The coming of age golf movie, “The Long Game,’’ starring Dennis Quaid (The Rookie), Jay Henrnadez (Friday Night Lights) and Cheech Marin (Tin Cup), opens in theaters April 12. The film, directed by Julio Quintana, is based on a true story. It focuses on five Mexican American teenagers who fell in love with golf while working as caddies in 1956 at the Del Rio Country Club, an exclusive club with all-white members.
Despite not being allowed to play at the club, San Felipe High School students Joe Treviño, Gene Vasquez, Felipe Romero, Mario Lomas and Lupe Felan (played by actors Julian Works, Gregory Diaz IV, Miguel Angel Garcia, Cristian Gallegos and José Julián, respectively) forged their own makeshift course by hand in a nearby field simply to play the game and enjoy it any way they could.
Their work caught the attention of the new San Felipe School District Superintendent JB Peña, a Hispanic American World War II Veteran played (Hernandez). With the hope of gaining access to the well-manicured Del Rio Country Club, despite being turned away by the club when seeking membership, Peña formed the first-ever San Felipe High School Mustangs’ golf team with the help of Frank Mitchell (Quaid), Del Rio’s golf pro and Peña’s war companion.
In 2012, the Mustangs were inducted into the Latino International Sports Hall of Fame.
The film, inspired by the book “Mustang Miracle” by Humberto Garcia, earlier this month received generally positive feedback when it played at South by Southwest, the annual music and film festival in Austin, TX. “The Long Game” was filmed on location in Del Rio, about 150 miles west of San Antonio.
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Photo: Jay Hernandez (left) and Dennis Quaid (right) in “The Long Game.”