The Longest Yard

Former pro football hero Paul 'Wrecking' Crewe (Burt Reynolds) has a drunken fight with his girlfriend (Anitra Ford) and takes off in her Maserati. To his surprise she presses charges and he ends up in prison. His fellow prisoners hate him because he destroyed his own career by point-shaving. Only Caretaker (James Hampton) is willing to befriend him. Football-mad Warden Rudolph Hazen (Eddie Albert) has put together a roster of guards that double as linebackers and he wants Crewe to create a team of prisoners to take on the guards in an exhibition game. At first Crewe refuses but eventually mistreatment by the guards and an increase in his sentence lead him to attempt the impossible. With the help of Caretaker, former pro footballer Nate Scarboro (Michael Conrad), 'Granny' Granville (Harry Caesar), perpetual prisoner Pop (John Steadman) and the warden's sexy secretary Miss Toot (Bernadette Peters), he overcomes all challenges, including the fact that some of the cons have never played football before and a boycott by the black prisoners. Eventually he fields a tough and capable team. But before the big game, Caretaker is killed by a jealous homosexual arsonist named Unger (Charles Tyner).