[Bob_Huntley]

Some of the errors of omission or commission in the movie.

RTJ did not "storm off" the course in 1921 at St. Andrews:
instead he picked up his ball in the bunker(not on the green
as the movie showed)

he tore up his scorecard

then he drove off No.12

he finished the round

he finished the fourth round too

RTJ didn't get a "Masters" at Harvard. It was a B.A. in English Literature.

RTJ didn't play R.A.Gardner(shown in Mr.Malone's newspaper) at Oakmont in 1919-it was Davey Herron.

RTJ didn't play Hagen in final round at Hoylake in 1930.

RTJ's mother was with him in 1926 at Skokie, not his wife (Big Boy was there too), see Boy's Life.

The match with Vardon was at Inverness not Merion.

Jone's ball moved in 1925 against Willie MacFarlane not against Walter Hagen

Jack MacIntyre was RTJ's caddie, not Angus.

Bobby Jones did not play A.G.Spalding Kro-Flite irons shown in the film. He played a mongrel set, see History of Bobby Jones Clubs.

There is some other minutiae, such as the train, it showed an English train where it shoud have been Scottish.

What surprised me, was the absence of some of the important events in his life, such as being hit by lightening, the runaway car incident and of course, the most important golfing decision he ever made, the theme of playing 'Old Man Par' and not his opponent of the hour.


     

[JohnV]

No point in letting facts get in the way of a good story.

[Lou_Duran]

It hasn't stopped Hollywood in the past and the mainstream media now, so why be surprised?

[Bob_Huntley]

Lou,

As usual you are right, but a couple of the things mentioned were rather important to the legend. You  would hardly do a movie on FDR and fail to mention his disability

[Tyler Kearns]

Bob,

The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) needs your help. One of the many features they have, is a list of errors & goofs that occur in movies, that most watchers would never pick-up on. Not only do they note continuity errors, anachronisms, but also the factual errors you cited above.

Tyler Kearns

[JohnV]

The link below is to an article by Frank Hannigan about the movie along with some more errors in it.  He seems less than impressed.

http://www.golfobserver.com/features/hannigan_Jonesmovie.html

[Mike Hendren]

I do not have high expectations but will gladly pay the fare just to get a few glimpses of St. Andrews and the world's greatest golf course on the big screen.  Everything else is fluff anyway.

Kindest regards,

Mike

[TEPaul]

"You  would hardly do a movie on FDR and fail to mention his disability."

Bob;

Not necessarily and depending on what kind of movie you were doing on FDR. The fact that most don't understand today is that during all FDR's years as the President of the US not many Americans knew he had a disablility! FDR was incredibly clever at hiding that fact from the American public and the world. You will virtually never see a real photo of FDR in a wheelchair and never a real one of him on crutches.

In that day and age the press and apparently everyone went along and played his game--it was totally understood just as it was with the press about Kennedy for other things and other reasons.

All that changed for good after Watergate!

[Carlyle Rood]

Did anyone else expect the movie to end in St. Andrews at the freedom of the city award ceremony?

C

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Carlyle,
I haven't seen the movie yet, but to hear that this wasn't included in the movie has to be one of the biggest scew-ups in movie-making of all-time.  

Just a big of a screw-up as the insidious changes at ANGC over the last 55+ years!  

[Dennis_Harwood]

Looked to me like in a couple of complete swing scenes, the golfers were wearing softspikes.  Would probably need a stop action when the DVD comes out to confirm however.

I may vote that movie No 1 however for the scenes of courses-- There was some spectacular footage

[ForkaB]

TEP

I agree with you vis a vis FDR.  It was a very closely held secret until the 70's or so, how immobile he really was.

As for the topic, aren't you glad to know that Bobby was a serious boozer?  (Of course, you probably knew this already, but I didn't).  No wonder he helped design such a great course at Augusta!  I think you should award him one of your AW Tillinghast memorial flasks posthumously.

[Bob_Huntley]

TEP and Rihc,

I know that FDR's disability was protected by all and sundry during his lifetime, however we are talking of a film bio decades after the protagonist's death.

[TEPaul]

"As for the topic, aren't you glad to know that Bobby was a serious boozer?  (Of course, you probably knew this already, but I didn't).  No wonder he helped design such a great course at Augusta!  I think you should award him one of your AW Tillinghast memorial flasks posthumously."

Rich:

No, frankly I didn't know Bobby Jones was a serious boozer although I did read somewhere that he liked to have a few drinks!

But one has to understand the code words and the inside lingo of boozing back in that day. If someone back then said someone liked to have a few drinks that was the code phrase for someone who was a serious boozer--but in that day amongst most of those people boozing was a serious business anyway. None of those sportsmen in those days got into things like the gym and yoga and God knows what other healthy wastes of time these golfers are doing today. When you had some spare time boozing was the thing to do back then.

I learned some of that boozing code lingo from my stepmother who was a professional drinker if I ever saw one (it had to be JUST the right thing at the right time of the day). She's have a drink, take a couple of sips and put it down and after a while someone would have to make her something else special which she'd do the same thing with and on and on.

One time some friend of hers was at her house and I asked her if she'd like ANOTHER drink and my stepmother said you never ask anyone if they'd like ANOTHER drink---even if it's the tenth one you're offerering them, it's still only "Would you like A drink?"  

[JohnV]

Tom, I think that if you were making a biography of FDR today, you would make his disability obvious and at the same time make it clear that the general public didn't know about it.  It would tell the story better that way than just hiding it.

[RSLivingston_III]

One other mistake:
His win in 1926 at Lytham and St. Annes. They showed him getting the trophy behind the R&A. I expected them to show more of that event as Jones considered it his most important win, and included his most important shot of his career (17th). He wrote "Down the Fairway" because of that win.

[Carlyle Rood]

Did anyone else notice that the actor playing Bobby Jones is almost eleven feet tall?  (At least it seemed so relative to Jones's height and build.)  

A couple scenes from the movie made quite an impact on me.  The first was when he stormed off the course.  Despite the inaccuracies of the scene, the actor looked like he was in genuine turmoil before he marched off.  When he was reading his putt, my wife leaned over and whispered, "Look at the fury in his eyes!"  At least from that standpoint, I thought the scene was successful.

The other scene was when he threw his club and it accidentally struck a female spectator.  He really seemed aghast and humiliated when his club struck her.  It was a very awkard and uncomfortable scene to watch for a couple of reasons.  The first reason simply being the ugliness of his temper.  But also because by that point in the movie, we were already sold that he was a remarkable talent and we were pulling for him.

Having been familiar with his life, I was pretty tolerant of his poor behavior because I knew what sort of competitor and man he evolved into.  Knowing the outcome made it easier for me to tolerate his temper.  But when that lady got hit with the club, I was furious!  My immedate thought was, "Grow up dammit!"

So, those were two scenes I enjoyed, despite some of the inaccuracies.

I don't know.  I had low expectations.  I recognized it was a difficult story to tell--particularly to people familiar with his life.  I left a little unsatisfied; yet, I was glad I went.

C

[John_Conley]

JVB:

Thanks for sharing the Hannigan column.

[Smokey_Pot_Bunker]

This a sore point for me when it comes to Hollywood.  Why is it so hard for hollywood to get factual info into the movies.  Take the extra time and effort to make sure something stays true to the topic the movie is about. Its not like there is a shortage of cash in that town.

Just a quick example The movie The Firm, good movie that changes the end in comparison to the book.  The book has a great ending (IMHO) but they didn't use it.  If they think it would make a great movie, just leave well enough alone.

[Brian_Ewen]

Guys
Sorry for bringing this thread back up , but I eventually got to see the movie last night on DVD .

I thought the movie in general was terrible and yes they didnt half take some liberties with the History of Golf .

Was I the only one that noticed they replaced Hoylake with Kingsbarns ? .

Did they do similar with any of the American courses ? .

Anybody got a comment on the scene when they are overlooking the future site for Augusta National . Is that how it would have looked back then ? .

Regards.
Brian

[Mike Nuzzo]

Oakmont wasn't Oakmont ... that bummed me out.  I wanted to see it in it's glory like the old course was shown.  They probably would have shown the pews anyway...

[Tommy_Naccarato]

It hasn't stopped Hollywood in the past and the mainstream media now, so why be surprised?

Lou,
I hate to burst your bubble here, but after seeing the movie myself this last week thanks to the wonder of Netflix, I'm forever indebted to Brian Ewen for bringing it back-up.

This movie (disaster/comedy) that you inaccurately (again) portrayed as being produced and funded by Hollywood and the mainstream media, was actually funded by personal donations to get the film made and by a group called, The Helixx Group, a company which takes great pride in calling themselves, "The Entrepreneurs of Life." (Not my line, thats what they call themselves on their website.)

Further from the website:
The Helixx Group is a pioneer in providing agency services that advance the stewardship objectives of high-impact business and idea entrepreneurs. In this role, the firm is providing idea leadership in identifying and enhancing the ways that uniquely successful people create, capitalize, capture and transfer value. Helixx has also developed institutional consulting services to define and promote new models of merchant banking built around the individual, and new models of philanthropy

What a load of horse pucky from a perfect group of gentlemen that no doubt weighed-in on a few personal favors with Hootie or some other RNC provider, to get Augusta National on film for the movie. Just enough to make you want to cry and go, "woo woo" and buy a bunch of Amway products.

No Lou, this disaster of a film was brought to you by good old cowboy-hat wearing/Amway-buying RNC'ers and it shows something terribly!

They made Bobby Jones look Booby! Especially with all of the historical innaccuracies that didn't make any sense and added nothing to the film. They deprived the movie-paying public--people you hate Lou--because they like to pay their hard earned monies to go out and see entertainment. They missed on one of the great movie-making opportunities to portray one of the great scenes in not just Golf, but probably in all of sports history. But what would you expect for a bunch of rank amateurs that should just stick to selling their Amway, while conniving and conning others to do the same.

Better stop wasting your time on this one Lou, the shelves are getting a little low on Amway soap & toothpaste products.

[Carlyle Rood]

Guys
Sorry for bringing this thread back up , but I eventually got to see the movie last night on DVD .

Anybody got a comment on the scene when they are overlooking the future site for Augusta National . Is that how it would have looked back then ? .

It wouldn't have looked like that at all.  Heck, they omitted arriving through a row of Magnolias.  Blasphemy!

I was leafing through a book on Georgia landscape gardening yesterday afternoon.  It was published in the 1930s.  I arrived at a page with a photo of a concrete home and thought, "Wow! That home looks just like the clubhouse at Augusta National."  Well, it was.

The page documented "Fruitlands" in Augusta.  It detailed Baron Berckman's notable achievements and included an extensive list of gardening plants found on the nursery.  It was a far more comprehensive list than I'd ever seen previously.

It also said that all the Southern Magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) lining the front entrance were all produced from the seeds of two trees in Athens.  Once again, God bless Athens, Georgia and the home of the University of Georgia Bulldogs!  Is it any wonder their landscape architecture school is ranked #2 in the nation?  Who let the Dawgs out?  It was Baron Berckman!

(The books was reprinted during the 1970s and also includes a note about the property now being the home of Augusta National and it's famed "Bobby Jones Course.")

[Sean_A]

I'm with Tommy and Brian E.  This movie was dreadful.  Typical American schmooze/crap.  They could have gotten everything correct, this movie never stood a chance.  Another in a long list of failed "sporting hero films".  Give me Raging Bull any day.

Ciao

Sean

[A_Clay_Man]

I'm also glad you brought this back-up. I had forgotten the name, and wanted to rent it. Sheryl got me a DVD surround system, so I'm on a roll.

Tommy- This is the funniiest bit of hyperbole, I have heard in quite awhile, Thanx.

enhancing the ways that uniquely successful people create, capitalize, capture and transfer value

Especially since Mr. Huntley has highlighted the values passed along. SHeesh!

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