Teacher Guide
Learning goals, teaching notes, and answer keys.
View Teacher NotesPaper & online answer keysMcFarland, USA Movie Guide
Choose the format that fits your classroom, then explore the film through focused questions and evidence.
About the Film
A cross-country team develops amid work, family obligations, and a coach’s changing understanding of his community. Examine teamwork and opportunity through the runners’ contributions.
Movie at a Glance
- Release year
- 2015
- Genre
- Biographical sports drama
- U.S. rating
- PG
- Runtime
- Approx. 129 minutes
- Director
- Niki Caro
- Screenplay
- Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois & Grant Thompson
- Based on
- The McFarland High School cross-country team’s early success
- Music
- Antonio Pinto
- Featured cast
- Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Carlos Pratts & Ramiro Rodriguez
- Story setting
- Dramatized McFarland, California · 1987
Check your edition when planning class periods; cuts and playback speeds can change runtime.
Content to Preview
- Family hardship, threats, fights, and a teen’s distress near a bridge.
- An assault injures a girl; discussion of imprisonment and violence.
- Some language and demanding agricultural work.
Preview your edition, follow school viewing and permission policies, and provide an appropriate alternative assignment. Suggested grades 7–12 are Teach Arcade’s classroom recommendation, separate from the film’s U.S. rating.
Classroom Connections
Use scene evidence to explore the topics above. Pair historical portrayals with reliable sources, literary adaptations with their texts, and animated metaphors with appropriate factual context.
Film details, advisories & classroom context: AFI credits and runtime · Disney film information · Content advisory (spoilers)