<Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $43,008,075 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Longest Yard is a 1974 American sports comedy film directed by Robert Aldrich, written by Tracy Keenan Wynn and based on a story by producer Albert S. Ruddy . The film follows a former NFL player (Burt Reynolds) recruiting the group of prisoners and playing football against their guards . </P> <P> The film was remade three times, including for the 2001 British film Mean Machine (a shortened version of the title used for the original's UK release), starring Vinnie Jones, the 2005 film remake, The Longest Yard featured Reynolds as coach Nate Scarborough, and as the 2015 Egyptian film Captain Masr . In the two non-American remakes, the sport was changed from American football to association football . </P> <P> Though the film was billed as being based on an original story, some reviewers found parallels between this film and the 1962 Hungarian film Two Half Times in Hell, which was based on a real - life association football game in 1942 between German soldiers and Ukrainian prisoners of war during World War II, known as the Death Match . </P>

What came first mean machine or the longest yard