Previously:
Nowata is the quintessential Oklahoma small town. Located in the northeast part of the state, it's biggest claim to fame for years was that guy's "bowling ball art" he displayed in his yard. But fate finally came a' callin' when the 1998 film "Possums" cast the town to play itself.
The movie stars country music singer Mac Davis as the radio announcer for the town's high school football team. When the school cancels the football program (the "Possums") due to lack of funds, Mac continues to announce imaginary games every Friday night. The town get swept up in the fake games and wackiness ensues.
Of course, the fun part for me is checking out the town to see how much it has changed from the time of the movie's production. You can see above that the town's mural has faded since the vibrant 90s. The town has the standard "small town look" and if you drive around Oklahoma as much as I do, they all start to blend together. But I was able to match a few buildings I saw.
You can see the Nowata County courthouse in the background in a few scenes. Most of downtown gets shown off throughout the film. But since it's a football movie the main location is the High School football field.
So the fake games of the fake team eventually go to the fake State Championship and win! Since the fake games became so popular, word spreads to the actual State Champs and they're not happy. So they all pile into the school bus and head to Nowata. Check out who plays the coach:
Yep, that's legendary OU football coach Barry Switzer as the coach of "Prattville Pirates." As far as acting goes, he does a pretty good job. It's a small part but he did well enough that I'm surprised he didn't do more acting. The only other things I've seen him in include a cameo in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" (as an announcer) and as himself in an episode of the OKC-based series "Saving Grace."
Well, the Pirates challenge the nonexistent Possums to a game to decide what's what, so Mac Davis and his pals have to scramble to get a team together. Eventually they play and one of them wins. It all seems to work out...roll credits. It's not a bad little movie. But it's definitely a great claim to fame for a small town.
