NFL releases Oscar-worthy short “Oh, Tony!”

By Os Davis  |   Monday, January 08, 2007  |  Comments( 21 )

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An important item for football fans and movie freaks today as the hard-working production team over at NFL Films has cranked out a three-minute reel that is clearly the early favorite in the "Short Feature" category at the 2008 Academy Awards. The movie has been entitled "Playoff Week 1: Cowboys at Seahawks Game Highlights," but over here at RealFootball365, we'll call it "Oh, Tony!"

A drama of this scope featuring such a charismatic, likable newcomer at QB hasn't been seen since "The Brady Bunch Takes St. Louis" was released back in 2002. "Oh, Tony!" is a similar production, but with tons more twists and turns along the way and a more poignant ending.

The film opens with a shot traditional since Orson Welles first mused, "Hey, maybe I should try that wacky film thing": A sweeping shot of the gridiron from on high, in this case, Seattle's Qwest Field. Thanks to the very presence of Romo, though, it's different somehow.

Ten seconds into the film, the screen star enters the picture. In his goofy silver-and-navy blue ski cap and looking more than a bit like an Eastern Illinois University graduate, he evinces a smile that speaks volumes: "So this is what the big time is like," he thinks, and "I've earned this," he tries to convince himself, and "We can win this thing."

Ah, the depth of emotion on display: And despite the slight - ever-so-slight - cockiness about the smile, Romo's rich characterization of the role of untested playoff quarterback shows us instantly that trouble is ahead.

What follows is a more action-packed, dramatic, subplot-laden three minutes than you find in a half-dozen Bruce Willis flicks. Through Patrick Crayton giving up the body to stretch for the first Dallas TD, to Seattle's love him/hate him poster boy, Jerramy Stevens, dominating the weak secondary in the second half, to Miles Austin looking more like Steve Austin on his jaunt up the sideline on the third-quarter kickoff return.

Finally, as in all great narrative, "Oh, Tony!" is all in the denouement. At almost exactly two minutes into the film, movie audiences are delivered a real shocker - and we're not talking about Martin Gramatica's little two-step dance number either. In a moment destined for highlight reels aplenty, Romo takes the snap for a would-be go-ahead field goal and...

Well, you know. It's a moment in film as memorable as John Travolta and Uma Thurman getting jiggy with it in Pulp Fiction, as Rocky Balboa running the steps (in the first one), as Brando's "I coulda been a contendah" lament.

Romo fumbles the ball.

You can't write stuff like this.

Mundane reality says that the overturning of Romo's completion to Jason Witten in the final two minutes was the real killer. Blame might possibly be placed on the brutal softer-than-cotton play of the Cowboy 'D' in a Seattle drive that featured two third-down penalties to keep the 'Hawks moving despite 2-of-7 passing from Matt Hasselbeck and a timeout blown in a panic.

But such subtlety isn't cinematic, and the folks at NFL Films knew that.

Check out the final shot of "Oh, Tony!" Romo, helmeted, walks off the field dishearteningly, a perfect bookend shot to the "aw, shucks" intro.

Genius stuff, this - a cinematic gem, to be sure. The only thing "Oh, Tony!" is currently missing, in fact, is a tagline. Happily, an assist is provided by those other marketing geniuses at the Worldwide Leader in [American] Sports and Shaun Alexander:

"Confidence is a dangerous thing."

I can't wait for the sequel.

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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 21  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Red Baron		05:35 AM
01/08/2007
Butter Fingers...Tony, Tony. Your hands must have been slippery from all that touching of jessica Simpson.
No.2
fr8ttrain		11:27 AM
01/08/2007
Romo botching that snap at the end was a real killer, but the Cowboys didn't look very good all game long. 1 offensive touchdown....
No.3
Hank Beam		11:32 AM
01/08/2007
Tony had a darn good 1st year as a starter. He made some mistakes...Yes. But atleast he got them there/ give him a break/ He'll...
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