Word: coachly
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Based on former Footballer Peter Gent's good novel, the film shows this sadomasochistic world through the eyes of Phillip Elliott (Nick Nolte), a pass catcher with good hands and, in the view of the coaches and owners, a bad attitude. Elliott's insouciance springs from a developing conviction that he and his mates are exploited (if well-paid) field hands, risking their lives, or anyway their health, to assuage their owner's ego and their coach's desire to turn them into ciphers...
...work and play; he struggles to give Elliott an intelligence beyond the character's ability to articulate. The star is well supported by Mac Davis, as a smooth ole star quarterback who's learned to get ahead by going along, and by G.D. Spradlin as the head coach, Charles Durning as the assistant coach-enforcer, Steve Forrest as the owner and Bo Svenson as an animalistic lineman...
...made his stage debut last week. Appearing in a production of William Inge's Picnic, the former football player played, well, a former football player named Hal Carter. Namath, as always, moved well and turned on the charm; as always, he gave the ritual credits to team and coach. "I relied on people around me," he said, adding that "the director sure did a great job getting me ready." The schedule now calls for Namath to play Columbus and Dayton, which must be a good deal easier than playing Pittsburgh and Dallas...
...contingent was less concerned with rivals than with logistics. Language, transportation and communications in sprawling Lenin Stadium proved to be nagging problems. Said Track and Field Coach Jimmy Carnes: "Next year we intend to come here as self-contained as we possibly...
...script, adapted from Peter Gent's novel of the same name, is fairly true to the book. Like gent's novel, the movie captures the urban cowboy humor of the locker rooms, it delights in the sadistic pedantry of the coaches who see football as a business and players as equipment, and it squirms with pain from beginning to end. For caricatures, the supporting characters are remarkable--they put a lot into their limited parts. G.D. Spradin as Coach Johnson has a fear-inspiring glimmer in his eye and a loud piercing voice; he's an army sergeant...