MovieChat Forums > The Longest Yard (1974) Discussion > Why did Warden ask Paul to form team and...

Why did Warden ask Paul to form team and NOT Nate, a former pro?


Any takers?

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I'm a limey, not too savvy with American Football, but when the warden first meets Crew, he mentions him as a former 'Most Valuable Player', I suppose him being a huge name in the game would have added some added glamour.

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Paul was a QB and younger and possibly a bigger name or more famous.

And who knows? He may have asked Nate before and Nate refused.

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He expected Crewe would "throw" the game if he had to; he had done so before.

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I don't think he knew about Nate. His career was a long time ago and he probably kept it quiet.. Paul didn't even know Nate was there until Nate approached him. Don't you think the other inmates would have told Paul another Pro was in the prison sometime?

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My guess is that he would have asked Nate if Paul wasn't around. The warden didn't think any inmate team could beat his guard's team but wanted the very best competition for the tune up game, and figured Paul could provide it.

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It should be remembered that it was Crewe who gave the warden the idea in the first place when he suggested that the guards play a tune up game against a lesser opponent. The warden hadn't even considered a game against the cons prior to Crewe's arrival. The other important factor was that the warden had leverage over Crewe (potentially an extra 3.5 years to his sentence after he rammed Knauer with his own nightstick). Presumably, he had nothing like this to hang over Scarboro to force him to not only organize a team but make them good enough to be worth the guards' time.

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Good call. I forgot about that part.

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Makes even less sense. If he wanted a pro's eye or opinion, he had Nate there the entire time. Huge plot hole.

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NOPE...READING HELPS.

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Makes even less sense.


You got it backwards. Given that the warden viewed his prisoners as sub-human animals and delighted in letting them know it, he would've been too proud to ask the advice of a con. Or, even if he did make an exception for Nate, he couldn't afford such an interaction to be known by the rest of the prison population. According to his own power dynamics philosophy, this would undermine his ability to control the prisoners. The scenario you propose, that the warden asks for Nate's help, is what really wouldn't make sense.

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He literally asked Crew for help, and in your head canon, antagonized him to do it. That could've easily been done to pressure Nate too. So no, your explanation doesn't make sense either. You're making up nonsense that could easily apply to Nate, if the plot point and writing wasn't bad. The only real difference between Nate and Paul was Paul could play (but Nate wound up playing anyway). That's the only reason it would be any different.

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No. The difference is that he asked Crew privately for "help" in arranging a game with the cons. The mere arrangement of the game wouldn't have implicated the warden as having sought advice from the sub-human cons. If instead he had consulted with Nate on a regular basis -- without the distracting spectacle of a game between the guards and cons -- it would be widely perceived as the warden humbling himself and admitting a con knew more about something than the warden and guards. And that's exactly why the scenario you suggested is totally inconsistent with the film's characters, the warden most especially.

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How is it not known that Crew knows more about something than the warden and guards? It's pretty fricken obvious. Your scenario and the movies doesn't hide that. It's also obvious once Nate appears, that he does too.

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It's about perception. So far as the other prisoners are concerned, the warden's motivation with Crew is just to facilitate a tune up game against the cons that, in the warden's mind, has the added bonus of humiliating them. If he asks Nate to analyze the games and offer his advice, then that looks like exactly what it is...the warden seeking advice from a con.

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You have no idea what Nate would suggest. He literally can suggest a tune-up game too.

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You don't have any idea either, which underscores exactly why it's a pointless criticism. Hell, for that matter the warden might not even have been aware who Nate Scarboro was in the first place. Paul Crew was a name everyone knew.

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The warden built a team of guards of ex-jocks who were probably scouted. He would certainly know when a professional football player is sentenced to his prison. Everything about this movie is flimsy and sloppy. You keep trying to defend it with poor excuses but why? Did your dad write it or something?

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Just something to add here. The Warden specifically had Paul transferred to the prison because he wanted an opinion on the football team. We don't know the circumstances of how Nate got there. He may have been sent there through normal channels and not by the Warden's machinations. So, the Warden may never had looked at his records.

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