knute rockne lead an extraordinary life and his story be tell rather well in knute rockne all american . we follow rockne incredible journey from young norwegian boy to iconic american football legend . produce in 1940 the film may at time seem a touch date and at time downright hokey . and the filmmaker do lay it on a bit thick at time a rockne be glowingly and lovingly portray . you may come away think rockne should have be nominate for sainthood when in fact he be and after all and just a football coach . but it be undeniable that he have a great impact on the game of football as well a have a tremendous impact on the life of so many of the young men he coach . this film show the great impact he have and give you an insight into why he be so revered to this day . play rockne and pat obrien give an impressive performance . it unquestionably obrien movie to carry and he make the film and the character his own . the real life rockne be renowned a a great inspirational figure and obrien performance will make you understand why . the only quibble come early in the film when obrien and in his early forty and be play the college student rockne in his early twenty . all the makeup in the world wasn not go to make that believable and the effect be rather jarring . but a the rockne character age and begin his legendary coaching career obrien fit the part perfectly . a for the rest of the cast one name jump out and that be of course ronald reagan play the young and charismatic and but ultimately doom football star george gipp . in the grand scheme of the film it not really a large part and with reagan appear for no more than 10 15 minute . but the performance have become legendary thanks to reagan famous win one for the gipper deathbed speech . it a brilliantly play scene and chock full of emotion . reagan may not have be on the screen for very long in this film but he certainly make a tremendously positive impact in a winning performance . the rest of the film strike a balance between football and life in general with rockne have great lesson for his young men in both area . for football fan ( and history buff ) there be a rare treat a actual archival footage from notre dame game of the rockne era be intersperse throughout the film . it a rare opportunity to see just how much the game have evolve in the last six plus decade and an opportunity to see rockne legendary strategic innovation put into practice . if youre a notre dame fan you will probably enjoy the fact that the notre dame victory march provide a seemingly constant soundtrack for the film . if youre a notre dame hater . well and then youre probably not watch this movie anyway . knute rockne all american be an inspiring and uplifting and emotional film . perhaps a tad overly sentimental but that not such a bad thing . it a very enjoyable film and one well worth take the time to see .