I watched this movie this weekend. It features horseracing and a Cajun family in Louisiana. Walter Matthau plays a horse trainer raising sons on his own while trying to make money training and racing quarter horses. It’s a “Rocky” type movie from 1978 and was realistically done. Nothing in the movie is sugarcoated and it reminded me of classic family movies like Old Yeller or The Champ.
They curse with words like “GD” but that’s all. One thing of note is the frequent saying of coonass in the movie. The movie begins with a song about coonasses and I thought it sounded like Dr. John; I looked this morning and it was him. He also sang Jolie Blond in the movie. It sounded strange for him because I associate him with New Orleans. Anyway, the family is called coonass by a redneck horse trainer and it was portrayed realistically. The boys referred to themselves as coonasses when they were mad at each other.
They were called Cajun when they were not being insulted. It’s an interesting movie for many reasons besides that, and it was fun to watch. Walter Matthau’s character reminded me of his role in the Bad News Bears. It’s not bad and one of the better movies concerning Cajuns. Some of those movies are really absurd.
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LSU won which was not surprising. The Daily Advertiser today has a great article on the split feelings many have when UL-Lafayette plays against LSU.