'We are Marshall' DVD flying off store shelves

Chaney said sales had been steady ever since, even if the DVD wasn't what customers had in mind when they got to the store.

"A lot of people forgot this was the release date," she said. "But it seems like they all ended up with a copy in their hands when they checked out."

The film, released in theaters late last year, tells the story of the 1971 Marshall football team, which was built from scratch after nearly all of the players on the 1970 squad were killed in a plane crash, along with several prominent university officials and community members.

One such official was Athletic Director Charles Kautz. His grandson, Jarrod Call, was at Target in Barboursville on Tuesday, picking up a copy of the DVD.

Some locally have criticized the film for its omission of some facts, its changing of others and the creation of fictional composite characters to tell parts of the story.

But Call said he thinks the filmmakers did "a wonderful job."

"A lot of local people really did never overcome the plane crash until this movie was made," he said. "My grandmother (Lucy Kautz) didn't like the idea of a movie going in, because she had gone through it and she didn't want to go through it again.

"But because of the movie, she was able to make contact with people from that time that she had lost touch with, and she was really pleased in the end with how Warner Bros. handled everything."

Call had a bit part in the film as a member of the football team in the cemetery scene where head coach Jack Lengyel, played by Matthew McConaughey, delivers an inspirational speech before the Thundering Herd took the field and defeated Xavier.

The scene was shot at the memorial to all who died in the crash, and Kautz' actual grave is nearby, Call said.

"Being a part of the movie and being so close to my grandfather's grave really touched me," Call said. "With all of the family connections to the school and the fact that I was in it, I wanted to make sure I got one of the first copies of the movie."

The real Jack Lengyel makes reference to the memorial in one of the DVD's special features, a 40-minute documentary on legendary coaches hosted by "We Are Marshall" director, McG.

"We knew there were not going to be instant results on the scoreboard," Lengyel says in the feature. "The fact that we played the game and we were back was a victory."

The documentary also examines the careers of Bobby Bowden -- who was the head coach at West Virginia University at the time of the crash -- Pat Summit, Lute Olson, John Wooden and others.

There are no other special features, save a one-minute recruiting film for Marshall entitled "Marshall Now," which includes promotional spots from prominent alumni, including New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington. There is also a five-minute pitch for West Virginia tourism, sandwiched between the previews that automatically load when the disc is played.

The tourism spot features McConaughey and fellow "We Are Marshall" actors Matthew Fox and David Strathairn, along with Gov. Joe Manchin.