The Slaughter Rule

Plot

A young man finds solace with a young woman, his mother, and a high-school football coach who recruits him to quarterback a six-man team.

Release Year: 2002

Rating: 6.0/10 (1,368 voted)

Critic's Score: 65/100

Director:
Alex Smith

Stars: Ryan Gosling, David Morse, Clea DuVall

Storyline
Roy gets cut from his high school football team just days after his estranged father dies. For him, football is more than a proving ground; it is a promised escape from his lonely rural existence and salvation from the paralyzing passivity that dominates his life. Enter Gideon, a loner living on the roughneck fringe who is looking for gamers–kids who scrap hard–to play on his six-man football squad. Roy joins the Renegades, and he and Gideon enter into tenuous friendship that pushes the limits of male bonding.

Writers: Alex Smith, Andrew J. Smith

Cast:

Ryan Gosling
–

Roy Chutney

David Morse
–

Gideon 'Gid' Ferguson

Clea DuVall
–

Skyla Sisco

David Cale
–

Floyd aka Studebaker

Eddie Spears
–

Tracy Two Dogs

Kelly Lynch
–

Evangeline Chutney

Amy Adams
–

Doreen

Ken White
–

Russ Colfax

Noah Watts
–

Waylon Walks Along

Kim DeLong
–

Lem Axelrod

Geraldine Keams
–

Gretchen Two Dogs

Douglas Seybern
–

Uncle Peyton

Cody Harvey
–

Coach Motlow

Melkon Andonian
–

Devo

J.P. Gabriel
–

Jute

Details

Official Website:
Ranchwater Productions [United States] |

Release Date: 3 Jan 2002

Filming Locations: Centerville, Montana, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $500,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $1,461
(USA)
(12 January 2003)
(2 Screens)

Gross: $13,134
(USA)
(30 March 2003)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Some of the songs referenced by Gid and/or Floyd throughout the movie include – "Ragged But Right" by Riley Puckett 1934 – "Nothing But Trouble" by Lonnie Johnson 1929 – "Cash On The Barrelhead" by The Louvin Brothers 1954 – "Rank Stranger" by Albert E. Brumley 1954 – "Will Jesus Wash The Bloodstains From Your Hands?" by Hazel Dickens 1964 – "Straighten Up And Fly Right" by The Nat King Cole Trio 1949 – "Wayfaring Pilgrim" by Almeda Riddle 1932 Gid also references "Drifting Too Far From The Shore" and "Going Back To Jericho" during the ice fishing scene but he doesn't state an artist or year. There is a deleted scene in which Floyd references "I Ain't Drunk, I Am Just Drinkng" by Jimmy Liggins but Gid interrupts him before he can state the year.

User Review

An interesting study of relationships

Rating: 8/10

"The Slaughter Rule" is an interesting, moving study of male
relationships,
with the movie portraying how the limits of male bonding are tested
through
past and natural emotion. Ryan Gosling is deep and effective as a teenage
jock who's life has seen it's rocky roads, and then he meets a quiet,
mystifying older man who wants to recruit him for a six man football team.
What Gosling doesn't know is about the Man's past, which turns out to test
their growing relationship. It's an often slow but alluring tale,
absorbing
you in to the story of characters that are both familiar and alien, and
ending up with an odd but truthful ending that pulls out all the raw,
closeted emotions that the two men have for each other, and it's
home-movie-style video shoot and beautiful country scenery brings it to
life.