Released in 1979, "North Dallas Forty" stars Nick Nolte and Mac Davis as receiver and quarterback for the fictitious North Dallas Bulls professional football team. G.D. Spradlin excellently plays the austere coach who won't tolerate lone wolfs on his team. Charles Durning plays his assistant and Steve Forrest & Dabney Coleman the wealthy owners of the team. Marshall Colt plays the young up-and-coming secondary quarterback who's also devoutly Christian and eventually soiled by other members of the team. Various NFL players are on hand, such as Bo Svenson and John Matuszak.
The film plays like a docudrama and attempts to show the grim reality of professional football and what it takes to be a champion team. It's more of an adult drama than a sports movie and therefore lacks the typical sports movie formula. The plot revolves around the team members preparing for a big divisional championship with the fictitious Chicago Marauders, which takes place in the third act, but the game footage is limited to the last two minutes of the game. After this, there's still 20 minutes left where Nolte's character is confronted by the office big wigs. They have evidence that he was regularly smoking weed in his off-time, which of course was illegal back then. He responds by understandably pointing out that the team docs keep pumping all kinds of drugs into the players on a regular basis so they can play despite pretty serious injuries. What's that compared to smoking a little pot? It's a good scene and effectively shows the idiocy and hypocrisy of the accusations. John Matuszak, who plays O. W. Shaddock, ironically died a mere ten years after this movie was released at the young age of 38 due to an accidental overdose of propoxyphene, a pain-reliever that is now outlawed in the USA and Europe. According to the managerial staff in the movie it's okay to take these kinds of drugs, but by golly you better not be caught smoking a joint! (Don't get me wrong here; I'm not into marijuana, but if it trips your trigger what's that to me?).
The female cast is limited to fairly small roles by Dayle Haddon (Charlotte) and Savannah Smith Boucher (Joanna), both good-lookin' but rather plain and neither curvy enough for my tastes. Being a football movie you'd expect some cheerleader sequences or something. Nope, nada. Needless to say, weak job on the female front.
BOTTOM LINE: This is an okay adult drama about the grim realities of professional football, as well as the perks. The story is moderately interesting but never full-on compelling. Moreover, the characters aren't all that interesting, although Spradlin shines as the coach and Nolte's good as the cynical and burning out protagonist.
The film runs 119 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles, CA.
GRADE: C+
The film plays like a docudrama and attempts to show the grim reality of professional football and what it takes to be a champion team. It's more of an adult drama than a sports movie and therefore lacks the typical sports movie formula. The plot revolves around the team members preparing for a big divisional championship with the fictitious Chicago Marauders, which takes place in the third act, but the game footage is limited to the last two minutes of the game. After this, there's still 20 minutes left where Nolte's character is confronted by the office big wigs. They have evidence that he was regularly smoking weed in his off-time, which of course was illegal back then. He responds by understandably pointing out that the team docs keep pumping all kinds of drugs into the players on a regular basis so they can play despite pretty serious injuries. What's that compared to smoking a little pot? It's a good scene and effectively shows the idiocy and hypocrisy of the accusations. John Matuszak, who plays O. W. Shaddock, ironically died a mere ten years after this movie was released at the young age of 38 due to an accidental overdose of propoxyphene, a pain-reliever that is now outlawed in the USA and Europe. According to the managerial staff in the movie it's okay to take these kinds of drugs, but by golly you better not be caught smoking a joint! (Don't get me wrong here; I'm not into marijuana, but if it trips your trigger what's that to me?).
The female cast is limited to fairly small roles by Dayle Haddon (Charlotte) and Savannah Smith Boucher (Joanna), both good-lookin' but rather plain and neither curvy enough for my tastes. Being a football movie you'd expect some cheerleader sequences or something. Nope, nada. Needless to say, weak job on the female front.
BOTTOM LINE: This is an okay adult drama about the grim realities of professional football, as well as the perks. The story is moderately interesting but never full-on compelling. Moreover, the characters aren't all that interesting, although Spradlin shines as the coach and Nolte's good as the cynical and burning out protagonist.
The film runs 119 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles, CA.
GRADE: C+