Football Film a Winner: “Go Tigers!”
By Jan Aaron

As the gridiron season kicks off, Kenneth A. Carlson’s “Go Tigers!” scores a touchdown as a keenly observed non-fiction feature that’s highly entertaining. While cheering for the team, the film also offers a not-so-flattering view of Massillon, Ohio, a town obsessed with football. Educators will be fascinated by how the school system’s fortunes are tied to the team’s. Carlson, shooting over the 1999 season in high-definition video, also uses a 1951 newsreel to establish the town’s national football reputation.At the movie’s start, the high school’s Masillon Tigers are getting over a horrendous season and eager to restore their glory. But, there’s something more at stake: clever intercuts contrast burly players at practice and school officials on edge. Defeated three times at local polls, high school officials decide to make one last effort to fund raise through a school tax levy. If their efforts fail again, the school district will be forced to make drastic cuts in services and personnel; even coaches won’t be spared.

Now the 1999 Masillon Tigers realize the best way, in fact maybe the only way, to garner local support for the tax is by winning the season. The heat is on! Many of the stars are already feeling the pressure of earning athletic scholarships.

Some players are profiled: the most interesting is a back defensive end named Ellery Moore. Earlier scenes show him as an admirable, charismatic African-American who views football as his passport to college. So, it’s genuinely shocking when he reveals he’s spent 15 months in jail for a crime he later claims he didn’t commit.

The film charges head on into other sensitive issues. The audience learns about players who are held back for a year so they’ll be bigger and stronger and views underage drinking at a rowdy post-game party. Especially vivid is the non-jock who complains about football players breaking rules that govern other classmates.

Overall, however, the film sticks to documenting the triumphant comeback of the team and uses terrific music to highlight their plays. Few films have such a great upbeat ending. Everyone wins! (102 minutes, R locker room language, released by IFC Films.)

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