Watch Madison For Free

Just what I expected

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I am a racing fan and a child of the American hot rod culture--my Dad built race-and-championship-winning auto engines for Chevy and Ford in the late Sixties and early Seventies--and I really enjoyed this movie as a chronicle of an exciting race and what a story--the small-town sponsored the boat and got the win at its own race. Beautiful. I appreciate those who have posted corrections to factual errors in the movie, but I would suggest that any race fan critical of this should step back and enjoy the show and what it got right--and it got a lot right. I particularly enjoyed seeing the one kid in an STP windbreaker. I had one, too, back then and I wore it with pride. STP meant racing and racing was my thing. Not football or baseball or anything else. And, for sure, the son of the boat racer riding his Sting-Ray with the stick-shift and high-rise bars and all--that is what kids did back then, rode their bikes and pretended they were racing. And thanks to some crazy kids and their parents and some promoters in Southern California who took it a step further, the sport of BMX was born in that era. (And if you are a fan of that, you have to see the documentary Joe Kid on a Sting-Ray, just the best.) I really enjoyed this movie--a feel-good racing movie in the same mold as The World's Fastest Indian.

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.

This is, to my knowledge, the only feature film ever to be made about professional boat racing. And it tells what is probably the most compelling story the sport has ever produced: how the little river town of Madison, Indiana, came to host the 1971 APBA Gold Cup race (the sport's equivalent of the Indy 500) and how driver Jim McCormick struggled to lead Madison's community-owned racing boat, the Miss Madison, into the race.As a sports movie, "Madison" feels fairly similar to the Disney baseball movie, "The Rookie", which came out a few years ago. It places the sports story squarely within the context of family life, and its fundamental message is that of the value of community--especially small-town communities like Madison. (Hoosier rocker John "Small Town" Mellencamp even provides the narration for the movie.) Since this is a story about small-town underdogs taking on the big city favorites, it resembles other Indiana sports movies in many ways--"Breaking Away", "Rudy", "Hoosiers", etc. Its storyline is not really unique in that respect. But the movie is reasonably well done, and it really pulls you into the excitement of boat racing in the final sequence, through some really nice cinematography.I guess I can't help but feel like there was a missed opportunity here, though. It is unlikely that there will ever be another movie made about professional boat racing, so it would have been nice if "Madison" could have taught us more about what makes the people who are involved in the sport tick. There is one interesting comment made towards the end of the film about how "only someone who's raced boats can understand why so many men have given their lives for the sport." There was a lot behind that statement, I think--especially when made in reference to a sport which has such a notoriously dangerous reputation as boat racing. I just wish I could have come away from this movie with an even better understanding of where it came from.Besides that...this is a nice little movie, and a fine tribute to Jim McCormick and the people of Madison. Go ahead and take your kids to it, and don't forget to stick around for the final credits...

This is a heartwarming, true story with a great performance by Jim Caviezel. It puts the small town of Madison, Ind., an historic town along the Ohio River in its best light. However, this film's release has been delayed for a variety of reasons including the ongoing problems with the Premiere Marketing and Distribution Group, which was charged with promoting this fine movie. There are shades of Mayberry in the message of this movie. And, if you lived or been to Madison you'll love the wonderful scenery. It's well worth seeing. Bill Bindley does a fine job directing. However, if there are four or five good movies out there to see, this one probably wouldn't be at the top of list. I hope this movie comes out as currently scheduled at the end of January. The people of Madison deserve to see their hard work -- as well as the cast, crew and actors -- finally get the wide distribution it deserves. Sundance and the Heartland Film Festival acclaims are nice, but this movie is solid entertainment that the general public should have an opportunity to see.