the game in the movie was a high-scoring affair, the score of the actual game was 14-9 in favor of Carter.
- In the movie, it is said that Carter was the state's top-ranked team, when Carter was never ranked higher than No. 3 in the Associated Press poll.
- Permian's first opponent in the playoffs was Amarillo Tascosa and not Jesuit as in the movie. In fact, Texas public schools (such as Permian, Carter, and Tascosa) and private schools (such as Jesuit) are members of separate associations; while public and private schools may compete in regular-season games, they never compete in playoffs against one another.
- Permian is portrayed in the movie as a single large high school in a small, one-horse town in West Texas. In reality, there are two large Class 5a high schools in Odessa. In addition to Odessa Permian, there is also the Odessa High School Bronhcos. The Bronchos are never mentioned in any way in the movie.
External links - Official web site
|
|
