Anders Lindwall, Annabel Armour, Ashton Moio, Brandon Sklenar, Craig T. Nelson, drama, Green and Gold, M. Emmet Walsh, Madison Lawlor, movies, reviews, Wisconsin
February 22, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Anders Lindwall
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed Wisconsin city in 1994, the dramatic film “Green and Gold” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An aspiring singer/songwriter, who lives and works on her grandparents’ farm, encourages her grandfather to take an unusual Green Bay Packers bet in order to save the farm from foreclosure.
Culture Audience: “Green and Gold” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and movies about against-all-odds obstacles.
You don’t have to be a Green Bay Packers fan or even a sports fan to enjoy “Green and Gold.” This drama has solid acting in telling a heartfelt story about a farm family who makes an unusual bet in order to save the farm from foreclosure. The movie has some moments that aren’t as predictable as one might think, although it still delivers on a heart-tugging ending.
Directed by Anders Lindwall, “Green and Gold” was co-written by Lindwall, Missy Mareau Garcia, Michael Graf and Steven Shafer. The movie takes place in 1994, in an unnamed small town in Wisconsin, the home state to the Green Back Packers of the National Football League.
In “Green and Gold,” the movie is told from the perspective of narrator Jenny (played by Madison Lawlor), an aspiring singer/songwriter who lives and works on the farm owned by her grandparents Buck (played by Craig T. Nelson) and Margaret (played by Annabel Armour), who have raised her since she was a child. Jenny’s single mother, who was also an aspiring singer/songwriter, died in a car accident when Jenny was very young.
Jenny, who performs music that’s a combination of folk and country, is desperate to move to a big city so that she can pursue her music career. For now, she just plays small bars not too far from her hometown. Buck has other ideas: He wants Jenny to take over the farm, now that Buck and Margaret are at retirement age. Buck, Jenny and a farmhand named Aaron (played by Ashton Moio), who has a crush on Jenny, do most of the work on the farm.
Jenny and Buck disagree on what career path Jenny should have, but they both agree on their passion for the Green Bay Packers. Buck and Jenny are so devoted to the Packers, they will leave church services early so that they can watch Packers games on TV, much to the dismay of religious Margaret. Jenny and Buck are both very strong-willed, while Margaret tends to be the peacemaker in their household.
M. Emmet Walsh has a small supporting role in the movie as Scotty, one of Buck’s neighbor friends. Walsh died of a heart attack in March 2024, when he was 88. “Green and Gold” is his last film role. Scotty is a typical “salt of the earth” character from an American small town.
One day, Jenny finds out that Buck is heavily in debt to the local bank for the farm, which is facing foreclosure if Buck doesn’t repay the bank loan. The town they live in is so small, they know the bank’s wealthy owner: Jerry Moncton (played by Tim Frank), who’s eager to take over the family’s farm property and convert it into a more modern farm that can make more money.
Buck has been turned down for loans at other places. And all of his friends in the farming community can’t help because most of them are financially struggling too. Several farmers in the community can’t compete with bigger farming operations, which either buy out or bankrupt the smaller farming operations.
On a whim, Jerry says that if the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl that year, he will give Buck another year without interest to pay the debt. If the Green Bay Packers don’t win the Super Bowl, then Buck has to pay the debt in full immediately, or else Jerry will take possession of everything related to the farm, including the house and all of Buck’s livestock and equipment.
At first Buck refuses this offer, but Jenny encourages him to take this risky bet. (If you’re knowledgeable about Super Bowl history, then you already know who won the Super Bowl in 1994.) In the midst of this foreclosure drama, a fairly famous singer/songwriter named Billy Reed (played by Brandon Sklenar) comes to town because he’s making an album that he wants to be inspired by America’s farms. Jenny meets Billy and gives him an audiocassette of her recordings.
“Green and Gold” isn’t a groundbreaking film, and it has some cornball scenes, but there are also many emotionally authentic moments, thanks to the movie’s talented cast and engaging screenplay. It has elements of a faith-based movie, but “Green and Gold” isn’t about religion. It’s not really even about football. In its unassuming ways, “Green and Gold” is about facing fears and coming to terms with personal definitions of success and failure.
Fathom Events released “Green and Gold” in U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on April 1, 2025.