Joe Paterno’s Final Months Depicted in HBO Television Movie
LOCK HAVEN – The HBO Television movie, “Paterno” debuted Saturday night to generally positive critical reviews. The movie, starring Al Pacino as the legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, tells the story of the end of Paterno’s coaching career in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
The film covers the tumultuous November 2011 days when Sandusky was charged with multiple counts of child abuse and Paterno was removed as head coach. Paterno passed away in January of 2012, two months after his removal as head coach.
The Paterno family, part of the TV movie portrayal, issued a Saturday statement prior to the HBO debut:
“The HBO movie regarding Joe Paterno is a fictionalized portrayal of the tragic events surrounding Jerry Sandusky’s crimes. Numerous scenes, events and dialogue bear no resemblance to what actually transpired.
“Everyone truly concerned about the scourge of child sexual abuse would be well served to read the report by former FBI agent, Jim Clemente, linked below. As events of the last few years have confirmed, predators are present throughout our society.
“It is our hope and prayer that society as a whole comes to a better understanding of who these criminals are and how they work so successfully to avoid detection.”
The Clemente report noted by the family was part of a family critique issued in 2013 in the wake of the Louis Freeh report on Penn State’s role in the Sandusky scandal. Here is the link for the Clemente report:
http://www.paterno.com/Expert-Reports/Jim-
Two months previous to Paterno’s firing the Keystone Little League team in September of 2011, had been given a pre-game tour at a Penn State football home game. Keystone had finished in third place in the United States in the Little League World Series in August of that year. The team’s day included a tour of the Nittany Lion football facility and a surprise visit from Paterno who had been driven inside Beaver Stadium and walked to an entrance gate to exchange pleasantries with the Keystone team. Two months later Paterno was out as the Nittany Lion coach and four months later he passed away.
