One of my favorite new additions to my week is “Dinner & Movie Night,” with my dad and business partner, Frank, another self-proclaimed film buff. 

For the past several months, I’ve been expanding his film knowledge through a years-long accumulation of a “movies to watch” list, which grows after each new Rewatchables podcast.

A few weeks ago, I made plans for Pops to watch a new (1995) indie film combining football, farming and business that I’d seen just 6 days earlier. Titled Green and Gold, it was written by Missy Mareau Garcia, Michael Graf and Anders Lindwall (who also directed).

I enjoyed the drama far more than expected, and I knew Dad would like it, too. And I wanted to get Frank –  the ag historian and the dairy farm kid – to weigh in. 

What follows is a “movie review” of sorts, but without the nitpicking and industry observations that could accompany a trade journalist’s observations.

Setting the Table (or Milking Stool)

Set in the mid-1990s on a dairy farm facing foreclosure, a senior-citizen dairyman named Buck (played by Craig T. Nelson) takes his banker (surely recently relocated from Chicago) up on an cavalier statement that led to unconventional banking terms. Scoffing at the debt-saddled farmer, who was ready to throw a punch after his beloved NFL team was disparaged, the banker mocked Buck with a comment that if the 1995 Green Bay Packers could win Super Bowl, the lender would extend one more year of runway to settle things up. 

Buck would later remind him of the wise-guy banker's words and that the bet "was on."

Meanwhile, Buck’s hardworking but ambitious granddaughter, Jenny, must decide whether to leave her messy barn loft dwelling and 4 a.m. mornings to pursue a big-city career as a singer-songwriter. 

Buck's cows, by the way, are all named after “Titletown-Two” greats like Bart Starr, Max McGee, Forrest Gregg, Herb Adderley and Willie Davis. 

Skepticism & Remembrances on the 1995 Season

As a Packer fan, it was an easy choice to rent a flick that intersected so many of my interests. But because I’m a Wisconsinite, I also approached any movie exposing Packerdom -- to a mass-viewing audience -- with a dose of skepticism.

Would it be another cliche about us cheesehead-hat wearing Packer folks? Plus, Culver’s was known to have backed the film (actually via its Thank You Farmers project), which by itself is atypical. (But you wouldn’t have seen any involvement other than a hamburger box on a messy farm truck dashboard.)

And would the filmmakers somehow distort the facts surrounding that season with our heroes of Brett Favre, Reggie White, Leroy Butler and Mike Holmgren? Because at that point, the Packers hadn’t been in a championship game in 27 years. 

But Green and Gold turned out to be a thoughtful, smart and expertly acted and produced drama. The story takes place with the background of a storied Packer season; it is not a Packers rah-rah film in itself. 

By the way, I remember that season vividly. I was having a Packer fan's "time of my life” while “doing my time” in Chicagoland (the good guys went 20-3 vs. the so-called “monsters of the Midway’ from 1992-2003). My wife, friends and I spent many a Sunday at the Cubby Bear (the city's unofficial Packers HQ) across from Wrigley Field, along with many other Wisconsin transplants. Back in those days, the broadcasts of the lowly Bears crowded us out from local viewing and "forced us" into sports bars and taverns.

Discoveries to Note

As the operators of No-Till Farmer and other conservation ag properties, we thought the bull-headed Buck should've moved on long ago from his horse-drawn plowing. And hand-milking. But we’ll give him respect for maintaining a way of farming that was sacred to him. He stubbornly adhered to tradition not because he was totally fearful of change, but because of a belief in a certain way of doing it -- falling milk prices be damned.

Since Buck was a minimalist, there is little from the film -- in the way of specifics -- to offer to Farm Equipment’s iron fans and gearheads, though a New Holland TW30 tractor is part of a dramatic scene. I’ll paraphrase it for you ...

Aware that things are so dire that suicides are real (including a moment where Jenny talks a neighbor down through the door of his farm shop), Buck walks over to see another neighboring farm. 

Buck offers his neighbor a deal on a tractor he believes is worth “40 stacks,” but that farmer could only consider it for a “couple grand.” The two respectfully part ways after a few words about the Pack. Later, Buck displays the seldom-used unit’s road speed by racing into town and flinging the keys at the banker as a downpayment -- before more of his cows are repossessed.

A Few More Takeaways

In no particular order, these are themes still circling after the screen went dark.

• You never learn anything if the “gifts” in life come too easy, or are unearned.
• There’s the notion of chasing ambition, and then there's that of living a life by abiding by what you believe.
• Dollars are tempting when you’re struggling, but some things are too precious to give up on -- or “selling yourself out” in pursuit of something that lacks meaning.
• While Buck may — or may not – lose it all, Jenny will forever know that her grandparents worked diligently toward what they thought to be right.
• There are many illustrations of subjects of which most of us need daily reminders. Harmony. Faith. Working hard toward one’s goals. Balance. Love. Meaning and purpose.
• You’ll enjoy an emotional cameo by Wisconsin-born comic Charlie Berens (who grew up just miles from our offices) and who re-introduced us to the Wisconsin saying of “getting wind in the eyes.” You’ll experience some of that too, including the final scenes.

As the Final Credits Roll

The music and lyrics are outstanding and alone worthy of the film’s viewing. Everyone who farms or supports ag ought to give the songs a listen. The soundtrack is unlike anything else in my playlist, but is getting regular use as I pen this blog. See below for the words of just one of the album’s exceptional songs, Green and Gold. 

The cinematography was outstanding and filmed mostly on location in the picturesque Door County peninsula. It’s an indie film, but you won't see any difference in quality from a big-budget production.

You’ll be introduced to Madison Lawlor as granddaughter, Jenny, and Nelson was equally outstanding in role that he poured himself into. Nelson's great-grandfather emigrated from Norway to settle on a Wisconsin farmstead, and Nelson respectfully and personally financed a second camera for the low-budget indie project.

By the way, the film’s title, Green and Gold, had little do with the Packers colors as I first thought. Read the lyrics below and you’ll sense where the writers, directors and producers are going with those words. But you’ll fully understand why after you watch it.

Go invest 90 minutes and the $6 rental fee for Green and Gold. It’s available on Apple TV, Amazon and YouTube.