McFarland, USA

2015
PG
2h 9m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

44K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:22

Biography Drama Sport

Jim White moves his family after losing his last job as a football coach, and at his new school he turns seven disappointing students into one of the best cross-country teams in the region.Jim White moves his family after losing his last job as a football coach, and at his new school he turns seven disappointing students into one of the best cross-country teams in the region.Jim White moves his family after losing his last job as a football coach, and at his new school he turns seven disappointing students into one of the best cross-country teams in the region.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

44K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,829

1,263

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins & 3 nominations

Videos49

You Think We Play Golf

Photos152

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Jim White did not create the cross-country team at the school, but instead restarted it after it had been dropped for a year. He rebuilt both the boys' and girls' cross-country teams, despite only the boys' team being featured in the film. Similarly, White took both the boys' and girls' teams to the California coast beach at Cayucos during the 1985 (not 1987) season.

Goofs
The film shows White being forced to relocate to McFarland after he is fired from a football coaching job. In fact, the White family moved to McFarland in 1964, 16 years before White started the cross country team.

Quotes
Maria Marisol: [reading Jose Cardenas's paper] We fly like blackbirds through the orange groves, floating on a warm wind. When we run, we own the earth. The land is ours. We speak the birds' language. Not immigrant no more. No stupid Mexicans. When we run, our spirits fly. We speak to the gods. When we run, we are the gods.

Connections
Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Kevin Costner/Portia de Rossi/David Frei (2015)

Soundtracks
Cheer
Written by John F. Burns
Performed by Ohio University Marching 110
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

User reviews121

Review

Featured review

10/10

Beautiful, organic, touching film

After a million years as an IMDb member I'm finally inspired to write a review. This movie is guileless and sweet in the most beautiful way. Not heavy-handed, no huge buildup over the races (in all aspects of the word), but rather huge focus on interpersonal relationships and the judgments every human makes about one another. There's also huge pride in the small working towns I've personally driven through on my way to somewhere else, and the seemingly small people whose backs we live off of. There is so much heart here. I'm surprised this is a Disney movie.

Anyway, I believe love drives us. And this is such an affirmation of the different types of love and relationships that can push us in the best ways and help us achieve greatness. I'm so deeply pleased to have seen this film. Every one of us has a moment or period when we are down for the count. We don't always handle it with grace. That doesn't mean we are without grace.