The Final Season

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Overview

A place where baseball is more than just a game fights to hold on to the national pastime in this drama inspired by a true story. Norway, IA, is a little town where folks take baseball seriously -- so much so that even though Norway's high school boasts less than a hundred students, their baseball team has brought home the state championship 19 times. Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe), Norway High's baseball coach, has received national attention for his skill with players, and when passionate baseball fan Kent ...
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DVD (Wide Screen / Subtitled)
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More About This Product

Overview

A place where baseball is more than just a game fights to hold on to the national pastime in this drama inspired by a true story. Norway, IA, is a little town where folks take baseball seriously -- so much so that even though Norway's high school boasts less than a hundred students, their baseball team has brought home the state championship 19 times. Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe), Norway High's baseball coach, has received national attention for his skill with players, and when passionate baseball fan Kent Stock (Sean Astin) lands a teaching position nearby, he volunteers to work as an assistant for Van Scoyoc. While Stock cherishes his time with Van Scoyoc, he takes a job working in Saint Louis, where he plans to move with his fiancée. However, he changes his plans when he gets some unexpected news -- due to shrinking enrollment and budget cuts, Norway's high school is soon to close, and their upcoming baseball season is likely to be their last. Over the fierce objections of his girlfriend, Stock passes on the job in St. Louis to spend one last spring in Norway and help Van Scoyoc as he takes one last shot at taking his team to the state championship. Meanwhile, the citizens of Norway wage a legal battle to keep the school open, and the state sends a lawyer, Polly Hudson (Rachael Leigh Cook), to Norway to represent them. While Stock and Hudson are bitter enemies at the start of the season, with time she begins to understand the sense of tradition and love of the game that fuels Stock and the people of Norway. Also featuring Larry Miller, Tom Arnold, and Michael Angarano, The Final Season received its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
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Special Features

Closed Caption; Filmmakers and real life coaches commentaries; "The Making of The Final Season" featurettes; -Play ball; -Starting roster; -Homefield advantage; The Real Season: "The Spirit of Norway" featurette
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide
The tiny town of Norway, IA, is such a sports-movie cliché that it might surprise viewers to learn that it actually exists. As The Final Season begins, the town's high school is the owner of 19 state baseball championships, and has turned out numerous professional ballplayers despite its extremely small population and limited resources. In the summer of 1991, the high school was closed, its students absorbed into the population of a larger high school in a neighboring town. The Final Season charts that push for a 20th and final state championship under a new, greenhorn coach played by Sean Astin. Perhaps the school's simultaneous status as a David it's about to be closed and a Goliath it has one of the most successful baseball programs in the country is what makes The Final Season such an unsatisfying viewing experience. Or it could be that the movie is suffused with a poetic worship of the purity of the sport, the kind that made Field of Dreams also set in Iowa seem so magical, but that comes across as cloying in the lesser hands of director David Mickey Evans and writer Art D'Alessandro. Though the materials on hand are all fine and the movie is made with undeniable competence, it's ultimately too earnest and square to seem like a nuanced consideration of its subject matter. Astin shows heart and pluck as the coach, and Powers Boothe has plenty of seasoned gravitas as Astin's mentor, whom Astin succeeds for political reasons, to ease the transition toward the end of the Norway program. But it's Rachael Leigh Cook's character, the requisite love interest for Astin, who best represents the typical mode of this film -- she's there only to fill out the standard elements of a predictable script.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 4/15/2008
  • UPC: 043396236387
  • Original Release: 2007

    • Rating:

  • Source: Sony Pictures
  • Region Code: 1
  • Presentation: Wide Screen / Subtitled
  • Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
  • Time: 1:59:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 31,037

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Sean Astin Kent Stock
Powers Boothe Coach Jim Van Scoyoc
Rachael Leigh Cook Polly Hudson
James Gammon Jacob Akers
Larry Miller Roger Dempsey
Marshall Bell Harvey Makepeace
Tom Arnold Burt Akers
Michael Angarano Mitch Akers
Lucinda Jenney Sheryl Van Scoyoc
Angela Paton Anne Akers
Brett Claywell Patrick Iverson
Danielle Savre Cindy Iverson
Dayton Callie Mr. Stewart
Nick Livingston Kevin Stewart
Roscoe Myrick Sammy Wilson
MacKenzie Astin Chip Dolan
Alexander Roos Steve Myers
Technical Credits
David Mickey Evans Director
Sean Astin Executive Producer
Carl Borack Executive Producer
Lynn Brannelly-Newman Costumes/Costume Designer
Art D'Alessandro Screenwriter
Mary Jo Devenney Sound/Sound Designer
Barry Gelber Art Director
James Grayford Asst. Director, Screenwriter
Vaughan Halyard Associate Producer
Chester Kaczenski Production Designer
Harry Keramidas Editor
Steven Schott Producer
Daniel J. Stoloff Cinematographer
Tony Wilson Producer
Terry Trimpe Associate Producer
Nathan Wang Score Composer
Michael Wasserman Producer
Herschel Weingrad Producer
Herschel Weingrod Producer
Rosemary Welden Casting
D. Parker Widemire Jr. Producer
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- The Final Season
1. Chapter 1 [3:53]
2. Chapter 2 [4:06]
3. Chapter 3 [5:42]
4. Chapter 4 [3:40]
5. Chapter 5 [4:24]
6. Chapter 6 [4:55]
7. Chapter 7 [2:54]
8. Chapter 8 [4:32]
9. Chapter 9 [3:43]
10. Chapter 10 [5:24]
11. Chapter 11 [3:37]
12. Chapter 12 [1:49]
13. Chapter 13 [4:32]
14. Chapter 14 [4:00]
15. Chapter 15 [4:28]
16. Chapter 16 [4:52]
17. Chapter 17 [3:18]
18. Chapter 18 [3:59]
19. Chapter 19 [2:29]
20. Chapter 20 [1:03]
21. Chapter 21 [4:51]
22. Chapter 22 [3:08]
23. Chapter 23 [4:26]
24. Chapter 24 [3:21]
25. Chapter 25 [5:31]
26. Chapter 26 [3:26]
27. Chapter 27 [4:04]
28. Chapter 28 [3:41]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- The Final Season
   Play Movie
   Subtitles
      English
      French/Français
      Spanish/Español
      Subtitles Off
   Scene Selections
   Special Features
      Commentary With Director David Mickey Evans, Actor Sean Astin, Executive Producer Carl Borack and Producer Michael Wasserman: On
      Commentary With Director David Mickey Evans, Actor Sean Astin, Executive Producer Carl Borack and Producer Michael Wasserman: Off
      Commentary With Producer Tony Wilson and Real-Life Coaches Kent Stock and Jim Van Scoyoc: On
      Commentary With Producer Tony Wilson and Real-Life Coaches Kent Stock and Jim Van Scoyoc: Off
      The Making of The Final Season
         Play All
         Play Ball
         Starting Roster
         Home Field Advantage
      The Real Season: The Spirit of Norway
      Previews
         Daddy Day Camp
         The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
         The Natural (Director's Cut)
         Rudy
         Radio
         A League of Thier Own
         Great TV Families
   Previews
      Daddy Day Camp
      The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
      The Natural (Director's Cut)
      Rudy
      Radio
      A League of Thier Own
      Great TV Families
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