12 Mighty Orphans

During the Depression a new teacher arrives at an orphanage in Texas and decides to have the boys play football. There is no equipment, no field and not enough players; before anything else the team has to prove its own existence to be admitted to the state league. Ty Roberts based it on a real story, the rise of the Masonic Home team in Fort Worth in the 1930s. Luke Wilson plays the coach and Martin Sheen the orphanage doctor. The film never strains the sports template, but the poverty of the period and the violence inside such institutions stand behind it as fact. The influence of the offensive scheme the team developed on later American football is also covered. Who it is for: viewers who like sports drama based on real events. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a story that leaves the template.