Jim White (Kevin Costner) is coaching football in a high school in Idaho when he lost his temper with a disrespectful kid. The next thing we see is Jim’s family packing up to leave. He had been fired.
Arriving in McFarland, CA, one of his daughters wakes up and asks if they are in Mexico. Nope….they are home, at least for awhile, as Jim is starting his new job as the assistant football coach and Life Sciences teacher at McFarland High.
Although his past is filled with firings, McFarland needs Jim almost as much as he needs them.
McFarland is a poor agricultural town
near Bakersfield. It is dry and hot with hard working, mostly Hispanic, families working the fields while barely eeeking out a living. Jim’s family is having a hard time adjusting.
Jim immediately finds himself at odds with the football coach and is dumped as the assistant. But, in PE class he sees promise in some of the students…..a talent and desire…..for running.
The Principal agrees to let Jim start a cross country running program, and Jim asks a student to help him convince six other students to sign up, particularly Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts).
What happens next is magic……
“McFarland, USA” is a fantastic movie. Costner is terrific as are the seven actors who play the real-life cross country runners. Good for the whole family, it is even better if you are a runner (or were a runner) and live in the Central Valley (yup, on both counts). 🙂
Go to IMDb for more information. We watched this on Xfinity.
Drive Safe! Never Forget.
ForCarol: Drive Safe! Never Forget 