UNDEFEATED (DOCUMENTARY FILM)

Summary

A documentary film about an inner-city high school football team and the efforts of its coach to better the lives of the players both on and off the field. Manassas High School in northern Memphis, Tennessee, has fallen on hard times over the last few years due to economic downturn. Among other things, this has affected the school's football team, the Manassas Tigers, who have earned a reputation for their poor performance on the field. Their coach, Bill Courtney, hopes to change all that and invigorate the team members to success both on the field and academically. Coach Courtney began working as a volunteer coach for Manassas in 2003 and worked to build up the program with new members. Six years later, Manassas's poor record continues and the members recruited by Courtney are in their senior year of high school. He wants the Tigers to reach the playoffs at least once, a feat never before accomplished at Manassas. Coach Courtney also works to raise funds for the team, as Manassas High School is severely underfunded. The players have their own personal issues to deal with as well. One, O. C. Brown, hopes to play football in college, but struggles to improve his poor grades so he may do so. O. C. has attracted the eyes of recruiters for college teams due to clips of his plays appearing on Youtube. He was raised by his grandmother; his mother is dead and his father is estranged from him. Another player, a linebacker named Montrail "Money" Brown, is academically successful and possesses a strength on the field which belies his relatively small stature. He hopes to get into college to get away from Memphis. Coach Courtney prepares the team for their first game of the season against St. George's High School, noting that an early loss could damage their psyche. He wishes to defy the stereotype of inner-city high schools being easily defeated. St. George's defeats Manassas 24-12. Coach Courtney encourages the players to come back from this loss and to have "heart." He continually stresses the importance of teamwork and discipline, noting that a football team must first have a strong character and moral foundation before it can enjoy true success. One saying of his which is repeated often is: "a man is not judged by the way he handles success, but by how he handles his failures." A junior named Chavis Daniels returns to the team after spending 15 months in a youth penitentiary. Chavis has severe anger issues, but Coach Courtney is willing to give him a chance. Like many other players on the team, Chavis never had a father, which some blame as the source of his attitude. He takes the number 0 on his jersey, since in his words he "ain't got no sense." During a team meeting, Chavis and Money get into a confrontation with each other and Coach Courtney breaks them up. Money, frustrated, leaves the meeting and goes home. Coach Courtney attempts to sort out the dispute and visits Money to try to get him to come back. Money no longer wants to be around Chavis, whom he considered to be his friend. Manassas's second game is against Trezevant; there is a history of rivalry between the two schools and the police are on hand to break up any potential fights. Manassas practices hard all week, and the game begins. At the end of the first half, they are down 20-0, but Coach Courtney inspires them to come back and win the game in the second half. The Manassas coaching staff endeavors to help O. C. with his failing grades. One of the coaches, Mike Ray, has O. C. stay at his house a few days a week, where he is aided by tutors. Money recounts the death of his father when he was 13 and how he advised Money to focus on his education. Money struggles to get himself into college, but his financial situation makes it extremely difficult. Coach Courtney talks about how his father left when he was four years old and how it affected his sense of self-worth. He hopes he can use that experience to provide the football team with guidance, as many of them are also without fathers. During preparations for a game against Bolivar Central, Coach Courtney confronts Chavis over an argument he had with an assistant coach. Chavis seems unwilling to listen to him. An hour before kickoff, Chavis gets into a fight with another player and Coach Courtney intervenes, placing Chavis on the bench for the game. Manassas wins 47-3. The next day, Coach Courtney assembles Chavis and several other players to have them talk about Chavis's incidents. Chavis indicates that he still cares about the team and they try to get him to own up to his wrongdoings. The coaches decide to give him a suspension instead of terminating him entirely, as they feel that football is the only thing giving him guidance in his life at the moment. Ray and his family meet with college recruiters about O. C.; some in the general public believe that the family is merely attempting to latch onto O. C.'s potential success for their own gain. At the season's midpoint, Coach Courtney begins to discuss the possibility of making it to the playoffs with the team, which by this point is 3-1. In the homecoming game against Hillcrest, Manassas is in the lead when Money suffers an injury to his knee which sidelines him. Despite this, the Tigers manage to win the game. O. C. takes his college entrance examination, but fails. Money visits his doctor, who tells him he's injured his ACL and will need to be off the field for 8 to 12 weeks. The news is devastating to Money, who falls into a depression and starts missing school. He feels that the team's attitudes have changed due to his injury; Coach Courtney attempts to convince him not to give up and not to miss school. Chavis comes back from his suspension and offers an apology to the team, asking them to accept him back. He changes his jersey number from 0 to 35. Many on the team forgive him, although Money still hasn't. Manassas faces St. Benedict and is down 28-13 at the end of the first half. During halftime, Coach Courtney finds that the team members are blaming each other for botched plays and he becomes enraged, vehemently trying to get them to exhibit the discipline he trained them to have. Chavis demonstrates a better understanding of Coach Courtney's lessons than he did before his suspension. Chavis is put in the game and leads his team to a 54-41 victory, bringing them to 5-1 with a 5-game winning streak. Manassas's success continues over the next few games and the playoffs could be in sight. Coach Courtney finds that he is taking time and "emotional capital" away from his family to concentrate on the football team. O. C.'s college recruitment offers begin to dry up in the wake of his poor academic performance. Money engages in physical therapy to speed the recovery of his knee, hoping to play in the last game of the regular season. Despite his progress, the doctor says it's not safe for him to play, but Money plans on playing anyway. If Manassas loses the final game, there will be no post-season and Money will not be able to finish with his team. The team prepares for the final game of the season against Kingsbury. Coach Courtney assists Money through an emotional breakdown. During the team meeting, Coach Courtney hands out an "uncommon man" award to Chavis for his performance in the previous game. Chavis takes the opportunity to speak to the team about how he's changed over the season and how he finds himself motivated to help people off the football field, such as his mother. He points to Money as an example to all of them, praising his perseverance in the face of adversity. The team cheers for them both. Manassas wins against Kingsbury 27-16, thus earning them the district championship and an entry into the state playoffs. Money receives permission from his doctor to play in the playoff game against Westview. During practice, Courtney and one of the other coaches, Jeff Germany, receive a telephone call and bring Money aside. They explain that Coach Germany has an independently wealthy friend who heard of Money's story and has decided to fully fund Money's college education. Money, stunned by this development, bursts into tears. Coach Courtney advises him to "keep doing the right thing." O. C. retakes his college entrance exam and manages to pass, earning himself a football scholarship. Coach Courtney realizes he's spending more time with the football team than with his own children, and fears that his absence may affect their sense of self-worth. Manassas faces Westview in the playoff game and both teams seem equally matched, going back and forth in an extremely close game. Finally, after a protracted struggle, Westview beats Manassas 28-27. Coach Courtney, however, reiterates his advice about dealing with failure and expresses his pride in the team. He personally congratulates Money for being able to "end it on the field" and embraces O. C., giving him a tear-filled congratulation and saying that he loves him, noting that it was "an honor and a privilege" to work with him. Coach Courtney announces that he won't be returning to coach the Manassas Tigers the following year, and talks about the enormous progress they made both on the field and in their relationships with one another. The epilogue states that Chavis went on to become captain of the defense for Manassas, O. C. and Money both attended the University of Mississippi as a football player and a football manager respectively, and that Coach Courtney went on to coach football at his children's' school.

Details

• NETWORK: N/A
• DATE: 2011
• RUNNING TIME: 1:53:18
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: 107322
• GENRE: Public affairs/documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/documentaries
• SERIES RUN: N/A
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Ralph Zipper … Executive Producer
• Nigel Sinclair … Executive Producer
• Guy East … Executive Producer
• Chris Miller … Executive Producer
• Neeraj Kohli … Executive Producer
• Paolo Coppola … Executive Producer
• Jillian Longnecker … Executive Producer
• Michele Farinola … Executive Producer
• Dan Lindsay … Producer, Director
• Rich Middlemas … Producer
• Seth Gordon … Producer
• Ed Cunningham … Producer
• Glen Zipper … Producer
• T. J. Martin … Director
• Michael Brook … Music by
• Daniel McMahon … Music by
• Miles Nielsen … Music by
• Montrail "Money" Brown … Cast
• O. C. Brown … Cast
• Ruth Burke … Cast
• Lavondasha Cobb … Cast
• Bill Courtney … Cast
• Lisa Courtney … Cast
• Chavis Daniels … Cast
• Barney Farrar … Cast
• Jeff Germany … Cast
• Brent Guy … Cast
• Aaron Hayden … Cast
• Ethel Hayes … Cast
• Rachel Hayes … Cast
• Julius Jackson … Cast
• Justyna Kirby … Cast
• Andrea Pointer … Cast
• Mike Ray … Cast
• Barton Simmons … Cast
• Jason Smith … Cast
• Jim Tipton … Cast
• Tommy Warren … Cast
• Gloria Williams … Cast