"Saturday's Heroes" is a 1937 programmer starring a very young Van Heflin as a college football hero. And what better time for TCM to show this film than on Super Bowl weekend? As others more knowledgeable than me have pointed out, the issues raised in the film exist today: college football is big business and filled with inequities for the players. In this film, Heflin and some other players scalp tickets so that they can make some money. They have scholarships, and the Heflin character complains that because of a heavy training schedule, they're not even getting the promised education.
These programmers were used to groom future stars, and Heflin here is as excellent as he is in movies like "Johnny Eager." He was not a standard hunky leading man, though he was attractive and could handle romantic leads such as in "Possessed" as well as character roles. We lost him too soon.
Interesting for early Heflin and for the timeliness of the film.
These programmers were used to groom future stars, and Heflin here is as excellent as he is in movies like "Johnny Eager." He was not a standard hunky leading man, though he was attractive and could handle romantic leads such as in "Possessed" as well as character roles. We lost him too soon.
Interesting for early Heflin and for the timeliness of the film.