Current:Home > Markets'A victory for us': Watch an exclusive, stirring new scene from 'Rudy' director's cut -Blueprint Money Mastery
'A victory for us': Watch an exclusive, stirring new scene from 'Rudy' director's cut
View
Date:2025-04-11 20:41:50
Break out a few extra hankies and get ready for some extended goosebumps: “Rudy” is rolling out new plays you haven’t seen before.
The classic 1993 underdog football movie, starring Sean Astin as real-life Notre Dame walk-on Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, notched its 30th anniversary this year. To celebrate, a director’s cut is being released Tuesday (on 4K Blu-ray and digital platforms) with 13 extra minutes of never-before-seen footage. (USA TODAY has an exclusive peek at one of the new clips.) The bonus features include five deleted scenes, plus a commentary with director David Anspaugh and writer Angelo Pizzo, who first collaborated on the iconic 1986 hoops film “Hoosiers.”
Here are the highlights from what’s been added:
Ned Beatty gets a stirring speech in 'Rudy' director's cut
One of the reasons why Rudy is determined to attend Notre Dame and play football is because of his father, Daniel Sr. (Ned Beatty). And his dad opines on why it means so much to him in a new scene set at a Christmas church dinner. Asked why Notre Dame football is such a "big deal," Beatty's character tells a story about how his father would talk about how the "greatness of America" was represented by "poor Irish and Italian and Polish boys" who played in the middle of the country and would beat "the rich boys back East." When Daniel Sr. came to America during the Great Depression, he saw that Irish Catholic immigrants “faced a lot of hate. So every victory by Notre Dame is a victory for us."
In the commentary, Anspaugh calls it "a shame" the scene didn't make the theatrical cut and Pizzo adds that "it answers on a deeper level why Rudy is so drawn to Notre Dame."
'Rudy' turns 30:The 25 best football movies of all time, definitively ranked
A young Vince Vaughn gets more screen time
Vince Vaughn had his first credited screen role in “Rudy,” playing underachieving Notre Dame tailback Jamie O’Hara. Initially a jerk who ultimately comes around (by changing a key play in a game that allows Rudy to finally get on the field), Vaughn’s character appears in two new scenes. One’s set in the gym where Rudy (who’s not yet attending Notre Dame) tries to buddy up to Jamie, who’s not having it. “We might as well be friends, we’re going to be on the same team next year,” Rudy says, with Jamie snarling, “In your dreams.” In another new scene, Jamie runs into Rudy and his sportswriter friend Mary (Greta Lind) at the local bar, and Mary knows all of Jamie’s impressive high school stats.
“I hope Vince will take the time to check this cut out. His character really fills out the story,” Anspaugh says in the commentary. Adds Pizzo: “When (Jamie) does do that one gesture at the end of the movie for Rudy, we have more of a sense of who he is and who he used to be.”
Greta Lind’s sportswriter has most of her scenes added back, too
Nearly 10 minutes of Lind's screen time has been brought back in the director's cut, making Mary a more significant figure in Rudy's life. She’s one of the first people Rudy tells when he makes the team, she convinces him to let her write a story for the school paper (which is why the crowd chants his name in the big game), and Rudy asks her to light a candle and pray for him to dress for his last game, even though she says, “I don’t believe in that stuff.”
“When we had to cut all her material, we lost the female presence in the movie,” says Pizzo, who married and had two kids with Lind following the movie's release.
‘Rudy’ deleted scenes feature an inspirational alternate ending
The most interesting of the five deleted scenes is an alternate ending: The original movie finishes with Rudy being carried off the field by his teammates and a picture of the real Ruettiger, but a sequence included on the new director's cut shows a group of kids going outside to play football.
They’re picking teams, who’s going to be Notre Dame and who’s Georgia Tech – the two squads that tussled in the movie’s climax – and one smaller boy with a gold helmet says, “I have to be Rudy because I’m going to Notre Dame." It's a bookend to the film's opening, with kid Rudy playing with his brothers, and a nod to the true-life figure's inspirational journey.
25 best basketball movies, ranked:The hoops films you need to see
veryGood! (45)
Related
- Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
- Tigers ace Tarik Skubal shuts down Astros one fastball, one breath, and one howl at a time
- Takeaways from AP’s report on declining condom use among younger generations
- Justice Department launches first federal review of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Harris, Trump’s approach to Mideast crisis, hurricane to test public mood in final weeks of campaign
- Driver fatigue likely led to Arizona crash that killed 2 bicyclists and injured 14, NTSB says
- Best Early Prime Day Pet Deals: Unleash 60% Off Dog Seat Belts, Cologne, Brushes & More as Low as $4.49
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- A house cheaper than a car? Tiny home for less than $20,000 available on Amazon
Ranking
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Hospitals mostly rebound after Helene knocked out power and flooded areas
- Hurricanes like Helene are deadly when they strike and keep killing for years to come
- Kylie Jenner Shares Glimpse Inside Her Paris Fashion Week Modeling Debut
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- Video captures Tesla vehicle bursting into flames as Hurricane Helene floods Florida garage
- Baseball legend Pete Rose's cause of death revealed
- The president could invoke a 1947 law to try to suspend the dockworkers’ strike. Here’s how
Recommendation
Travis Hunter, the 2
23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports sue NASCAR
D-backs owner says signing $25 million pitcher was a 'horrible mistake'
US ‘Welcome Corps’ helps resettle LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing crackdowns against gay people
Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
Condoms aren’t a fact of life for young Americans. They’re an afterthought
Lionel Richie Shares Sweet Insight Into Bond With Granddaughter Eloise
Superman’s David Corenswet Details His Weight Gain Transformation for Role