Players (1979)

Director:

Anthony Harvey

Writer:

Arnold Schulman

Stars:

Ali MacGraw, Dean Paul Martin, Maximilian Schell

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ali MacGraw	...	Nicole
Dean Paul Martin	...	Chris (as Dean-Paul Martin)
Maximilian Schell	...	Marco
Pancho González	...	Himself (as Pancho Gonzalez)
Steve Guttenberg	...	Rusty (as Steven Guttenberg)
Melissa Prophet	...	Ann
Guillermo Vilas	...	Himself
Ion Tiriac	...	Himself
Dan Maskell	...	Himself - Wimbledon BBC Tennis Commentator
John McEnroe	...	Himself
Ilie Nastase	...	Himself
Tom Gullikson	...	Himself
John Lloyd	...	Himself
Dennis Ralston	...	Himself (as Denis Ralston)
Vijay Amritraj	...	Himself

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

older woman younger man relationship | tennis | wimbledon | championship

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Sport

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 1979 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Amor em Jogo

Filming Locations:

Wimbledon, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's premise of a romantic love story integrated with the professional sports world of tennis was re-used later in the movie Wimbledon.

User Reviews

Game - Set - Match

After seeing Players I'm convinced this film might have been originally meant for Vincent Van Patten who has never made up his mind whether he prefers tennis or show business more. For some reason Van Patten might not have been available so another Hollywood tennis player with a bigger box office name was obtained for the role of the young tennis hustler who gets involved with a slightly older woman mistress of an international business tycoon.

So Dean Paul Martin, son of Dean Martin was given the hustler role opposite Ali McGraw and Maximilian Schell. The film was produced at Paramount by Robert Evans who was married to McGraw at the time and laid a huge international egg.

Putting it bluntly, Dean Paul Martin while he looked real good in shorts simply isn't an actor. Both Ali McGraw and Maximilian Schell just buried the young man on the screen. Not to say he couldn't have developed over time into an actor, he did have a certain presence on the screen. But I suspect the bad reviews probably soured him on a film career.

The story is told in flashback with Martin having finally made the championship round at Wimbledon as an unseeded player. In between the shots of the game, we are told the story of the triangle and how the relationship with McGraw turned his life around.

I will say this in young Mr. Martin's favor, next to him tennis great Pancho Gonzalez looked bad as an actor. Gonzalez played Martin's coach and as an actor Gonzalez was a great tennis player.

We all know about young Dino's tragic death flying jets for the Air Force reserve in Nevada. Would that a better film be some kind of living epitaph for him.