North Dallas Forty

Rating:
Summary: Charles Durning - excellent performance
Review: "North Dallas Forty" focuses on the life of Phil Elliott, a veteran receiver on the fictional North Dallas Bulls professional football team. The story spends its time trying to show you what a hardworking bunch of guys these football players are and what mean, mean men the coaches and management are.

One day, the "evil" coach is reviewing the film of the team's previous game. He is going over the mistakes that were made and how they can work on preventing those mistakes in the future. Sounds reasonable right? The players don't see it that way. They get downright upset and think the coach should lay off. What they are really interested in isn't improving themselves as athletes. Nope. They prefer getting drunk, getting high, and tearing the tops off of women. Evidently that's what football is all about.

That brings us to poor Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte). He is a veteran of the Bulls but things aren't going very good for him. Elliott is stuck on the bench thanks to a bum leg. The fact that he recently dropped a key touchdown pass hasn't helped things either. He is shown whining about not being a starter anymore...but of course that sometimes happens in the NFL. He develops a relationship with a woman named Charlotte Caulder (Dayle Haddon). There aren't any noticeable sparks between them and their scenes together really drag. In fact, the only apparent reason she was in this film at all was to provide the main character with a romantic interest, as if it's a requirement of every movie ever made.

Perhaps the impact of a movie of this nature was more substantial 20 some years ago. Today it just looks dated. Especially late in the movie, it drills home the point that the management of NFL teams run their clubs like businesses. They are only interested in things such as production, cost and profit. As someone who already was aware of that, this movie had nothing to offer me.

Rating:
Summary: AND THE POINT IS...???
Review: "North Dallas Forty" focuses on the life of Phil Elliott, a veteran receiver on the fictional North Dallas Bulls professional football team. The story spends its time trying to show you what a hardworking bunch of guys these football players are and what mean, mean men the coaches and management are.

One day, the "evil" coach is reviewing the film of the team's previous game. He is going over the mistakes that were made and how they can work on preventing those mistakes in the future. Sounds reasonable right? The players don't see it that way. They get downright upset and think the coach should lay off. What they are really interested in isn't improving themselves as athletes. Nope. They prefer getting drunk, getting high, and tearing the tops off of women. Evidently that's what football is all about.

That brings us to poor Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte). He is a veteran of the Bulls but things aren't going very good for him. Elliott is stuck on the bench thanks to a bum leg. The fact that he recently dropped a key touchdown pass hasn't helped things either. He is shown whining about not being a starter anymore...but of course that sometimes happens in the NFL. He develops a relationship with a woman named Charlotte Caulder (Dayle Haddon). There aren't any noticeable sparks between them and their scenes together really drag. In fact, the only apparent reason she was in this film at all was to provide the main character with a romantic interest, as if it's a requirement of every movie ever made.

Perhaps the impact of a movie of this nature was more substantial 20 some years ago. Today it just looks dated. Especially late in the movie, it drills home the point that the management of NFL teams run their clubs like businesses. They are only interested in things such as production, cost and profit. As someone who already was aware of that, this movie had nothing to offer me.

Rating:
Summary: You, and B.A., and all the rest of you coaches are.....
Review: An NFL wide receiver (Nolte) who purportedly has "the best hands in football" has been benched and is being used as a substitute. It's not for lack of ability or effort but because of his "attitude". He's been a starter for years and it's hard to take ("I'll die on the bench"). He needs to "give 'em what they want" and "you had better learn to play the game, and I don't just mean the game of football". Advice from his buddy Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis), who's the team's quarterback and a "star", is good advice, but Elliot (Nolte)doesn't seem to have it in him to follow it. Catching a winning TD pass from Maxwell in the closing seconds isn't enough. The play was a "fluke", as summed up by their head coach B.A. (G.D. Spradlin) while analyzing the game film the following week. The week after the game is what the show is about. The meetings, practices, workouts and various extra curricular activities, all leading up to the next game in Chicago. Charles Durning plays an assistant coach who is a constant bother to the players while he drinks bottles of Maalox. Bo Svenson (Joe Bob) and John Matuszak (O.W.) play excellent supporting roles along with many other actors. If you grew up thinking professional athletes were the salt of the earth this show may very well make you reconsider.

Rating:
Summary: You, and B.A., and all the rest of you coaches are.....
Review: An NFL wide receiver (Nolte) who purportedly has "the best hands in football" has been benched and is being used as a substitute. It's not for lack of ability or effort but because of his "attitude". He's been a starter for years and it's hard to take ("I'll die on the bench"). He needs to "give 'em what they want" and "you had better learn to play the game, and I don't just mean the game of football". Advice from his buddy Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis), who's the team's quarterback and a "star", is good advice, but Elliot (Nolte)doesn't seem to have it in him to follow it. Catching a winning TD pass from Maxwell in the closing seconds isn't enough. The play was a "fluke", as summed up by their head coach B.A. (G.D. Spradlin) while analyzing the game film the following week. The week after the game is what the show is about. The meetings, practices, workouts and various extra curricular activities, all leading up to the next game in Chicago. Charles Durning plays an assistant coach who is a constant bother to the players while he drinks bottles of Maalox. Bo Svenson (Joe Bob) and John Matuszak (O.W.) play excellent supporting roles along with many other actors. If you grew up thinking professional athletes were the salt of the earth this show may very well make you reconsider.

Rating:
Summary: TOM LANDRY EAT YOUR HEART OUT!
Review: Filmed version of Tom Landry's tyranny at expense of Dallas foot-ballers, is fair adaption of first hand accounts. A ruthless czar, Bible-thumping Landry (very thinnly dis-quised in both the film and Novel), makes unreasonable demands from entire contingent - from players, to management, to physical therapists assigned to the team. Some very amusng shots at the beginning, in the locker room, at the party, and on the field, do indeed make it worth a peek. Not the greatest sports recounting, but you won't get dis-appointed. Somewhat aged cast is otherwise superb.

Rating:
Summary: This video goes all.....the......way!
Review: I love this movie! Nick Nolte and Mac Davis had me cracking up the entire movie. I always thought athletes never touched drugs when I saw this as a little boy but now that I'm older and wiser I know that athletes and drugs are definitely a reality. This movie lifted up the pretty face of the NFL and showed the ugliness inside. I encourage any high school or college coach to show this to their teams for the simple reason that the NFL is not all power and glory.

Rating:
Summary: A Film About Football, NOT A Football Film
Review: I remember this coming out when I was a kid. I also remember I wasn't allowed to see it other than in its butchered form on Network Television. Now I know why.

This is a fantastic film. One thing that struck me is that for a football film, there is very little actual football in it. Which is the reason for the title of my review. This film is ABOUT football... not a football film. It's about the players in a time when the league was still young and, I dare say, corrupted by the use of pain killers and alochol. It was the hey dey of the Cowboys, the Raiders and the Steelers and football players were treated like Rock Stars.

It's the film "Any Given Sunday" wanted to be. But failed miserably at even being a cheap imitation.

If you loved 1970's films and 1970's football, this film is a must see.

Rating:
Summary: Charles Durning - excellent performance
Review: I though the film depicted an excellent real world analysis of the National Football League and how winning at all costs is more important than the well being of an individual. Nick Nolte performance was excellent. I also though Charles Durning's performance was equally as good. The main reason was that he reminded me of alot of assistant coaches that were involved with different teams that I had played on as a youngster. In addition to never complementing any player for a job well done, his character can be described as a manipulating, irritating brown nose who lacked the ability to help a player improve through teaching or positive reiforcement. A good example was how he had "helped" a wide receiver(Delma)get ready to play by conning him into taking a needle. I am certain that anyone who has participated in organized sports has dealt with a coach similar to Coach Johnson. Too much emphasis and pressure on winning and make people lose perspective of what is truly important in life. Being constantly on edge or annoyed over every minor detail involving a sporting event is a big problem for society today.

Rating:
Summary: When football was really a contact sport.
Review: If you like pro football, you'll love this film. Especially, if you remember the old Dallas Cowboys. The movie's "fictional" team, the Bulls, are suppose to be the the Dallas Cowboys. The coach is suppose to be Landry, the quarterback (Mac Davis) is suppose to be Don Meredith, etc. Of course, any resemblance is "purely coincidental". Yeah, right.

The point of the movie is how the players are manipulated/motivated to win. Receiver Elliot, played by Nick Nolte, is a veteran nearing the twilight of his career. He loves the game, but also sees the human toll. Mac Davis understands and doesn't care. He realizes that it's just a job.

I asked a co-worker who used to play for Green Bay about that time, if the movie was accurate. He said it was mild compared to the real thing. This is what football was like when roughing the quarterback wasn't illegal, it was expected. Everyone always knew football was business and not just a game, but someone forgot to tell the players. When they realize it, it's too late. See this movie. You won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: When football was really a contact sport.
Review: If you like pro football, you'll love this film. Especially, if you remember the old Dallas Cowboys. The movie's "fictional" team, the Bulls, are suppose to be the the Dallas Cowboys. The coach is suppose to be Landry, the quarterback (Mac Davis) is suppose to be Don Meredith, etc. Of course, any resemblance is "purely coincidental". Yeah, right.

The point of the movie is how the players are manipulated/motivated to win. Receiver Elliot, played by Nick Nolte, is a veteran nearing the twilight of his career. He loves the game, but also sees the human toll. Mac Davis understands and doesn't care. He realizes that it's just a job.

I asked a co-worker who used to play for Green Bay about that time, if the movie was accurate. He said it was mild compared to the real thing. This is what football was like when roughing the quarterback wasn't illegal, it was expected. Everyone always knew football was business and not just a game, but someone forgot to tell the players. When they realize it, it's too late. See this movie. You won't be disappointed!