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: Mr Kotcheff is a master story teller
Review: Mr Kotcheff, Canadian, is able to cast his objective but sympathetic eye over a range of topics and the humans involved in them, and provide us with some insights whilst telling a story with panache and a great deal of skill, even if he touches all the typical emotional cues listed in Drama 101. One of his master works about the darker side of the Australian outback WAKE IN FRIGHT, thought lost for ever, has recently been discovered in a rubbish tip. His FIRST BLOOD gave a comic book slant to Agent Orange and the pyschosis of a Viet Vet and NORTH DALLAS FORTY reveals professional football as a pretty dispiriting business with the players tools to be used at the pleasure of the businessmen. If it is the case that the American Empire began its slide as it sank into the Vietnam War, some of the reasons might be found in NORTH DALLAS FORTY which is pretty savage in its depiction of materialism - the tv sinking inthe swimming pool, the hunger guests have for the electronic toys (rubbish) stacked on a table; the black/white divide simmering beneath the relationships between players; the hypocrisy, the myth of competitiveness and its alleged blessings; Business which runs the game just as it runs the war(Haliburton). Nick Nolte is a confused player who loves the game but cannot understand the world.His battered body symbolizes a battered spirit. The answer is love. Mr Nolte, as Phil Elliot, grid iron star with magic catching hands, does not take the final pass in the street from a fellow player. With his collar undone, and the ball at his feet, he's out of the game and back into life. Personally, I find football, grid iron, (but not soccer) a stupid and violent game and this is confirmed by the backstage, dressing room, scenes. Mr Kotcheff tells a great story but.
Rating:
Summary: North Dallas 40 rocks!
Review: Nick Nolte does a supurb job as a veteran wide receiver playing for a top team in the NFL during the late 60's or early 70's. The fact that he is an individual in a team sport makes this story even more exciting. Although he has come to the time in his career when medical science and tons of pain killers are a necessary daily diet in order to lace up the old cleets one more time for the team, he does not shirk his responsibilities or take the easy road when it comes to performing his job. Mack Davis turns in a creditable acting job as Seth the veteran QB of the team that has his way even when he is wrong. Now if you think that this movie is all about football you will miss the true meaning and emotion of the entire event. In the midst of a savage and hostile working environment a person can still be true to self amidst the greedy management side of a very tough sport. I hope that this whets your appetite to get this movie. There are memorable moments in and out of the locker room. The tell all book written by Peter Gent was more than an eye opener back a few decades ago and this rendition of the book does it justice in every way. Once you start watching this movie you will not want to turn it off! If you are a fan of football reality, you will want this movie. Oh, by the way, the author Peter Gent played professional football for the Dallas Cowboys back in the 60's I believe. That is what makes this movie so creditable and Peter does not hold back anything. Enjoy!! By the way I think that this movie is rated "R" for brief nudity, language, and violence.
Rating:
Summary: North Dallas 40 rocks!
Review: Nick Nolte does a supurb job as a veteran wide receiver playing for a top team in the NFL during the late 60's or early 70's. The fact that he is an individual in a team sport makes this story even more exciting. Although he has come to the time in his career when medical science and tons of pain killers are a necessary daily diet in order to lace up the old cleets one more time for the team, he does not shirk his responsibilities or take the easy road when it comes to performing his job. Mack Davis turns in a creditable acting job as Seth the veteran QB of the team that has his way even when he is wrong. Now if you think that this movie is all about football you will miss the true meaning and emotion of the entire event. In the midst of a savage and hostile working environment a person can still be true to self amidst the greedy management side of a very tough sport. I hope that this whets your appetite to get this movie. There are memorable moments in and out of the locker room. The tell all book written by Peter Gent was more than an eye opener back a few decades ago and this rendition of the book does it justice in every way. Once you start watching this movie you will not want to turn it off! If you are a fan of football reality, you will want this movie. Oh, by the way, the author Peter Gent played professional football for the Dallas Cowboys back in the 60's I believe. That is what makes this movie so creditable and Peter does not hold back anything. Enjoy!! By the way I think that this movie is rated "R" for brief nudity, language, and violence.
Rating:
Summary: a real good film
Review: Nick Nolte&Mac Davis give great performances in this film.this film pre-dates all of the maddness that has happened in the NFL since it's release.drugs,sex,coaches,etc..this film is one of the best sports movies.the real life Dallas Cowboys finally caught up with the film in the mid-90's.
Rating:
Summary: a real good film
Review: Nick Nolte&Mac Davis give great performances in this film.this film pre-dates all of the maddness that has happened in the NFL since it's release.drugs,sex,coaches,etc..this film is one of the best sports movies.the real life Dallas Cowboys finally caught up with the film in the mid-90's.
Rating:
Summary: For movie lovers and football fans
Review: NORTH DALLAS FORTY delivers first-rate entertainment. Football fans will note stinging parodies of a few famous NFL players/coaches. Among quality performances from Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning and the late John Matuszak, actor Bo Svenson stands out. Svenson adds depth to what could have been a cartoonish role of an immature, stupid muscle-head, and it is unfortunate that I have not seen him in anything else this good. The film's poster makes NORTH DALLAS FORTY look as though it is a pro football version of ANIMAL HOUSE. Sure, NORTH DALLAS FORTY is funny at times, but the film also takes on the abuses in big league sports and management's selective enforcement of the rules. Sports journalists, let alone other sports films, ought to address those issues as boldly.
Rating:
Summary: LIKE A HELMET TO HELMET HIT
Review: NORTH DALLAS FORTY is not just a sports film, it's an indictment of corporate America that was the forerunner of the "Greed is good" films of the 1980's. One of the nicest acting surprises of 1979 was Mac Davis as Seth Maxwell, the consumate huckster who fails in his quest to save his friend, Phil Elliott from his own pre determined gridiron destiny. As Elliott, Nick Nolte, gives 1 of his 3 best performances and he and Davis play perfectly off each other. This film is a winner. All that was missing was NFL Films "Voice of God" John Facenda, with the play by play.
Rating:
Summary: LIKE A HELMET TO HELMET HIT
Review: NORTH DALLAS FORTY is not just a sports film, it's an indictment of corporate America that was the forerunner of the "Greed is good" films of the 1980's. One of the nicest acting surprises of 1979 was Mac Davis as Seth Maxwell, the consumate huckster who fails in his quest to save his friend, Phil Elliott from his own pre determined gridiron destiny. As Elliott, Nick Nolte, gives 1 of his 3 best performances and he and Davis play perfectly off each other. This film is a winner. All that was missing was NFL Films "Voice of God" John Facenda, with the play by play.
Rating:
Summary: LIKE A HELMET TO HELMET HIT
Review: NORTH DALLAS FORTY is not just a sports film, it's an indictment of corporate America that was the forerunner of the "Greed is good" films of the 1980's. One of the nicest acting surprises of 1979 was Mac Davis as Seth Maxwell, the consumate huckster who fails in his quest to save his friend, Phil Elliott from his own pre determined gridiron destiny. As Elliott, Nick Nolte, gives 1 of his 3 best performances and he and Davis play perfectly off each other. This film is a winner. All that was missing was NFL Films "Voice of God" John Facenda, with the play by play.
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