THE ROCKET

THE ROCKET - 2005

RATED - PG for rough sports action, including fighting, some bloody images, some language, and historical smoking throughout.

RATINGS - 2 Amazon (5/5), 1,144 IMBD (8.1/10), 1,937 Netflix (3.7/5).

AWARDS - 9 GENIE AWARDS (Canadian Academy Awards) and 4 nominations.

THEMES - Discrimination, perseverance, teamwork.

STORY - It may be hard to imagine today but in 1937 the NHL consisted of 6 teams and was on the verge of folding. It desperately needed a hero. Working as a machinist in a factory was a young French-Canadian named Maurice Richard with dreams of playing in the NHL. When he finally earned a tryout with the Montreal Canadiens, he had already suffered one serious injury, and despite an impressive tryout, the owners did not want to take a chance. The coach took a hard line stance in favor of the young Maurice and got him on the team. He soon proved the owners right by getting injured again. It took some incredibly hard rehabilitation as well as enduring some brutal attacks by teammates who were testing him to convince the owners to give him another chance. So began the career of, arguably, the most loved and well known Montreal Canadien ever. He has been called the 'Babe Ruth of hockey'. In some ways, he was more like Jackie Robinson. French-Canadians had about the same status as African-Americans in the U.S. Although not the first F-C to play in the NHL, his success and popularity threatened the status quo. Despite scoring 50 goals in 50 games, he didn't win the scorng title because the teams conspired against him to the point of awarding assists to players not even on the ice to build up their point totals. As an aside, F-C fans even had to sit in a segregated section of the arena which was enclosed by a chain link fence. Not only is this an entertaining and inspiring hockey movie but it's a great education for someone not familiar with the history of Quebec and the fight for equality by the French Canadians. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 12/22/2007.

LINKS - AMAZON, IMBD