In 1976, a 30-year-old part-time bartender from south Philly attended a highly unusual open tryout for Philadelphia’s beloved but fumbling football team, the Eagles.
Vince Papale never played college ball. But on a day that attracted all manner of deluded hopefuls, he ran the 40 in 4.5, showed good hands and caught the eye of the rookie coach who came up with the cockamamie audition to begin with, Dick Vermeil.
Now that one-time barkeep’s story has become a Disney sports inspirational – complete with the blessing of the National Football League. An entertaining preseason opener, “Invincible” sports the tagline: “Inspired by the True Story of Vince Papale,” which is movie- speak for “We took some liberties.” For instance, “Invincible” overlooks the two years Papale played wide receiver for the Philadelphia Bell, a World Football League team. But this doesn’t clothesline the pleasures of watching the NFL’s oldest rookie inspire a city.
And the former footballer has been getting a kick watching Mark Wahlberg put on his number and take – and give – the sort of hits he took at Veterans Stadium.
“When I found out Mark Wahlberg was going to play me, we were going to meet at 7 o’clock. I’m all pumped up like the kickoff’s going to be at 7 o’clock,” recalled Papale, who was talking as he walked through the NFL Films complex in Mount Laurel, N.J.
“When I finally met him, he just pulled me in and gave me the biggest hug. His palms were as sweaty as mine, and he said ‘Hey, man, I don’t have to know you to tell you that I love you. And I respect you so much I promise you to make you proud.”‘
Talk about a highlight reel.
Wahlberg’s own highlight reel is increasingly impressive.
The 35-year-old actor has developed a knack for settling into his character’s physical soul. He doesn’t do this by beefing up or other cosmetic tricks, though the long-ago Calvin Klein underwear model has always cut a fine figure.
As good as he was in “The Basketball Diaries,” (1995) it was his porn-star turn as So Cal kid Eddie Adams looking for fame and family in “Boogie Nights” (1997) that strutted his gifts.
The movie’s pre-buzz was obsessed with character Dirk Diggler’s prosthetic nether regions. But it was Wahlberg’s performance that made you look up. His anguished bleat to his disapproving mom, “I’m not stupid. … Please don’t be mean to me,” still stings. That was the beginning of a run that includes two very fine films directed by David O. Russell, “Three Kings” (1999) and “I Heart Huckabees” (2004) as well as “The Perfect Storm,” and the caper romp, “The Italian Job.” Even in a genre flick like last summer’s “Four Brothers,” Wahlberg delivers a contained fury, a muscular vulnerability.
“I certainly feel a lot more comfortable,” he said when asked about hitting a vigorous stride. (This fall, he’ll appear in Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.) “There are certain scenes in a script, and you think about those scenes and you anticipate them, and I focus on the part I want to play and what the audience wants.”
Wahlberg also doesn’t approach his character’s core by employing some overblown method. He’s honed a naturalness that lends itself to real stories. He reveals the aches, pains, pleasure of his characters.
In “Invincible,” when Vince sits on the edge of a training-camp bed, awaiting the roster-trimming knock and the summons (“Coach wants to see you. Bring your playbook”), you feel his pragmatic resignation.
He’s hunkered, ready for the end of a dream that somehow kept gaining momentum.
Playing a working-class guy from Philly made sense to him, says Wahlberg. The youngest of nine kids, he grew up in Dorchester, a working-class and working-poor enclave in South Boston.
“It’s just a couple hundred miles away,” he said. “The accent’s a little bit different, but certainly it’s the same kind of atmosphere. Anytime you’re in the inner-city like that. In those neighborhoods, there’s a lot of similarities.”
One of the telling details in “Invincible” is its depiction of guys who seem to like each other, but are always shouting at each other like maybe they don’t like each other so much.
“You know it’s something most people don’t understand if they don’t come from that world. Which is why I had such a hard time when I left my neighborhood and came to L.A. or anywhere else,” he said. “I just assumed everybody was the same way. I kept getting in trouble, fights and what have you. It just is the way it is. Me and my brothers have always fought and kicked and screamed, and it was all out of love.”
Growing up in Dorchester, Wahlberg imagined being a star athlete. “Every kid I knew wanted the same thing. It was always about being a star in sports.”
So stepping into Papale’s cleats had a special appeal. Being in his mid-30s, Wahlberg grasps just what an achievement is was for Papale to suit up.
“I’ve accomplished some pretty big goals of mine, but it’s still not as big. I had my own success to draw from. But I think his accomplishment is far greater than anything I’ve ever accomplished.”
There’s no tang of false modesty here. It’s just a nod to the physical realities of playing in the NFL.
So, did he get hit hard?
“Every day. Every day,” he replied with a low chuckle.
“But I got to hit back.”
Spoken like a true son of Dorchester.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com.
This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, it incorrectly identified the town where NFL Films is located. The office is in Mount Laurel, N.J.
