Customer Reviews

North Dallas Forty (Widescreen)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

"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.

Very effective film of the sports world. Nolte is terrific, even if the romance is a little cliche and unbelievable. Very talky, and not much action on the field, but gives an excellent counterbalance to the usual "feel good" sports films I've grown tired of.

DvD picture is superb. Audio starts a bit shaky (with music and background noise overpowering dialouge) but eventually evens out.

This movie really blew the lid off a lot of the shenanigans that go on in professional sports. I'm sure that many were upset with the portrayal of athletes as drunken, pill popping idiots but that was probably a reality back then. This movie precedes Any Given Sunday by two decades and still hits harder in its revelation of football's seamy side. Nick Nolte is superb as Phil Elliott. Mac Davis also gives a fine performance. The scenes of athletes being shot up with painkillers to play is intense. The laissez faire attitude of coaches and team owners is probably more realistic than the NFL would care to admit. I love the scene when Nolte gets suspended for smoking marijuana and his response is that the team is injecting harder drugs into him each Sunday just so he can play. That kind of mirrors the insanity and stupidity of the NFL drug testing policies even today. Football is an American institution but indeed there is a dark side. This movie does a fine job of pointing that out.

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.

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.