MovieChat Forums > Second String (2002) Discussion > the makers of the replacements should su...

the makers of the replacements should sue..

posted 20 years ago by leeaf83
11 replies | jump to latest

...of course this movie makes the replacements look better.

Unbelievable how much the replacements was copied.
-Both movies have former college star quarterbacks who fell off the face of the football planet.
-Both men get second (and final) chances due to odd circumstances (although at least the strike in the replacements was believable. Food poisoning is pretty lame).
-both quarterbacks have to help out handicapped players- Keanu Reeves has to work with a deaf tight end while Gil Bellows has to work with a tackle who can't read playbooks
-Both quarterbacks get replaced before the final game by star quarterbacks meant to be idiots.
-The final game in second string is almost a carbon copy clone of the final game in the replacements; the 'star' quarterback comes in after a lengthy dispute over money and plays like *beep*, trashes the teammates, and bashes the handicapped player both times nearly starting a fight. Reeves and Bellows both go to the coach and plead their cases to get put into the game. The players rally behind both men, the star QB freaks out both times and both times is puched by a teammate to get them out of the picture (the only differences are that Tommy Baker from Second String is actually knocked out late in the second quarter while Eddie Martel from the replacements is removed physically from the room during halftime). Needless to say the replacement QB's come back in, start a huge comeback. Both times a field goal becomes the end focal point. In Second string, the replacement kicker who hadn't kicked a field goal since high school kicks one while in the replacements, the replacement kicker who is a star is not given an opportunity to kick due to the QB faking the field goal and retaining the ball (to save the kicker from loan sharks).

-Not really a carbon copy but both actors who played replacement quarterbacks are Canadian.

[–] BoondockDraven 19 years ago

Yeah This movie sucked and i wanted it to be awesome because i live in buffalo. A radio dj directed it. So yeah it sucked.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] leeaf83 19 years ago

How is it that the much better done replacements with its higher budget was released two years before second string if the script was supposedly copied?

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] zbotny2 19 years ago

um how do you know this? Seriously

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] bmdbuffalox 19 years ago

This movie was filmed before The Replacements. It took a couple years before TNT showed it.

[–] bmdbuffalox 19 years ago

Well since the filming dates are not on here but only the airing date you have to take my word for it.

I read it in the Buffalo News that Second String was filmed over two years before it first aired. In fact when I saw the trailer the first time for The Replacements I thought that was the film but changed the name.

And the fact that Doug Flutie was released by the Bills months before The Replacements was released. Why would he do a movie about the Bills after the year 2000.

Second String aired in 2002 he was all ready playing for San Diego for two seasons.

[–] leeaf83 19 years ago

Yeah actually I believe that it was filmed a few years ago. Buffalo actually plays Fluties Chargers in the film and then have quite a few older players such as Antowan Smith, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas who have not played for the team in years.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] cquence23 17 years ago

This film was shot in and around Toronto during the fall of 1999 or spring of 2000. I was one of the many extras to work on the shoot and have since worked on so many other films I have forgotten exactly when it was done. (And before anyone asks, no, you can't really see me on screen. I was dressed as a security guard patrolling the sidelines of the game, so all you can really see is a blur of black pants, yellow golf shirt with "Security" on the back, and a black baseball hat with my blonde ponytail sticking out the back. Ahhh... the glamour of the movie industry... I'll be in my trailer if you want me :>)

As for the accusations of one movie stealing ideas from another, anyone who knows the film industry at all knows that many films spend a long, long time in development before cameras even begin rolling, often with a number of writers, directors, producers attached at different stages of the game. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to know that there was one or more people brought ideas from one project to the other. Look at Armageddon and Deep Impact, Ants and A Bug's Life, or Dante's Peak and Volcano for other examples of thematically similar films being made around the same time.

A lawsuit would be difficult, as it's hard to prove who had what idea first. The scripts are significantly different, as are the main plot points. I'm not sure how copyright law works in motion pictures, but in music you can't copyright a chord progression, (look at how many songs are built around a I-IV-V progression) only a uniquely identifiable melody, lyrics, or other specifics of a song which can be written down or notated in some manner. Phil Collins once was involved in a lawsuit to protect his drum sounds from being illegally sampled, claiming the way they were recorded and processed gave them a signature sound which belonged to him.

Finally, I had heard from one of the assistant directors or extras casting directors or someone from this film, when I saw them on another set, that there had been some legal issues regarding use of trademarked logos to sort out which had also contributed to the delay between wrapping production and the initial airing. I don't know if there's any truth to it, but that story floated around many of the regulars I saw on various sets for a while afterwards. Delays can be caused by a number of factors. Look at a film like Crab Orchard or The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, both of which were long in the can before ever securing distribution.