Shane Stanley

The true story of the football team that proved sometimes second chances can make a difference comes to the screen in director Phil Joanou's tale of self-respect and social responsibility on the gridiron. Sean Porter (The Rock) is a detention camp probation officer who oversees the inmates at Camp Kilpatrick in Los Angeles and isn't willing to simply write off the violent offenders who have been placed in his care. Though their prospects for the future are decidedly bleak, Porter is convinced that if he can just get through to his adolescent inmates they may finally be able to turn their lives around and make amends for the mistakes of their past. When Porter's proposal of forming a high-school-level football team at Camp Kilpatrick meets with skepticism and resistance in the highest ranks, the determined coach puts his career on the line to prove that even convicted criminals can acquire the tools needed to build a brighter future when given the proper motivation and the means of doing so. Inspired by filmmaker Jac Flanders' 1993 documentary of the same name, Gridiron Gang features a screenplay penned by In the Line of Fire scribe Jeff Maguire, and features a supporting cast that includes Leon Rippy, Kevin Dunn, and Detroit-born rapper-turned-actor Xzibit. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Martin Sheen and his son Charlie Sheen play father and son, appropriately enough, in this tense crime thriller. Bill Patterson (Martin Sheen) is a veteran police detective who works side by side with his son Jake (Charlie Sheen) in the vice squad. Both Bill and Jake share a dedication to their work that often gets in the way of their relationships with others. The job has put a wedge between Jake and his wife Rebecca (Meredith Salenger), and Jake also feels that he's starting to burn out, tired of living in the shadow of his better-respected dad. When a fellow vice detective is killed trying to crack a drug ring, Bill and Jake make it their personal responsibility to bring in the killers and take the drugs off the street. However, they quickly discover that they've severely underestimated the ruthlessness and brutality of the dealers (played by Tina Nguyen, Joe Lando, Courtney Gains, and Bruce Nelson) and that their lives are in great danger. No Code of Conduct was the first feature written and directed by Bret Michaels, who rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer with the popular rock band Poison. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the inspirational two-hour documentary Gridiron Gang, director/co-producer Lee Stanley (Desperate Passage) undertakes an ambitious, and enormously successful, social experiment. Stanley and Coach Sean Porter pull 35 underage convicts (primarily gang members) from Camp Vernon Kilpatrick, a maximum-security juvenile prison in the Malibu area, and shape them into a football team, teaching them -- in the process -- about coordination, cooperation, sharing, working together as a team, and the ethics of good gamesmanship. Stanley's film documents the transformation process, which yields full rehabilitation for the convicts (all of the individuals end up being released, with only five shuttled back to detention) and 35 talented players. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide