I don't know who wrote this screenplay but they screwed up when twice in the dialogue the Hail Mary football pass was mentioned. The story is set in the '30's and the Hail Mary football pass phrase was not coined until 1975 by Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys.
shareCheck your facts. Like it matters.
It was in use during the 50s, too.
In 1922 it is reported that Notre Dame team said the "Hail Mary Prayer" in the huddle during a particular game, [b]the mainstream use[/] of "Hail Mary Pass" to describe a long desperate pass at games end, came out of the 1975 interview with Roger Staubach to describe that particular "miracle" pass he made to win the NFC Championship Game on December 28th 1975."
In any case, it was used before 1975:
Gettysburg(PA) Compiler, August 29, 1974. page 14, col 7.
"a couple of Hail Mary pass plays."
And a 1972 article in the American Dialect Society Mailing List has a quote involving Staubach, from the Sporting News. It was a quote from his Navy coach, Wayne Hardin.
"I remember a game at Michigan. We were on the 20 and Roger rolled right and got hammered in.
He was bobbing and weaving and kept retreating, back to the 30. He was
surrounded and upended.
"He was parallel to the ground, his feet in mid-air and he threw a pass to
Pat Donnelly, who made a one-yard gain. Afterward, I asked if he really saw
Pat or if he was throwing it away.
"He said, 'Let's just call it my Hail Mary Play.'"
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