Word: bensons
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...pressure, win-at-all-costs nature of intercollegiate sports, a topic deserving of much scrutiny. On that level, One on One is fine; unfortunately, it descends to the level of mawkish boredom in detailing the march to maturity of its main character, a hotshot basketball player portrayed by Robbie Benson...
...Benson apparently intended One on One to be his tour de force, the film that would firmly establish him in Hollywood. He will probably succeed in this venture, since the folks who make movies look only at the box office receipts. That which sells is good; that which bombs, no matter what its artistic merit--well, too bad. Benson not only starred in One on One, he co-wrote it with his father, a professional screenwriter. The family that makes films together gets rich together...
...Benson, who doesn't even look like a jock, plays a heavily recruited high school hoop star who chooses fictional Western University in Los Angeles, a perennial basketball power. Any parallels to UCLA, it seems, are purely intentional. The coach, played by one W.D. Spradlin, even clutches a rolled-up program during games, a quirk college hoop fans will immediately recognize as the trademark of John Wooden, UCLA's fabled Wizard of Westwood...
...college basketball. Yes, it demonstrates once again that amidst all the pious talk about amateur ideals, colleges pay off their stars under the table and exploit them just dreadfully. With that much of the banal plot laid out, it perhaps hardly needs to be added that the hero (Robby Benson, who wrote the script with his father, Jerry Segal) starts out as an absurdly innocent freshman. Slowly he becomes aware of the wicked ways of the world, refuses to join in the general cynicism, and emerges from the struggle with his ideals intact and this terrific girl, who has been...
...young jock fighting to overcome shortness of stature, a tendency to hotdog, and a blank-slate mind, Benson gives an engaging performance, sweet without being cloying. As the "older woman"-a senior who is hired by the athletics department to tutor him-Annette O'Toole has the film's best tough talk to handle, and her verbal style contrasts piquantly with her fresh, natural good looks. Finally, there is G.D. Spradlin as the martinet coach to consider. He is not so much a molder of men as a stamp press, mean and implacable. The role may be overwritten...