Rudy is the real-life story of Rudy Ruettiger, a high school football player who has dreams of playing football for Notre Dame. The problem is he’s small, stout, and without discernable talent. What he does have is heart and a seemingly unbreakable spirit.
The movie gives a lot of background and a good feel for the steel mill working class in Indiana. He’s not picked up out of high school for any colleges, so he goes to work at the mill. It’s a family tradition in an Irish-Catholic family where traditions are important. It’s only after the death of his best friend at the mill that Rudy (Sean Astin in a role he was born to play) decides it’s now or never, and that life is too short not to follow his dreams.
He doesn’t get into Notre Dame right away, but one of the priests (Robert Prosky) takes a liking to Rudy and helps him get settled into the Junior College that feeds into Notre Dame. He struggles hard to get top grades and keep himself afloat, all the while continuing his dream of playing for the Fighting Irish.
After two years, the acceptance letter comes. But he still has to make the football squad. With ninety of the best scholarship players in the country playing on a field of eleven, his odds seem small. So does his ability to pay for tuition at one of the premier schools in the nation. Fortune smiles on him in the person of the same name, a former ND ballplayer who is now the groundskeepers (played believably by Charles S. Dutton). Rudy not only gets a job working for Fortune, but gains a lot of wisdom from Fortune’s experience. During tryouts, Rudy is repeatedly pummeled by the first string players. But he gets up each and every time, determined to withstand the next hit. And the next. It is this determination that earns him a spot on the team.
Being officially on the team without ever actually playing jades even Ruettiger’s seemingly indomitable spirit. He’s ready to quit. But Fortune steps in and brings him back to reality. In the final game of the season, with moments left to go, the players’ affection for him convinces the coach to let him play. He ends up making a quarterback sack, albeit one that doesn’t change the game at all. The team carries him off the field in a tear-jerking finale.
Yes, Rudy is sappy and somewhat predictable. But it’s a true feel-good film. And it’s a reminder never to let your dreams die.
Julie’s Rating: 4 stars 
MPAA Rating: PG
Cautions: Light swearing, including religious epithets
Appropriate for: Most all viewers, with the above cautions