This may have smacked of the Ozzie and Harriet days but, what's wrong with that? About time for a return to decency! Sure, we all know that all kinds of language is used in a football camp, and we certainly know what sex scenes are all about since we are inundated with them in almost every film. What a nice break from filth this was! It proves that you can tell a story without going into the gutter. I'm surprised that it was even able to be made! Using language and sex would not in any way have enhanced this story, but it would have kept young viewers away. And during the last half hour you could have heard a pin drop as everyone in the audience was riveted. I will go out of my way to see and recommend other Angelo Pizzo films.

This story is one that people will enjoy regardless of topic, dialogue, casting ,etc. My All American recounts facts about someone with inner courage to do their best in good and bad times. Freddie was a true spirit of inspiration. No one can dispute that. After watching I too felt touched by his accomplishments and his ability and fortitude to remain resolute until his death. There is not much on his family but I feel they too were proud of him and deeply felt his loss. He and his finance made plans to marry. He entered into a coma preventing their marriage. What a tragedy. Freddie is an example of how to live daily and follow your dreams. I wish I could have met him.

'My All American (Courage)' brings nothing more to the table than an article you can read online. The screenplay constantly stays safe and the writing never takes a chance to create more depth to portray Freddie Steinmark in a realistic way. This is a glossed over family film, with the strong hint of bland Christian morals. There is no room for character building and change, as everyone remains flat and stale.Any attempt of trying to add a backstory away from his football career is quickly drowned out by, well, more football. Every conversation, whether its with his family, girlfriend, or friends, is quickly shifted to football, which portrays Freddie as a robot bowing down to the game; nothing more is on his mind. His early life struggles are quickly resolved and move on to the next football task; nothing more.Sure, we can understand that he loved football, but Angelo Pizzo does not show the effort in film-making as the real Freddie Steinmark showed for the game. Pizzo's script and direction can be equally fulfilled by reading only a single article, or skimming the SparkNotes from 'Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story' written by, Jim Dent. What we are watching in this film is the first adaptation of a screenplay, as Pizzo forgot that screen writing takes a few more drafts.

. . . in the current Docudrama, MY ALL AMER!CAN. A runt-like Colorado boy is the only player on his public high school football team attending mass daily. His dream is to play college ball at Notre Dame, like "The Gipper," and continue on to the Chicago Bears. He's going to have tons of babies with his high school sweetie on the side. When his only scholarship offer comes from an apparently Lily White University of Texas grid-iron squad, his new goal is to lead the Longhorns to an unprecedented Cotton Bowl match-up against the integrated Fighting Irish & Whatnots. Though MY ALL AMER!CAN does not overtly caution against making "pacts with the Devil," this 20-year-old runt DOES lead U-T to a national championship in his final game to set up the impossible long-shot of a few years back: U-T playing ND in the Cotton Bowl three weeks later. But as soon as that match-up is set, the under-sized over-achiever has a leg amputated at the hip, due to a baseball-sized cancerous tumor. This allows the U-T coach to pull a page from legendary Notre Dame master Knute Rockne, and plead for his team to "Win one for Freddie!" Most football fans and religious folks will be totally disillusioned by MY ALL AMER!CAN (unless they're up to the mental gymnastics being talked about in this week's sports sections, about how the "devout" families of Gridder Bart Starr and hockey great Gordie Howe see nothing wrong in filling these aging legends with stem cells from aborted babies to keep them going for a few more inches).