The Mighty Ducks (movies)
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Image:Mighty ducks.jpg The Mighty Ducks often alludes to a trilogy of movies released in the 1990s written by Steven Brill, who also created the characters.
The movies revolve around a Twin Cities hockey team composed of young players that stick together throughout various challenges. Despite its predictable plot and negative reviews by movie critics, the trilogy's success paved the way for the creation of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL team, as well as an unrelated The Mighty Ducks animated series.
Basil McRae, Mike Modano, Wayne Gretzky, Chris Chelios and Paul Kariya have made cameo appearances in the three movies.
Contents |
Plot Synopses
Mighty Ducks, The (1992) | ||
| Director | Stephen Herek | |
| Screenplay | Steven Brill (written by) | |
| Producer | Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner | |
| Release Date | October 2, 1992 | |
| MPAA rating | PG | |
| Color/B&W | Color | |
| Aspect ratio | 1.85 : 1 | |
| Runtime | 100 minutes, | |
| Alternate Titles | Champions (US), Mighty Ducks Are The Champions (UK) | |
D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994) | ||
| Director | Sam Weisman | |
| Screenplay | Steven Brill (characters) (written by) | |
| Producer | Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner | |
| Release Date | March 25, 1994 | |
| MPAA rating | PG | |
| Color/B&W | Color | |
| Aspect ratio | 1.85 : 1 | |
| Runtime | 106 minutes | |
| Alternate Titles | The Mighty Ducks 2 | |
D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) | ||
| Director | Sam Weisman | |
| Screenplay | Steven Brill (characters) (screenplay), Kenneth Johnson (story), Jim Burnstein (screenplay, and) (story, and) | |
| Producer | Jon Avnet, Jordan Kerner | |
| Release Date | October 4, 1996 | |
| MPAA rating | PG | |
| Color/B&W | Color | |
| Runtime | 104 minutes | |
The Mighty Ducks
After being charged with drunk driving, a lawyer named Gordon Bombay (played by Emilio Estevez) is sentenced to community service, coaching hockey, a sport he claimed to hate. There, he meets the District 5 peewee hockey team, a team of perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year, and are shut out at every game by at least five goals. However, the players learn that Bombay was once a player for the Hawks, a perennial champion team, but left hockey because the embarrassment ensued by failing to make a penalty shot that ultimately cost him a peewee championship. With the help of Coach Bombay, and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment, the players learn the fundamentals of the game. Soon enough, the District 5 team (now christened the Ducks, after Bombay's employer) start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, eventually reaching the finals. Bombay faces the team he grew up playing for, led by the same coach that coached him. Fittingly, the game was won by a penalty shot by Charlie.
D2: The Mighty Ducks
Inspired by his own players, Bombay decides to try out in the minor leagues. After an injury, he is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. For this, he reunites his Ducks and introduces them to five new players from across the country to form Team USA. However, the lure of celebrity becomes a distraction to both Bombay and the players, and reality kicks in when they lose against Team Iceland in an embarrassing defeat. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, yet Team USA continues to suffer, until they come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real team USA". (Here, a sixth player emerges, Russ Tyler, who earlier mocked Team USA during its matches.) Bombay realizes that the most important thing was to have fun. After a change in attitude, the Ducks redeem themselves by working up the playoffs ladder to once again meet Team Iceland in the finals. The game was decided by a shootout, and the Ducks won by their two goaltenders. Julie "The Cat" Gaffney made an amazing glove save on Iceland star Gunner Stall's slapshot on the final shot of the shootout. Stall was known for going glove side, which was Gaffney's strength, this is why Coach Bombay replaced Goldberg with Gaffney. After the shot nobody knew where the puck went until Gaffney flipped the puck up in her glove to show she had made the save, Team USA/The Mighty Ducks immediately stormed the ice to celebrate.
D3: The Mighty Ducks
The movie shifts focus from Bombay to his protége, Charlie Conway (played by Joshua Jackson). Charlie and his teammates are awarded a scholarship to Eden Hall Academy, a prestigious school where Bombay attended. However, their arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team (mainly consisting of white players who are members of rich families), as well as Bombay's hand-picked successor, coach Ted Orion (played by Jeffrey Nordling), whose emphasis on defensive two-way hockey irks Charlie considerably. Not wanting to be on a team led by Orion, who he believes to be a washed-up former professional player, Charlie leaves the team, but rejoins as he learns the truth about Orion from Bombay: Orion was once a player for the Minnesota North Stars, but stayed in Minnesota when the North Stars moved to Dallas, in order to take care of his paraplegic daughter. Charlie and Orion quickly bonded in time for the Junior-Varsity Showdown, and thanks in large part to the work of Charlie, the Ducks win from a shorthanded goal scored in the dying seconds of the game from unlikely goal scorer Goldberg.
Common threads
All three films cast an opposing hockey team that represents the various obstacles to the team. This team mainly consists of large players of a single ethnic background, of which the Ducks, a team with smaller players of different races and genders, must overcome. In the end to each movie, the Ducks prevail over them by a single goal.
Many of the goals that the Ducks score are artistic or gimmicky in nature. This is also known as Duck "trickery." One of their gimmicks is the Flying V, which involves all five skaters skating down the ice in much the same manner as a flock of geese, and the puck being under the control of the player at the head of the V.
The Mighty Ducks 4?
Mighty Ducks 4 was announced in 2004. It will supposedly document Charlie Conway as an adult as he coaches a minor hockey team with appearances by Gordon Bombay. The film was originally scheduled for release in 2005, but IMDB no longer lists the project.
Roster
The following is a roster of all the players for the Ducks, along with their jersey numbers, playing positions, and appearances in the three films (marked by XX). Seven of the players appear in all three films (Germaine, Averman, Moreau, Goldberg, Reed, Conway, and Banks). Their coaches are Gordon Bombay (Estevez, D1 and D2) and Ted Orion (Nordling, D3).
| No. | Player | Position | D1 | D2 | D3 | Actor/Actress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | Guy Germaine | F | XX | XX | XX | Garette Ratliff Henson |
| 1 | Terry Hall | XX | Jussie Smollett | |||
| 2 | Tommy Duncan | XX | Danny Tamberelli | |||
| 4 | Lester Averman | F | XX | XX | XX | Matt Doherty |
| 5 | Tammy Duncan | XX | Jane Plank | |||
| 6 | Julie Gaffney | G | XX | XX | Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine | |
| 7 | Dwayne Robertson | XX | XX | Ty O'Neal | ||
| 9 | Jesse Hall | F | XX | XX | Brandon Quintin Adams | |
| 11 | Dave Karp | XX | Aaron Schwartz | |||
| 16 | Ken Wu | XX | XX | Justin Wong | ||
| 18 | Connie Moreau | XX | XX | XX | Marguerite Moreau | |
| 21 | Dean Portman | D | XX | XX | Aaron Lohr | |
| 22 | Luis Mendoza | D | XX | XX | Mike Vitar | |
| 33 | Greg Goldberg | G/D | XX | XX | XX | Shaun Weiss |
| 24 | Peter Mark | XX | J.D. Daniels | |||
| 44 | Fulton Reed | D | XX | XX | XX | Elden Henson |
| 56 | Russ Tyler | XX | XX | Kenan Thompson | ||
| 96 | Charlie Conway | F | XX | XX | XX | Joshua Jackson |
| 99* | Adam Banks | F | XX | XX | XX | Vincent Larusso |
- Banks's number was 9 while he was on the Hawks in the first movie
Movie Trivia
- Actor Jack White was featured in all three movies, but in two different roles: in the first two movies, he played a referee in the final game featured in each film; in D3, he played the coach of the varsity team.
- Bob Miller, who played himself as the play-by-play announcer for TBS at Junior Goodwill Games in D2, and the announcer for the district championship game in the first film, works as the voice of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings in real life, where he called Wayne Gretzky's breakings of both the all-time NHL goals scored record, and the all-time NHL points record. On November 13, 2000, Miller was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The press box at the Staples Center is named for him.
