One on One (1977)
6/10
attempt at darker college sports movie
27 April 2018
Naive Henry Steele (Robby Benson) is a basketball star player at his small Colorado high school. He gets a 4 year basketball scholarship at Western University in L.A. Janet Hays (Annette O'Toole) is hired as his tutor. He gets a job without any actual work. The alumni pays big bucks for his complimentary tickets. However, he doesn't fit the coach's style and everybody is much better than the players at home. The coach is furious with sinking $150k on the kid and asks him to surrender his scholarship but he refuses.

First thing, a young Melanie Griffith has a small interesting role early in the movie. Robby Benson has enough charisma to lead but the biggest drawback is that he looks like a boy among men. I fear for his basketball skills. With passable moves and some movie magic, he plays almost believable college ball. The plot touches upon many of the darker aspects of college sports although it's not too deep. The ending has an abrupt turn which doesn't really fit. There are some good attempts at tackling college sports but it doesn't have the real edginess.
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