Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Wuchak Released in 1979, "North Dallas Forty" stars Nick Nolte and Mac Davis as receiver and quarterback for the fictitious North Dallas Bulls professional football team. G.D. Spradlin excellently plays the austere coach who won't tolerate lone wolfs on his team. Charles Durning plays his assistant and Steve Forrest & Dabney Coleman the wealthy owners of the team. Marshall Colt plays the young up-and-coming secondary quarterback who's also devoutly Christian and eventually soiled by other members of the team. Various NFL players are on hand, such as Bo Svenson and John Matuszak.The film plays like a docudrama and attempts to show the grim reality of professional football and what it takes to be a champion team. It's more of an adult drama than a sports movie and therefore lacks the typical sports movie formula. The plot revolves around the team members preparing for a big divisional championship with the fictitious Chicago Marauders, which takes place in the third act, but the game footage is limited to the last two minutes of the game. After this, there's still 20 minutes left where Nolte's character is confronted by the office big wigs. They have evidence that he was regularly smoking weed in his off-time, which of course was illegal back then. He responds by understandably pointing out that the team docs keep pumping all kinds of drugs into the players on a regular basis so they can play despite pretty serious injuries. What's that compared to smoking a little pot? It's a good scene and effectively shows the idiocy and hypocrisy of the accusations. John Matuszak, who plays O. W. Shaddock, ironically died a mere ten years after this movie was released at the young age of 38 due to an accidental overdose of propoxyphene, a pain-reliever that is now outlawed in the USA and Europe. According to the managerial staff in the movie it's okay to take these kinds of drugs, but by golly you better not be caught smoking a joint! (Don't get me wrong here; I'm not into marijuana, but if it trips your trigger what's that to me?).The female cast is limited to fairly small roles by Dayle Haddon (Charlotte) and Savannah Smith Boucher (Joanna), both good-lookin' but rather plain and neither curvy enough for my tastes. Being a football movie you'd expect some cheerleader sequences or something. Nope, nada. Needless to say, weak job on the female front.BOTTOM LINE: This is an okay adult drama about the grim realities of professional football, as well as the perks. The story is moderately interesting but never full-on compelling. Moreover, the characters aren't all that interesting, although Spradlin shines as the coach and Nolte's good as the cynical and burning out protagonist.The film runs 119 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles, CA.GRADE: C+

SnoopyStyle Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte) is a worn out wide receiver for the North Dallas Bulls professional football team in the 70s. It's crazy parties, drugs, sex, and alcohol. Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis) is the popular quarterback. Jo Bob Priddy (Bo Svenson) is a dumb wild lineman. Phil meets Charlotte Caulder (Dayle Haddon) at a party but she's not happy to be there. He rescues her from Jo Bob with a lot of help from Seth. Coach Strother thinks Phil isn't serious enough. Team executive Emmett Hunter (Dabney Coleman) is dating Joanne Rodney but Phil is actually sleeping with her. Johnson (Charles Durning) is the assistant coach. Phil is constantly threatened with the CFL. His body is all worn out and the trainer gives him 'B12' shots. Somebody mysterious is after him.Based on the novel by Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent, this has the feel of authenticity. It's not quite a spoof with few outright laughs. Nick Nolte is terrific as the weary player. The story is a bit scattered. It could be even darker and more intense.

brtndr I was 11 years old living in Texas, and therefore a huge football and Cowboy fan when 'North Dallas Forty' was originally released in the summer of '79. So, like a lot of fans of 'America's Team' in Texas, and across the country, I was extremely angered and offended when I first heard that a major Hollywood movie was released that was a scathing indictment of not only the Dallas Cowboy's, but professional football as well. And, I vowed then, to never ever watch that blasphemous film that dared criticized the sacred sport of football and its most important team.I guess, I was in a rather sacrilegious mood one day when I decided to watch 'North Dallas Forty' on cable 15 years after the movies original theatrical release. And, to my surprise, I became a big fan of the movie. Watching it every chance that I could when ever it was rebroadcasted.Unfortunately, I think the window for a potential sequel which continues the story line of Nick Nolte's character (Phil Elliot). Or, at least one of the main characters of the original film. Like Mac Davis's colorful character Seth Maxell/Don Meredith for example closed sometime in the mid-late 80's.Therefore, I'm recommending a 'North Dallas Forty' reboot that's based on ex-Cowboy player Thomas Henderson's '87 autobiographical novel "Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty" as the main source material for a sequel to 'North Dallas Forty'.For those of you who don't know? Thomas Henderson was the extraordinarily athletic and media-darling strong side linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys from '75-'79. Who was on the cover of Time Magazine in January of '79 for an article on Super Bowl 13. But, was later released the next season from the Cowboys in November of '79 for erratic play due to drug abuse. Then wound up playing in only a few games with other NFL teams until retiring after a career ending neck injury in '81.So, in other words, he was at the pinnacle of success in the NFL just 7 months prior to North Dallas Forty's original release in August of '79, and at its lowest depths just 3 months afterwards.And, let me tell you, the stuff Thomas Henderson covers in his personal account of his experience in the NFL, makes 'North Dallas Forty' controversial indictment of the Cowboy's organization and professional football as a whole, look like a white wash by comparison.Most of the events in Thomas Henderson's book take place during the mid-late 70's, just before the over-the-top deifying worship of football players and professional athletes in general began in the 80's by means of new cable channels like ESPN and HBO for example. That served to heavily augment the local sports news and talk radio that already existed at the time, along with national magazine articles commenting on games and sports celebrities leading up to national TV broadcasts of the games of the week. Eventually growing into the constant bombardment of sports media entertainment monster that exists today.So, one can perhaps imagine that the mine field of problems and worldly temptations that players are constantly confronted with, and have to negotiate through to maintain not only an athletic career, but a normal sense of humanity has only increased exponentially as a result of their athletic accomplishments since Peter Gent's or Thomas Henderson's NFL careers in the 60's and 70's.The cinematic version of Thomas Henderson's "Out of Control" can also serve as an explanation for why celebrated athletes on all levels get themselves caught-up in so many controversial and tragic events ranging from the goofy, love myself behavior of Terrell Owens, to drug overdoses of young athletes in professional and collegiate sports, to murder convictions. That is if the modern mass-media actually had an interest in educating the public about the people and the sports organizations that they worship?(which, apparently they don't) So, to sum up, I think you could still have a sequel to North Dallas Forty by staying true to the overall theme of the movies scathing indictment of the NFL, its players, coaches and the owners directly involved in putting on the weekly gladiatorial show. Along with an indictment of the over-the-top mass media coverage that's responsible for over-hyping the importance to gigantic proportions the sporting events, without providing one iota of "REAL" insightful information concerning the actual day-to-day operations of the organizations and athletes themselves.And, if someone was to use Thomas Henderson's "Out of Control" as the main source material for a kind of sequel to "North Dallas Forty"? Then I imagine the movie beginning with an over middle aged ex-NFL star who played for a franchise in Dallas, TX as the main character. Who, after being the keynote speaker of an anti-drug and alcohol seminar is listening to a sports talk radio program, or watching a TV satellite channel debating (ad-nausem) the most recent "controversial" conduct by the latest and greatest batch of sports celebrities. Causing him in turn, to reflect on his own conduct during his professional career back in the day.Sort of like, "The Raging Bull" meets "Any Given Sunday". And, I hope that you're listening Hollywood?!? After all, I'm giving away these great ideas for free.

jonathan-577 The opening is perfect, with Nick Nolte's football pro waking up with a bloody nose and feeling every hit from the night before as he tries to navigate the kitchen. The ending is awful, with Duddy Kravitz (and, er, First Blood) director Kotcheff channeling Stanley Kramer in a big speechifying boardroom rigamarole. In between is a pretty fair expose of the business of American sports, with the players ENCOURAGED to remain stupid childish louts so they'll be easier to manage. Unfortunately this movie really wants it both ways on the gender thing - the Smart Girl who rescues Nolte from the daily grind is just a device to facilitate domestic bliss, nothing new there. And condemnations of misogynist violence are married to gratuitous boob shots. Not at all as bad as that makes it sound, but when I recall this movie I remember the lapses, not the many nice touches in between.