McFarland, USA (2015) on Netflix
PG20152h 9mBiographyDramaSport
A locker-room incident costs football coach Jim White his job in Idaho, so he moves his family to McFarland, California. There he starts a cross-country team with students who run fast.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.4/1047,142 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Boise, Idaho, 1987. Jim White coaches football until an outburst in the locker room leaves a player hurt and costs him the job. He moves with his wife Cheryl and their daughters Julie and Jamie to McFarland, California, a mostly Latino town, where he teaches life science and takes an assistant football post. After he pulls injured Johnny Sameniego out of a game, the head coach asks him to step down. Watching his students run, Jim sees how fast they are, and Principal Camillo lets him start a cross-country team. Jim recruits Johnny, Thomas Valles, Jose Cardenas, Victor Puentes and the Diaz brothers, David, Damacio and Danny.
Cast
- Ramiro Rodriguezas Danny Diaz
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about McFarland, USA (2015)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Unlike his film counterpart, Jim White had not been fired from numerous prior teaching jobs: he started in the McFarland school district after graduating from Pepperdine University in 1964 and taught fifth-grade science, woodshop and physical education before starting his coaching career in 1980.
- Director Niki Caro wanted to feature more family in the film, so a real member of the team was replaced by David Diaz, brother of Damacio and Danny, even though the real David graduated the year before McFarland's first state title win.
- White did not establish the school's cross-country team; he restarted it after it had been dropped for a year, and he rebuilt both the boys' and girls' teams, despite only the boys' team being featured in the film.
- McFarland was not rivals with Palo Alto High School - the schools are four hours apart - and the two never raced each other; the rivalry was made up to serve the plot.
- In an interview, Jim White noted that the film was based on a true story but was not a documentary, and acknowledged that not everything in it was factual, though "it's still an enjoyable movie... it turned out fine."
SPOILER
A series of texts at the end of the film shows that under White's guidance the team became outstandingly successful, winning nine state titles over 14 years, and that all the members of the first team became the first in their families to go to college or into military careers.
