True-life underdog story ‘The Long Game’ breaks barriers on the green with authenticity and strong performances from Dennis Quaid and Jay Hernandez.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Winner of the Narrative Spotlight Audience Award at SXSW, the real-life golf drama “The Long Game,” a film adaptation of Humberto G. Garcia’s 2010 novel “Mustang Miracle,” is admittedly formulaic, at times obvious and sentimental. But the weight of its relevance as a tale of 1950s-era Mexican Americans thwarting racism and exceeding expectations lends it unmistakable heft, and the performances of the film’s lead actor Jay Hernandez of the TV series “Magnum, P.I.” and old pros Dennis Quaid, Cheech Marin and Brett Cullen, along with a talented supporting cast headed by Jaina Lee Ortiz (“Girls Trip”), “Office” veteran Oscar Nunez, Julian Works (“Beautiful Boy”) and Paulina Chavez (TV’s “The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia”) also make it a winner. Plus, there’s golf.
Hernandez is the real-life JB Pena, a school superintendent at Texas’s San Felipe High School in the border city of Del Rio in the mid-1950s and an avid golfer whose prized possession is his grandfather’s clubs. JB is married to Lucy (Ortiz), who laments not having children but wants her husband to excel. His obsession with golf and constant banging balls into a mattress up against a wall is obviously tied to an undiagnosed PTSD from his experiences in World War II. JB yearns to become a member of the local country club, where Mexican Americans can play as guests but are not accepted as members. But a chance encounter (a golf ball through his car window) introduces JB to several Mexican American country club caddies, who also play golf and attend school at San Felipe. In fact, the caddies have built their own single-hole golf course for them to practice their game (they got game). JB is inspired to start a high school golf team and get invited to compete in Texas state tournaments.
Quaid, who worked with the film’s director Julio Quintana on another true story-based sports film, “Blue Miracle” (2021), is Frank Mitchell, a former golfer who was also JB’s commanding officer in the war. Quaid’s Frank, who tipples from a flask, is so crusty that you want to dip him in Scotch. JB and Frank have a father-son relationship. JB similarly bonds with his players, including troubled Joe Trevino (Works), whose real father (Blue Miracle”T’s Jimmy Gonzales) has a bad attitude and discourages his son from trying to stand out. Joe’s father even tries to burn Joe’s clubs.
We all know where this story is headed. But it’s the journey and the cast that makes it rise. Joe smashes the windows of a diner run by racists who won’t serve him and his friends, leaving behind a golf ball with his initial on it. The decidedly WASP-y opponents that the newly-named Mustangs face on the golf course are all sneering faces and derisive laughter until the Mustangs take their swings. Country club groundskeeper Pollo (Marin) shows up wearing his “cage,” a protective suit made out of wire that is both groundskeeper’s gear and a metaphor for the forces that have kept Mexican Americans imprisoned and invisible. The golf metaphors in the montage-heavy screenplay by Paco Farias and Jennifer C. Stetson (both TV’s “Christmas with You”) and director Quintana fall equally in the fairway, the rough, and the hazards.
Hernandez and Quaid, who also served as producers, make a fine odd couple. You may recall that they previously co-starred in the memorable, award-winning baseball drama “The Rookie” (2002). Works and his fellow Mustangs also have a palpable bond. The same is true for Works and love interest and aspiring writer Daniela Torres (Chavez). A sequence in which the Mustangs secretly cross the river into Mexico (the migrant wave in reverse for a change) is fun, nicely directed, and boasts its own Charon. As one of the other Mustangs, Miguel Angel Garcia exudes charisma and lights up the screen with his smile. Hernandez brings that combination of soulful moodiness and regular-guy decency with an inner core of steel that made his Thomas Magnum so compelling. The Mustangs’ record score held up for 36 years. You don’t have to play golf to enjoy “The Long Game.” But it might help.
‘The Long Game’
Rating: B+
Cast: Jay Hernandez, Dennis Quaid, Julian Works, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Oscar Nunez
Director: Julio Quintana
Writer: Paco Farias, Julio Quintana, Jennifer C. Stetson, Humberto G. Garcia
Running Time: 1 hour 46 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters on April 11
Grade: B+
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