![\"Any-Given-Sunday-1999-3\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/524\/2015\/07\/Any-Given-Sunday-1999-3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u2026 like, 20 times over the years, and never noticed these things?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been a big fan of the 1999 Oliver Stone film (he\u2019s kind of a loon, but I do like some of his movies \u2014 and we share the same birthday, so he can\u2019t be all bad) about a professional football team, and I watch it about every time it comes on TV.<\/p>\n
But it was not until today that realized a few things:<\/p>\n
When Miami Sharks coach Tony D\u2019Amato (Al Pacino) invites new quarterback Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) over to his house for conversation and bad jambalaya, the Bible-era drama\u201dBen-Hur\u201d is playing on the TV \u2014 in particular, the very famous chariot-race scene. (The picture below shows Charlton Heston, as Judah Ben-Hur, morphing into Pacino.)<\/p>\n
Then later in the movie, Heston comes back in the flesh, this time playing the football commissioner \u2014 which I guess is the next closest thing to Moses in the sport.<\/p>\n (Heston wasn\u2019t a Catholic, but he was an Episcopalian back when that actually meant something.)<\/p>\n Also, in the climactic game of the movie, the Sharks go up against the Dallas Knights, whose uniforms have a vaguely Crusader flair (and, confusingly, there\u2019s another team actually called the California Crusaders<\/a>).<\/p>\n As you see below, the Knights\u2019 chaplain is dressed like a Catholic priest. But there\u2019s more to the story. Bruce Hardy, the former general manager of Texas Stadium \u2014 former home of the Dallas Cowboys \u2014 played the part, his only movie role.<\/p>\n From a 2014 post<\/a> at The Dallas Morning News<\/em>:<\/p>\n When the Oliver Stone-directed\u00a0Any Given Sunday<\/em>\u00a0was filming at Texas Stadium, Hardy said he was giving a boy and his family a tour. On a couple of occasions, he received hostile reactions from the production staff who didn\u2019t want them around. After they yelled at him and the family, Hardy said he gave a movie staffer an ultimatum.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got 10 minutes to get Oliver Stone, you and [producer] Clayton Townsend in my office,\u201d he said. \u201cI said, \u2018Oliver, I don\u2019t know where in the hell you come from, but in this area, we say \u2018thank you\u2019 and \u2018please.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Hardy told them that the next people who yelled at the staff or a visitor would get thrown off the property.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess they thought I was serious, because we had six weeks of the greatest filming ever,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n Hardy even got a small (very small) role in the movie as one of the team chaplains. But he said his speaking part was cut because of professional football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas.<\/p>\n Unitas was supposed to cuss out some people, but Hardy said the staff couldn\u2019t get him to swear. That meant part of that scene was cut, and Hardy lost his speaking role.<\/p>\n Hardy says he still gets about $20 or $30 a year, after taxes, in residuals for appearing in that movie.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Oh, and Catholic actor Jim Caviezel, who played the title role in \u201cThe Passion of the Christ,\u201d played Coach D\u2019Amato\u2019s estranged son, but he wound up on the cutting-room floor (but he can be seen in DVD extras from \u201cThe Oliver Stone Collection\u201d<\/a>).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n