Search results
Paper Lion is a 1968 sports comedy film starring Alan Alda as writer George Plimpton, based on Plimpton's 1966 nonfiction book of the same name depicting his tryout with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.
This is based on a true incident and many of the players play themselves in the movie. — John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net> Harvard-educated, New York City residing journalist George Plimpton 's on-field exploits in the world of American professional football are dramatized.
The movie is “an amiable fiction” based on the real story, we are told. Plimpton bids his wife and editor goodbye, goes to training camp, manages to fool the players for about 24 hours, lands in some bruising scrimmages, weathers the hostility of the pros, and wins a sort of grudging respect from them.
Paper Lion is a 1966 non-fiction book by American author George Plimpton. In 1960, Plimpton, not an athlete, arranged to pitch to a lineup of professional baseball players in an All-Star exhibition, presumably to answer the question, "How would the average man off of the street fare in an attempt to compete with the stars of professional sports?"
Paper Lion: Directed by Alex March. With Alan Alda, Lauren Hutton, Joe Schmidt, Alex Karras. Sportswriter George Plimpton poses as a rookie quarterback for the Detroit Lions for a "Sports Illustrated" article.
- (1.3K)
- Comedy, Sport
- Alex March
- 1968-10-14
There aren't any rules about lions in the library. And, as it turns out, this lion seems very well suited to library visiting. His big feet are quiet on the library floor. He makes a comfy backrest for the children at story hour. And he never roars in the library, at least not anymore.
George Plimpton’s classic Paper Lion set the bar for participatory sports journalism, as the author shares his experiences in training camp, trying out as a quarterback for the NFL’s Detroit Lions, and eventually, playing in a preseason exhibition game.
