Biopic fans will be shocked – shocked! – to learn that Hollywood takes liberties with the real-life narratives and characters that often come to stand in for history in the popular imagination. In the case of the enduring 1993 hit "Rudy," the film was so unrecognizably warped beyond the existence of an undersized Notre Dame player who registered an improbable sack against Georgia Tech in 1975 that former Irish coach Dan Devine called certain scenes – notably the climactic moment when Rudy's teammates confront Devine's villainous character by handing in their jerseys to get Rudy on the dress list, and later his reluctance to actually put Rudy in the game – "unforgivable" and "a lie."

Hall of Famer Joe Montana, then a lowly freshman lingering somewhere on the depth chart, doesn't remember it quite as harshly. But as he told radio host Dan Patrick on Wednesday, he certainly doesn't remember any uplifting strings swelling in the rafters, either.