The Long Game Parent Guide

The Del Rio golf club believes that Mexicans belong on the green. As caddies. When WWII vet J.B. Pena (Jay Hernandez) tries to join, he’s rejected and advised to play on a public course near the border. The new school superintendent then learns that several of his high school students caddy on the Del Rio course. Not only that, but the boys are so dedicated to the sport that they have landscaped their own golf course in scrubland and have practiced enough to develop some impressive skills.

Determined to demonstrate that Mexican-Americans are “real Americans” and deserve to be treated with respect, Mr. Pena starts the first golf club at San Felipe High School. His erstwhile commanding officer (Dennis Quaid) comes along to help coach, and they set about polishing the boys’ rough talent.

The finer points of golf aren’t all the boys need to learn. Texas in 1955 is unwelcoming to Hispanics, and the team face discrimination, dishonesty, and sabotage on the green, as well as racist mistreatment off of it. Mr. Pena becomes their guide to negotiating the barriers created by a prejudiced society, encouraging the boys to play by the rules and earn the respect of the white world. Whether or not this is the best approach remains to be seen…

The Long Game can be a hard film to watch, particularly because it’s based on a true story. I always have a hard time with depictions of racism and cruelty because it’s such an affront to my core values. Watching Pena and his boys endure discrimination with dignity is painful for me, and I suspect it’s even more difficult for members of a racialized group. The familiar advice from Black parents ran through my mind throughout the film – “You have to work twice as hard to be treated half as well.”

If you are a fan of underdog sports movies or films about the struggle for equality, The Long Game will be a hole-in-one. There’s nothing spectacular in this production, but it faithfully follows genre beats, delivering what audiences expect. Negative content consists of a dozen profanities, some scenes of casual social drinking, and some non-explicit violence. On the plus side, the positive messages make this film a winner for family audiences. The teen and adult characters both learn and grow, delivering messages about dignity, self-respect, persistence, teamwork, sacrifice, and hard work. Parents can be assured that the film’s positive themes will be beneficial to their teens and might even motivate them to greater compassion or more focused pursuit of their own goals. And that’s a winning round.