MovieChat Forums > The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) Discussion > How Much of This Movie Was 'Disney'd Up'...

How Much of This Movie Was 'Disney'd Up'?


I read a post about Francis Ouimet which explains that actually many pieces of this story were extremely closely based on the real events, which surprised me. Such as him choosing 10 year old Eddie over the professional caddie.

But I know how Disney likes to do, and I am somewhat disappointed when true stories are made to be more outrageous than they are. Did Disney actual stick to most of actual history, even to precise details?

By the way, I really liked the movie.

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The playoff wasn't even close. Ouimet won by five strokes.

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I hate to be the "it's just a movie" gal once again, but that probably wouldn't have been nearly as exciting as it coming down to one last stroke.

Heh heh...we said "stroke." (Sorry...)

Sans toi, les émotions d'aujourd'hui ne seraient que la peau morte des émotions d'autrefois.

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Yes, exactly. They had to change it to make it more exciting on the screen. I hear the same complaint about Remember the Titans. The title game in real life was a blow out too but that doesn't make for a good movie when the good guys don't struggle at least a bit.

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This site goes into some detail:

http://www.scoopy.com/greatestgame.htm

There were a few minor facts altered in the course of the film. There was one major one. There was no important putt on the 18th hole of the playoff. Ouimet did not, however, win in a runaway. The final margin is deceptive. Ouimet was up by one after 16.

On the 17th, Vardon knew par-par would not win. He needed a birdie, so he launched a mighty drive over the trees to cut the dogleg. Francis played safely down the middle. The players could not see the result of Vardon's drive from the tee box. When they finally got to the drive area, Vardon was pinned to the lip of the trap, requiring him to chip out. That what was ended the match. If Vardon had stayed on some grass and made a birdie, they would have been even after 17.

(And Vardon's drive did land safely, per spectators, but landed on some uneven turf and took a wickedly unexpected kick toward the trap.)

Disney chose to make the final putt look important, which was nonsense.

Apart from that, the story was essentially true.

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i would say that this is impressively in line with the real story.
How could you even complain!

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I was actually really surprised. I just got done watching the movie with commentary by Mark Frost, who wrote the book on which the movie was based. A lot of the things that I thought were 'Disney'd Up' were, in fact, actual incidents from Ouimet's life.

-The deal with his father and the subsequent tension between them (Actually, if you listen to the commentary, things were a lot *worse* between Francis and his father than we saw on film. When the dad said he had to move out once the tournament was over, Francis went up to his room that same night and packed his bag.)
-Young Francis meeting Vardon in the department stores
-The whole thing with the music hall woman
-Francis' original caddy being bought out from under him, and Jack Lowery getting caught by a truant officer
-The USGA trying to replace Eddie as Francis' caddy
-The awkward locker-room meeting between Francis and Vardon on the first day of play
-President Taft showing up during the second round, and totally throwing off Francis' game
-Ted Ray punching Wilfred Reed in the face

There were a bunch more things where I kept going "Huh. Really?" If you haven't watched Frost's commentary, it's definitely worth the time. About the only thing they admitted was a TOTAL fabrication was Sarah (Francis didn't marry until five years later, and to a woman named Stella) but I Think she helped in the story. Plus she had great hats.


"Hey, that's right... We're supposed to sing about pirate-y things!" - Mr. Lunt

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I just read the book and the story behind this event in history is amazing (some artistic licence was taken read the back cover before you start). The book has inspired me to learn more about historical golfers and the history of golf itself.

What I didn't like about the movie is how much the amazing life of Harry Vardon was de-emphasized. This man was born into abject poverty, sold into virtual slavery by his parents and went on to become the most dominent golfer of his time, his record of 6 British open titles still stands. He won the Open while suffering from tuberculosis and did this all living within the confines of his status in class concious England. I think this film could have been a gritty 3 hour epic had Disney not been involved. The essence of the story says so much about class, democracy and the rise of the middle class in America that wasn't done justice in the film, and the life of Harry Vardon is essential to telling that story.

The other thing I didn't like was the fabrication of the love affair between Francis and that rich tart. In reality Francis married a working class girl who the sister of a fellow golfer. I found this relationship to be a little insulting, but I understand it was used as a dramatic tool. Amazingly, most of the film is pretty close to what actually happened, some golf moments were shuffled around from the Mass. Amateur to the National Amateur, some location shifts the ommision of a bar fight, Walter Hagen and some other golfers who were in the hunt in the final round.

Once last thing, Harry Vardon had a serious 'stache in real life but it was removed for the film. I guess its hard for americans to like people with mustaches.
bo ur ma!

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What made the rich girl a tart? I didn't see any thing to indicate that.

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You're right I might have been a little strong, but she is fictional so don't get too insulted. I was annoyed with her inclusion in the story, she is only there to raise the stakes of the story and add drama, I get that. She also reinforces the class differences the Francis experienced, I get that. I just thought it was a little disrespectful to rewrite a mans real life love interest, how would you feel if someone rewrote your wife? But, maybe he dumped her and met his real wife later, whatever.

bo ur ma!

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According to a rather inaccurate source, he enlisted in WWI and worked his way up to Lieutenant before the war ended. Since then, he followed his dream as a businessman and continued to play amateur golf. Perhaps if there is truth, they lost each other like every other couple in war at those times. Who knows?

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If you accept the premise that you're going to rearrange any facts at all (pretty gratuitously and purposelessly, in my opinion, but after all, it's not a documentary), I guess I don't find a major problem with the fabricated girl. You can make a case that she helped bring home the full ghastliness of the class thing, through the supporting characters. A lot of viewers will have no real idea whatsoever that such a thing existed.

After all, if this had truly been a Hollywood movie, they would have kissed or at least held hands at some point, for gosh sake. Also, a Hollywood movie would have made Vardon and Ouimet hug or some such ghastly anachronistic thing at their last meeting.

But heck, I would have liked it a lot if they had at least shaken hands warmly.

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it wasnt a movie about Harry Vardon, it was about the 1913 US open, so to add the totality of everything Vardon did in his life would be overkill. how did it de-emphasize Vardon anyway. it had young Ouimet finding a Vardon ball, then looking at his picture, and receiving a book on golfing by Vardon and him being at the Dept store teaching his special grip on the club and on and on countless things about Vardon and hardly anything about Ouimet's golfing life besides a few newspaper clippings they briefly showed in a scrap book his mother was collecting.
Uh....oh,oh, it's the pancakes! You don't like pancakes, I will get you somethin else!

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Don't if this would be considered 'Disney'd Up', but one thing that bugs me with the film is that the climactic 17th hole in real life is actually a dogleg left and not a dogleg right as it's portrayed in the film. I mean they had the right idea with the hole, a dogleg with bunkers at the inside corner, but they had it flipped.

Nitpicky, but given the history of that hole (Justin Leonard putt comes to mind) you'd think they could've found a better hole at the course they were filming

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