Mooney vs Fowle – Review by Tim “Ghost” Gardner
Fri. Oct 14—7 :00 pm Block Chagrin Falls Township Hall
Mooney vs Fowle is provided as a featured Exhibition screening and not a Festival entry. This year marks the golden anniversary of the 1961 state football championship game between rivals Miami High and Miami Edison. Ottis Mooney, coach of Miami High and Haywood Fowle, coach of Miami Edison are the men and the names behind the title. The event was captured by director James Lipscomb and producer Robert Drew. In the process they broke out a stunning new playbook for making documentaries.
Mooney vs Fowle was to documentary film making what the forward pass was to football. It marked the beginning of its modern era. Before Mooney vs Fowle, documentaries had been highly scripted and directed. They were delivered like “lectures” which Drew called “dull.” During a March 2011 post screening discussion at New York City’s Stranger Than Fiction series he said, “I fell asleep every time I looked at a documentary film.”
Then, new mobile camera technology with sync sound allowed Lipscomb’s groundbreaking approach to take viewers into the locker rooms and onto the playing fields which permitted the story to unfold instead of being told.
Channeling the essence of Paul Brown, Woody Hayes and Paul “Bear” Bryant, Mooney vs Fowle also solidly sticks a first-down marker in the turf of big-time high school football and proclaims: Game on!
A scratchy black and white texture lends credence to the gritty subject matter: Coach-General’s imploring, molding and motivating young players onward in the pursuit of High School football glory. The contrast between the two leaders gets puzzled together in front of Lipscomb’s week-long, all-access lenses.
The game is played at the famed Orange Bowl in front of forty thousand fans. Even by today’s standards, when this year’s Texas Class 5A state championship game attendance outpaced 16 College Bowl games, that’s impressive. A quick half-time glimpse of a bass drum touts Miami High’s Million Dollar Marching Band. Also impressive, considering those are 1961 dollars.
From the press box vantage point, the players look more akin to Chagrin Falls vs Kenston. The sideline cameras stay close to the coaches. Single bar face guard helmets are reminiscent of Otto Graham, Y.A. Tittle, and other bygone heros. A quick peek into the coaches home lives and a short car drive time stamp the moment nicely.
On all levels the film delivers a taught, tension filled touchdown run. Are you ready for some football?
Ghost
