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The Longest Yard (1974)

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• Ray Nitschke, the Green Bay Packer great, played a game called "Kill the Star" while on the playing field with Burt Reynolds.
  
  
• A number of the actors had previously played professional football. Burt Reynolds played for Florida State University and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts. Mike Henry (Rasmussen) played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Rams. Joe Kapp (Walking Boss) played quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. Ray Nitschke (Bodaanski) was a middle linebacker for the Green Bay Packers, and Pervis Atkins (Mawabe) played for the Los Angeles Rams, the Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders.
  
  
• Anacott Steel is the name of one of the semi-pro football teams referred to by Captain Knauer when he is talking to his guards. It is also the name of one of the companies that are in play in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987). It is not a real company.
  
  

• The climactic football game takes up 47 minutes of running time.
  
  
• Georgia State Penitentiary prisoner Harold Morris, who had been wrongly convicted of murder and was later given a full pardon, had a part in the film as an extra. In his book "Twice Pardoned", he recalled some moments with Burt Reynolds:
  • Although prison officials strongly discouraged it, Reynolds often sat with the prisoners during meal breaks and socialized with them.
  • A photographer on the set offered to take souvenir photographs of the prisoners individually posing with Reynolds. Many of the prisoners had no money, but Reynolds told the photographer to take all the pictures they prisoners wanted and he (Reynolds) would pay for them.
  • One of the prisoners asked Reynolds where he lived. Reynolds told him he had homes in Florida and California. The prisoner then asked for his address and when Reynolds asked why, the prisoner explained a) he was a career criminal about to finally get out of prison, and b) after a life spent stealing from people who didn't have money, he wanted to finally burglarize someone who had money.
  • Reynolds and Morris struck up a friendship during the filming, and at the end Reynolds sent personalized, autograph photos to several of Morris' relatives. He also gave Morris a Book of the Month club membership.
  
  
  
• According to Hal Needham in an Atlanta radio interview, someone was standing by waiting as they filmed the chase, and as soon as they pulled the Citroen SM out of the river, he paid for it and took possession.
  
  
• According to producer Albert S. Ruddy, the story Crew tells about his two blind parents is a reference to former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett.
  
  
• According to Burt Reynolds, the scene photographed from the stadium tunnel where he matted in darkness is an homage to the closing scene of The Searchers (1956).
  
  
• Then-Governor Jimmy Carter facilitated the production in Georgia.
  
  
• After the decimated Citroen was fished out of the water, producer Albert S. Ruddy sold it for $7000 on the strength of it being the car from the movie.
  
  
• According to Albert S. Ruddy and Burt Reynolds on the DVD Commentary, for reasons unknown, Robert Aldrich didn't like actor Michael Conrad (Nate Scarborough) and would always insult him by calling him the "Polish Princess". Finally, when they were filming the scene between Paul Crewe (Reynolds) and Scarborough (Conrad) where Nate says "There's only two things you've got left: Your pride and your balls..." Aldrich like the scene so much that he rewarded Conrad with a candy bar, which was the daily award Aldrich would give out to whomever did the best work that day. Conrad, who had endured Aldrich's insults throughout filming was actually moved to tears. And Aldrich actually stopped referring to Conrad as the "Polish Princess" for the rest of the shoot.
  
  
• Producer Albert S. Ruddy says that his inspiration for the film came from a friend of his who was a promising football player. After a career-ending injury, his life took a downward spiral. He was working a minimum wage job at a sandwich shop and he was being mistreated by his snobbish girlfriend. Ruddy took the scenario from there.
  
  
• Burt Reynolds was quoted as saying that late director Robert Aldrich deliberately framed and shot 'The Longest Yard' in 1.33:1 Academy aspect ratio (with the intent that it would be matted theatrically for 1.85:1) because prophetically Aldrich didn't want to see his vision later be manipulated for television screens by panning and scanning.
  
  
• In the DVD version, James Hampton said that he was originally supposed to play Unger, but wanted to play Caretaker instead. Charles Tyner was given the Unger role instead.
  
  

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