In football, one decisive change of direction can make the difference between a sack or a touchdown, a loss or a gain.
Life is like that in more ways than one. The destiny of Mike Flynt demonstrates this in the new movie, “The Senior.”
Produced by former pro athlete Mike Ciardi (“The Rookie,” “Secretariat”). “The Senior” is based on the true story of Mike Flynt, who, during the late summer and autumn of 2007 in West Texas, played college football at the age of 59.
Flynt is played by Michael Chiklis (“Fantastic Four”) who ironically was once the captain of his high school football team. Joining Flynt from the movie’s starting position until its goal line play is his wife, Eileen, sensitively and boldly played by Mary Stuart Masterson (“Some Kind of Wonderful“).
Furthermore, when a story about costly football stardom – and fatherhood redeemed through a crucial life pivot – is narrated by a son, Micah, movingly played by Brandon Flynn, expect the possibility of tears ahead.
In fact, from the old gridiron guys of remembered legend to the new teammates as young as Flynt’s children, “The Senior” weaves a powerful mosaic about imperfect parts that find ways to advance the entire team.
Growing up, Flynt used his brawn and toughness to become, in 1971, the captain of a winning Sul Ross State College football team.
With captainship of a team, though, comes real responsibility.
In a moment of error, Mike reared back into his pain and hurt someone one too many times. It cost him something he wouldn’t ever get back.
(O, for violence at colleges to be only that! In this age of lethal strife between generational peers on campus, the arc of “The Senior’s” lifetime redemptive story offers an exemplar for today’s shell-shocked Americans.)
Mike’s demotion from his ranks of football captain, team member and college student would ricochet through his life. Added poignancy pours in from the strain his own father had put him through.
“Not a day has gone by,” admits Flynt at a timely moment, when he hasn’t been haunted by the disappointment his actions inflicted on his teammates.
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The negative urge from there was to egg out all over his community in egoic pride. Eileen plays a particularly loving role in providing healing, guidance and a glue for family, faith and life events.
Flynt’s career demonstrated a man in transformation. Year to year, he exhibited a type of focus and discipline seen more often these days in soldiers than civilians. Through this diligence, Flynt became a highly sought-after fitness and conditioning trainer in the sports world.
That alone would be the arc of a successful life story, but Flynt had ghosts and yearnings to address, and drew up another surprise move.
Nearly everyone walking into the theater for “The Senior” will know what comes next — it’s on the movie poster. Yet, there remains an air of the unexpected, nonetheless, because Flynt’s next turn in life challenges a presumed human limit.
As a 59-year-old man, Flynt was invited to a 35th-year college reunion by former peers, whom he had long assumed had disowned him. Touched not only by their real forgiveness (both sides having done the hard reflection) and their true feelings about him, Flynt also learns that he is legally eligible for one more season of playing–and pursuing graduation.
With soul searching and unexpected encouragement, Flynt decides to go for it. But can the ligaments and reflexes of a 59-year-old make a collegiate football team as a player in an open try-out?
With the try-out blitzing forward, the movie locks in. Audiences experience the rush of each play, the agony of each drill, and the surge towards the line along with Flynt and his hopeful team 2.0 (who have to reckon with the fact that their season could include this timeline–and take a spot from a younger player)!
How Flynt stutter-steps ahead in pursuit of the “impossible” is definitely one level at which to watch “The Senior.” After all, that’s what makes even a “Top Gun” or a “Rocky IV” work.
In football and combat movies alike, adversaries set up intrigue with their posturing and heavy training. Then at a certain point, bursts of death-defying action in the face of steep odds deliver the adrenaline you’ve come for.
In the heat of “The Senior’s” stride, we touch the hard-nosed abandon and situational social discernment that can be demanded for success, on and very much off the field.
Sul Ross State’s football coach Sam Weston (Rob Corddry) watches incredulously and carefully, being positioned to deliver laughs and a springboard for the ultimate aspirations of his players.
In Mike and Micah, the truism, “Like father, like son,” is taken further than its surface meaning. To again raise the “Rocky” franchise, Stallone could take a page out of “The Senior” for its realistic portrayal of what life looks like through the eyes of an athletic warrior’s son.
The grip that football has on many people comes partially through its beauty, poetry and symphony of concerted teamwork in motion. For a player, football at its best can provide a personal and communal venue for a pure, no messin’ ‘round attitude of facing your limits and living boldly into them.
For a player and a true story film to interweave football’s crude attractions with maturation, fatherhood, grandfatherhood, and more, is fascinating.
It’s no wonder Flynt’s path has drawn attention.
Can the heart and soul be renewed at any age and in any circumstance? That’s what one senior learned. 1971 and 2007 were “two different men,” says Flynt. Human adaptability is a marvel to behold, Flynt adding that he sees it “as my fate.”
Themes of strength, family, God and team loyalty unapologetically fill Angel Studios’ “The Senior.” Suit up for a field-side seat at the action.
Note: You might want to brush up on football movie classics to understand some of the film’s exquisitely dry humor.