The Rocket/Maurice Richard

[Jake]

anyone know what the deal with this movie is?

This was a 2005 release under the title "Maurice Richard" and now I see a trailer for "The Rocket" to be released April 21. IMDB still has it as the 05 release

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460505/

but there is a website that makes me belive this will be a nationwide release

http://www.therocketmovie.com/

Was this a flop that is coming back under a new name? ML doesn't have a trailer and I searched the forums and got nothing.

Movie itself doesn't look that bad, sort of a Cinderella Man-look alike.

For those that don't know, this is referring to Maurice "Rocket" Richard a Canadian hockey player who broke all kinds of scoring records.

[chernabog_ca]

Not sure about the release but I know I'm going to see it next week. The Rocket was the greatest hockey player of all time. He became a symbol the Habs and is still to this day and left a mark on the city of Montreal. I'll never forget the night The Forum closed and the ovation that man got. He was truly humbled. He funeral was something else as well. Thousands paid their respect as he laid at centre ice and then they lined the streets for the procession. He was more than a hockey player to the people of Quebec.

Too bad that he retired long before I was born as I would have loved to see him play.

[Jake]

Found some things out,

There's a number of NHL players in this movie, like Sean Avery and Vinnie Lecavalier.

I think this was released in Quebec in 2005 and never went national.

I think the original release in Quebec was in French and with English subtitles, judging from the trailer this will be in English though.

not much more info, but it looks good, 0 advertising other than TSN.ca so far.


about Rocket Richard, I absolutely know what you're talking about chernabog, I am a great fan of Martin Brodeur in exactly the same way. Very lucky to be able to see him play and very much regret that I only got to see Patrick Roy once. I'm also too young to remember people like Gretzky and Messier in their prime despite watching their last years on the Rangers. These people really impact the game AND the city. For example Mark Messier is one of the greatest players of all time...but an asshole. I've tried to get an autograph from the guy many times and he stands there in front of the crowd for a minute looking for people he likes, he NEVER signs jerseys and is overall an extremely unpleasant guy to fans. People like him may have impacted sports but despite having won the cup for the Rangers in 94 he will NEVER be remembered like Leetch or Graves. Graves now works for the Rangers and everyone loves him, why? because he comes out and meets the fans, he came out at 7am last year when tickets went on sale and met, spoke with and signed things for about a 1000 fans. And I don't mean some asshole sign and **** you, I spoke with the guy, he actually listened to people and wanted to know what they think about a team. Fans don't easily forget gestures like that.

[chernabog_ca]

From what I can tell it was released in Quebec last year. I'm glad that the rest of us are going to be able to see it.

I noticed that there's a few current NHLers in the movie. Lecavalier is playing Beliveau and Ian Laperrière plays Boom Boom.

I was lucky enough to see Patrick play a few times but every game I went they lost! In fact I've only been to two games where they've won. One of them was the only time I got to see Mario play.

[Jedi Master]

I saw it last year, very good movie.

[Jake]

What was the audio format? Was it French with English subs or just English?

[Jedi Master]

It was done in French and then dub in English

[Jake]

hmmm, well I'm hoping that this will be in English lol, don't speak much French, from the trailer I think it will be English

anyway, story from TSN

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=163110&hubname=nhl

NHLers take to the ice in The Rocket
The Rocket stands alone when it comes to hockey movies.

The quality of the on-ice product resonates throughout the two-hour film, a biopic about legendary Montreal Canadiens star Maurice Richard.

And it stands to reason, given that modern-day NHL players are in the film, whose English-language release is set for Friday in theatres across the country.

Mike Ricci of the Phoenix Coyotes gets the most screen time, cast as Elmer Lach who played on the famous Punch Line with Richard and Toe Blake.

"I got a call out of the blue," said Ricci, who has no previous acting experience, but whose battered nose made him a good fit for Lach.



Ricci and 15 of his Coyotes teammates were treated to a private screening while in Columbus, Ohio, last month.

"When you're doing it, you really don't know how it's looking or what's going on," said Ricci. "When I saw the movie, I was impressed. They did a great job. It looked great.

"My teammates enjoyed it, too, they had fun," added Ricci.

Fittingly, NHL bad boy Sean Avery of the Los Angeles Kings plays the role of Bob Dill, a rugged player who lasted only two years in the NHL and was called up to the New York Rangers - at least according to the film - to rough up Richard.

Even Avery laughs at the irony. In pre-season, after the film was already done, Avery got into hot water when he said a hit by then-Phoenix defenceman Denis Gauthier on Kings centre Jeremy Roenick "was typical of most French guys in our league with a visor on, running around and playing tough and not back anything up."

"We filmed it in the summer so at that point I didn't know that I was going to make comments that would later throw Canada into an uproar," Avery said with a laugh. "I'm sure the people at Alliance were probably excited about it, good PR for them.

"And the fact I get beat up by a French guy in the movie, that's funny too. I take the brunt of the fight, for sure."

Now Avery has the acting bug.

"I think I would certainly like to do some other things. I'm not going out and hitting casting calls by any means. I think being in L.A., there's definitely more opportunities. I really enjoyed it. I don't know how good I am, but the only way is to keep trying and I'd like to do that down the road for sure."

Ricci doesn't share Avery's zest for future roles.

"I don't know if I would ever pursue it," he said. "But if someone ever came up to me and asked me to do something and they thought I could do it, I would consider it. But I'm definitely not going to acting school anytime soon."

Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning also appears in the film, playing the great Montreal star Jean Beliveau - and he looks shockingly like him. Lecavalier, whose dad was a huge Beliveau fan, wears the same No. 4 with Tampa.

Mathieu Dandenault of the Montreal Canadiens, Ian Laperriere of the Colorado Avalanche and retired NHLer Stephane Quintal also have roles in the film.

"Definitely that was important," said Charles Biname, who directed The Rocket. "For me, even though it's not really a movie on hockey, I wanted the hockey to be brilliant. My standard was Raging Bull. If I could bring Raging Bull to the ice, I would achieve something. Because you want to see the passion, the craziness, the brutality, the violence, the hurt.

"So bringing NHL players in would guarantee a level of playing."

Actor Roy Dupuis, who deftly portrays Richard, is a solid hockey player in his own right. His skill on skates helped sell the film.

"Yeah, he did everything, that's all him," said Ricci. "There was no double in there doing his skating. And that's what made the movie I think. When you looked at Roy playing the Rocket, he looked good, he looked like the Rocket. And in other sports movies, you can tell it's somebody else skating or it looks really phoney, but he made it look real because he did it himself."

Dupuis blushed when told the NHLers in the movie were impressed by his skating.

"I'm a guy from Abitibi, I skated from the age of three," he said. "But I kind of stopped when I went back to the big city (Montreal). I let my hair grow and started to play guitar. I still played midget AAA but guys wouldn't understand why I'd miss a game to go see a Jethro Tull concert. So I was switching worlds."

Dupuis said he was curious how he'd fit on the ice with the NHL players.

"I remember the first time we rehearsed a play with Dandenault and I deked him and went in on goal. He came to me afterwards and said: `Man, you can skate.' I said, `Yeah?' and he said `Yeah, I have to skate full force just to catch you.' So I was like `Wow.' But those guys were playing on old blades, which I grew up on. So it was probably an advantage for me."

All the hockey scenes were filmed in Quebec City during a seven-day span last summer, where Le Colisee subbed in as the old Montreal Forum.

"It was the first time I had ever done anything like that," said Avery. "It was exciting, and a little bit nerve-racking the first day. Because you're in a rink with a couple of other thousand extras as well. The attitude I had is that I might as well get it right as quickly as possible. The second day you get into it more and feel more comfortable.

"It was fun, and I had never been to Quebec City either, and that was cool. It's a beautiful city."