North Dallas Forty (1979)

A semi-fictional account of life as a professional Football (American-style) player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.

Director:

Ted Kotcheff

Writers:

Peter Gent (novel), Frank Yablans (screenplay),

Stars:

Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nick Nolte	...	Phillip Elliott
Mac Davis	...	Seth Maxwell
Charles Durning	...	Coach Johnson
Dayle Haddon	...	Charlotte Caulder
Bo Svenson	...	Jo Bob Priddy
John Matuszak	...	O. W. Shaddock
Steve Forrest	...	Conrad Hunter
G.D. Spradlin	...	B. A. Strothers
Dabney Coleman	...	Emmett Hunter
Savannah Smith Boucher	...	Joanne Rodney (as Savannah Smith)
Marshall Colt	...	Art Hartman
Guich Koock	...	Eddie Rand
Deborah Benson	...	Mrs. Hartman
Jim Boeke	...	Stallings (as James F. Boeke)
John Bottoms	...	Vip

Storyline

A semi-fictional account of life as a professional Football (American-style) player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.

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Plot Keywords:

football | drugs | corruption | jock | business | 

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Taglines:

"Wait till you see the weird part." [USA Theatrical]

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 August 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Czterdziestka z North Dallas

Company Credits

Production Co:

Frank Yablans Presentations, Paramount Pictures, Regina Associates

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Stallings was played by Jim Boeke (billed as James F. Boeke), who was one of source novelist and co-scripter Peter Gent's real-life teammates from the Dallas Cowboys. This was not Boeke's cinema movie debut though, Boeke had film experience, as he had earlier appeared in Heaven Can Wait and had two other TV credits.

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Goofs

There are several lip-synch problems throughout, probably due to re-dubbing lines.

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Quotes

Phil Elliott: Joe Bob's Fine Foods - Eat Here, or I'll Kill Ya!

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Connections

Featured in Sports on the Silver Screen (1997)

User Reviews

Pro-Football: A Down and Dirty Look

Fine sleeper film, very much a reflection of iconoclastic 1970's. Seldom has corruptive nature of professional sports been on more vivid display than here. Pro football (and others?) comes across as supremely exploitative of players, with millionaire owners collecting the reflected glory. Sure, money is good as is lure of easy women, and adulation is hard to resist, but cost comes high as battered and bruised Nick Nolte finally figures out. Emphasis throughout is on obvious physical toll, but inner toll proves equally devastating. Team quarterback Mac Davis's sly character and coaching staff's slimy ploys illustrate that inner rot in sometimes subtle fashion.

Davis's understated performance provides memorable glimpse of intelligent man trapped by own weaknesses. Also one of Nick Nolte's most natural performances in both a brilliant and unorthodox career. His Phil Elliot may not be as clever as Davis, but the love of the game is truer, helping him finally see through the clouds of hype. But where oh where was director Kotcheff when beleaguered non-actress Dale Haddon so clearly needed help. Her one and only expression, paralyzed fear, almost brings down the entire film. Was the casting of this ex-Playboy playmate Hugh Hefner's price for assistance with the production?

Thanks Peter Gent for the gutsy expose' and Frank Yablans for bringing it to the screen intact. (After all those Monday evenings on TV, who could ever think of Tom Landry, Don Meredith or straight-laced Roger Staubach the same way again.) (Then too, fans might check out 1949's "Easy Living", a less caustic but also revealing film on the earlier days of pro football.) All in all, the screenplay of North Dallas is one of the best from the period -- humorous, savvy, and richly ironic -- the final boardroom scene arguably among the most compelling of any on sports. It's also one of the best arguments for getting athletics out of all those cathedrals of cult worship and back into neighborhood sandlots where they belong.