ccthemovieman-1 This turned out to be a "sleeper," a good film that few people have heard of, I suspect, outside of Madison, Indiana. Being in an area that used to host hydroplane races, it intrigued me. I also usually enjoy movies that star Jim Caviezel.Mainly, this was a nice film with a feel-good David vs. Goliath story based on a real-life occurrence back in 1971. It involves the sport of hydroplane racing, meaning extremely fast boats raced in different bodies of water around the USA. A town nearby where I live used to have these, but I haven't heard of them in decades.Anyway, this story takes place in a small Indiana town that was on the skids by 1970 but plants closing all the time and people moving elsewhere. The hopes of its boat, "Miss Madison" also seem to be about lost until, as fate would have it, the town is awarded the opportunity to host the "Gold Cup," the biggest event of the sport. A string of failures, followed by new disasters, include the death of the pilot, near-death of another one and the boat being just about totaled in the process. How the town - led by former racer "Jim McCormick" (Caviezel) - can raise the money to resurrect the town, the boat and the driver himself, are all shown here. McCormick not only has to pull off several miracles but also try to win the support of his wife and son, who have had their fill of disappointments with this sport.The film winds up being a sports movie and a drama about a family, a team of workers and an entire small town trying to pull together and beat tremendous odds. I have to use two clichés here: it's a heartwarming story and, yes, it's a good family movie. You don't have to worry about offensive material. It reminds me, in spots, of a made-for-TV movie. It kind of plays old-fashioned corny but in a way that makes you glad you watched it.

Lisa Once the largest river port of the Midwest, Madison, Indiana is just one more dying river town in the 1970s. Its last piece of pride is the town's run down hydroplane boat, the only game in town. The boat runs on a shoestring crew: a gas station attendant, a laid-off river hand, a "retard", and a washed-up, has-been hydroplane driver, Jim McCormick (Jim Caviezel).This is the story of how one man turns a town around, rallying them together to give their boat one last try.The story centers on the relationship between Jim McCormick, his wife, bonnie, and his son, Mike. Jim McCormick, the Madison boat's team captain, has disavowed racing after sustaining injuries after a racing accident that claimed the life of a friend and fellow racer. Torn between his love for his family and the love for his town and its oat, he struggles to find his own peace and his dignity.

alanmorris-1 I enjoyed the film, yes it is a bit hokey in places and the Bindleys have fudged some of the facts but you feel good walking out of the theater. A great family movie, it was a lot of fun. A lot of small-town humor, but you get the feeling of the mid west in the early '70's was more like the 1950's.The race scenes were very well done considering they were using about three or four boats and repainted them a lot. Great to hear the Merlins and Allisons doing their thing. The actual boats used in the movie are in the race boat museum in Seattle.For the fact nit-pickers, Harry Volpi lived in Reno, Nevada.

rborges My twin nieces, Haley and Hunter Reed, were in the movie Madison. They weren't even a year old (now they are 3) when they shared the part of Jim and Bonnie McCormick's baby daughter! Our family was lucky enough to see the film in Indianapolis in October of 2001 during the Heartland Film festival. They have a lot of scenes in the movie that I didn't expect to be there. A heart wrenching scene where one of them is crying in the back seat of the car made it in...I just happened to be at the set the day they filmed the scene. It was hard to watch it that day too! They are my little movie stars in the making!The movie was great! Jim Caviezel was amazing! I can't wait for it to be released so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be soon. I saw a portion of the movie before John Mellencamp did the narration and I think that he definitely added a lot to the film! It is great to have another movie that Indiana can be really proud of. I would rank it up there with Hoosiers and Breaking Away!