In the 1950s, David Green, Jewish football star, lives in the economically diminishing town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. For his senior year of high school, David is given a scholarship to St. Matthew’s, an elite Catholic prep school located in Massachusetts. When he arrives, he meets all of his teammates, a few that he forms a bond with, Charlie Dillon, Rip Van Kelt, Jack Connors, and his roommate Chris Reece. David Green then learns about St. Matthews’ cherished honor code system, which stands by; Honor, Respect, and Accountability.
It was a living entity, a guideline the school swore by, and those that broke the code met with the headmaster to discuss consequences. Soon learning that his friends are very prejudiced towards Jews, as they make jokes regarding his religion, David suppresses his religion. As a couple days go on, the St. Matthew’s football team wins a game as Green as their star. Everyone admires David, though Dillon admits to him that he envies David. In their next game, they play their rival, St. Luke’s. The game is tied and Dillon wants to score the game winning touchdown, but the coach calls a quarterback keeper.
Green then scores, while Dillon makes the game winning block. Later that night at the after party, Dillon inadvertently discovers that Green is Jewish, and out of jealousy, spreads the word. Everyone except two people turn against David, he becomes harassed and made fun of for his religious beliefs. As the movie goes on, there is a big exam in history class that Charlie Dillon is spotted cheating by Green and Van Kelt. Mr. Gierasch ends up finding out someone cheated and addresses to the class that he will fail every student unless someone confesses to him that they are guilty of cheating.
The class holds a meeting after the notification from Gierasch and wait for someone to fess up, no one confesses of cheating so they leave it alone for the night. That night, Green speaks with Dillon and says that if Dillon does not fess up, he will do it for him. The next day, the class holds another meeting, Green is about to stand and confess to the class that Dillon is guilty, but immediately, Dillon stands and accuses David of cheating. Green stands and confronts Dillon that he is lying. Green and Dillon then leave it to the class to decide who cheated.
The class, who disgusts David, come to the conclusion that Green is guilty. Green accepts the accusation and goes to the head master’s office. Green goes to explain why he is in the office, the headmaster interrupts David and says “You are not the guilty one, we know Dillon cheated. ” Rip Van Kelt then appears in the room, he brought it to the attention of Gierasch and the headmaster that Dillon cheated. Charlie Dillon is expelled and Green says to the headmaster “You used me for football, so I will use you to get into Harvard. ”
David Green is a Jewish, highly recruited football quarterback who lives in Scranton, PA. He receives a scholarship to attend a Catholic prep school in Massachusetts. At this school, he meets new friends who are highly prejudiced to Jews. Green hides his identity as a Jew and lets it be completely unknown on campus. Green stars in the high school’s first football game as they win their first game of the season. The school ends up finding out David is a Jew and harasses him. David is then accused of cheating on a test and dishonoring the school’s highly admired honor code.
But, a teammate of Green’s tells the headmaster the name of the real cheater, Charlie Dillon. David is a really laid-back and caring individual and still remains highly respected. A quote from David Green: “I’ll honor your traditions, I’ll go to the dean and lie” I think this quote describes David’s whole entire character to a T. He is honoring his teammates, who despise him. Charlie Dillon is arrogant, bigoted, and presumptuous.
He is also very insecure about his ability to live up to what his family expects of him, even though his parents seem to be quite riendly and tolerant. Dillon had built up some envy for David even while they were good friends. Because of the reason he was moved from quarterback to halfback due to the fact he was too small to be a quarterback. Most of the football plays that depended on Dillon result in either a loss of yards or turnovers. On the day St. Matthew’s won the big game against St. Luke’s their rival, Dillon fumbles the ball, almost costing them the game. Dillon’s older brother, a Harvard quarterback, gets inducted into the St. Matthew’s Hall of Fame on the day of the fumble.
Dillon seemed very depressed the whole day, in his eyes, everyone in the world was moving up except for him. Dillon is also a very mischievous, trouble-causing, good looking kid. He also finds out David is romantically involved with Sally Wheelers, who Dillon thought what his girl. Sally and Dillon apparently vacationed together since they were about 5, so it’s very possible she grew to see him more as a brotherly figure instead of a boyfriend. A quote from Charlie Dillon: “You know, I’m still gonna get into Harvard, and in 10 years no one will remember that any of this happened.
But you’ll still be a goddamn Jew. ” David replies “And you’ll still be a prick. ” This quote from Dillon describes his character pretty well too. He always worries about his future and doesn’t care about others. This movie helped me learn about ethics, morals, and values by showing me that people can be treated the same even when they keep a big secret. If David told his teammates the first day he attended the high school, no one would’ve wanted to be his friend. If David had never confessed he was a Jew, nothing would’ve changed.
People only judge you by the outside, your appearance doesn’t always give away your religious beliefs. The entire St. Matthews school disrespected David, except for two people. I have major respect for those two people; Chris Reese and Rip Van Kelt. Charlie Dillon did not exemplify good traits when it came to respecting David after he was exposed. He seemed like a good friend to David before he found out he was a Jew, but then immediately hated him when he found out. On the other hand, Reese and Van Kelt exemplified tremendous traits because of their actions toward David.
So I have very much respect for Rip and Chris. I chose to write an extended ending to the movie. After David graduates from St. Matthews he receives a scholarship to Harvard. On his first day, he meets his new roommate, Charlie Dillon. Dillon gets accepted into St. Luke’s a week after he is expelled from St. Matthews, but cannot participate in football due to his punishment from St. Matthews. David and Dillon basically are forced to make up to make their lives less miserable, and become the best of friends.
David Green and Charlie Dillon are the most widely known dynamic duo in all of high school sports. They set records at the University of Harvard together, becoming the 2 most highly recruited athletes in the U. S. David still remains a Jew and ends up getting drafted into the NFL. Dillon also finds a spot on an NFL roster later in his career. I think the ending of the actual movie is really poor, I think they should’ve showed David getting accepted into Harvard at some point.