Paterno - 2018 (1 Viewer)

[BLReed]

In 2011, Joe Paterno (Al Pacino) achieves his ultimate mission, collecting his 409th win as the head coach of Penn State football, turning his already sterling reputation into legend, with the locals referring to him as “JoePa,” celebrating his contribution with a statute in front of the college stadium. However, such glory is short-lived, with word starting to come out that reporter Sara Ganim (Riley Keough) has uncovered a secret history involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky (Jim Johnson), detailing his horrific crimes against children, often facilitated by his Second Mile charity for kids. As the press swoops in to attack the story, Joe is left in a daze, soon connected to Sandusky’s awful crimes when details that he knew about the sexual assaults, but did nothing about it, emerge. Now fighting for his reputation and his career at the age of 84, Joe tries to trust the legal system, finally forced to pay close attention to the evils he previously ignored.

To tell the story of Joe Paterno’s downfall, screenwriters Debora Cahn and John C. Richards begin with the coach’s decent into ill health, with Paterno reflecting on everything that’s happened to him while inside an MRI machine, giving him a tight, silent space to confront his rapidly evolving disgrace, and doing so while doctors scan him for cancer. It’s an interesting way to structure “Paterno,” which retains the scattered thought process of a frightened man, jumping around with multiple characters to deliver a larger understanding of the crisis without laboriously working through the steps of discovery. During the opening act, Sara’s story is already generating trouble for Penn State, inspiring paranoia as college officials race to understand the depth of the Sandusky problem and work to cover their own careers in the process.

 

[mikemiller1955]

I watched this the other night...
it was informative...
an ugly story...

Sandusky was a bonafide pedophile...
Joe Pa screwed up by not being more forthright with the information he had access to...
the last minute of the show informed viewers that he knew about this MANY YEARS (1976) from other events before it became a public issue...

Al Pacino was a good choice for casting as Paterno...
he seemed befuddled the entire movie...
either choosing to ignore the issue or not comprehend it...

it was a good watch...
but an ugly story...

 

[Rutledge]

I will never watch this because the story is true, and too horrific to even contemplate.

Paterno disgraced himself by revealing to the world, through his despicable inaction, he really only cared about one thing in life - maintaining his reputation for winning football games. He was ultimately just a characterless coward, the price of which finally came due at the end of his life.

Sandusky, meanwhile, will i hope one day bask in the 9th circle of he**. What an utterly despicable piece of garabage. Why he hasn’t been killed yet in prison I have no idea. Maybe he’s finally on the receiving end of all that sexual abuse he dished out. I certainly hope so.