Varsity Blues (1999)

In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion. The head coach is deified, as long as the team is winning and 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the... See full summary »

Director:

Brian Robbins

Writer:

W. Peter Iliff

Stars:

James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Van Der Beek	...	Mox
Jon Voight	...	Coach Kilmer
Paul Walker	...	Lance Harbor
Ron Lester	...	Billy Bob
Scott Caan	...	Tweeter
Richard Lineback	...	Joe Harbor
Tiffany C. Love	...	Collette Harbor
Amy Smart	...	Julie Harbor
Eliel Swinton	...	Wendell Brown
Thomas F. Duffy	...	Sam Moxon (as Thomas Duffy)
Jill Parker-Jones	...	Mo Moxon (as Jill Parker Jones)
Joe Pichler	...	Kyle Moxon
Mark Walters	...	Chet McNurty
Brady Coleman	...	Sheriff Bigelow
James N. Harrell	...	Murray (as James Harrell)

Storyline

In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion. The head coach is deified, as long as the team is winning and 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the gridiron every Friday night. In his 35th year as head coach, Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight) is trying to lead his West Canaan Coyotes to their 23rd division title. When star quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker) suffers an injury, the Coyotes are forced to regroup under the questionable leadership of John Moxon (James Van Der Beek), a second-string quarterback with a slightly irreverent approach to the game. "Varsity Blues" explores our obsession with sports and how teenage athletes respond to the extraordinary pressures places on them.

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Plot Keywords:

quarterback | coach | coyote | texas | high school | 

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Taglines:

In a town where winning is everything, these guys have nothing to lose.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language throughout, sexuality and nudity, and some substance abuse

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

American Boys

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£139,211 (UK) (10 September 1999)

Gross:

ESP 8,749,775 (Spain) (13 July 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

MTV Films, Marquee Tollin/Robins, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The High School Fight Song played at the pep rally is the Texas A&M War Hymn.

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Goofs

When Billy Bob picks up Mox, Harbor and Tweeder up for school in the beginning of the film, Billy Bob has his pig Bacon with him in the truck. It is never explained what Billy Bob did with Bacon while they were in school that day.

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Quotes

Charlie Tweeder: Say I'm stupid and I'm about to get hit in the nuts.
Billy Bob: That's funny.
Charlie Tweeder: Ain't it funny? That's what I mean. See they need to change the name of the show to America's funniest shots in the nuts.

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Connections

Referenced in The Comebacks (2007)

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Soundtracks

"My Girlfriend Is a Waitress"
Written by Rodney Gilbert Hodges, Joe Cabral
Performed by The Iguanas

User Reviews

An enjoyable, entertaining diversion; what a movie is supposed to be.

This is an unpretentious and entertaining movie about high school football in a small Texas community. OK, so we know who will win the Big Game, and that the Hero won't sell out to the mean and selfish 23-District-Championships-Coach (Jon Voigt). The movie is well paced and a pleasant diversion; (many in the audience actually applauded at the climactic scenes in the final moments).

What I find most interesting about the fact that this film was produced in association with MTV, is that for a Network ostensibly dedicated to iconoclastic themes and attitudes (i.e., anti-establishment and counter-culture), this movie is remarkably "old-fashioned" in the adherence to values espoused by the hero. After he becomes the starting quarterback, he resists the come-ons of his predecessor's beautiful girlfriend, and he will sacrifice his own scholarship to Brown University (an Ivy League school in Rhode Island for those of you not familiar) rather than let another player be used and potentially physically damaged by the unscrupulous coach.

Some of the scenes are reminiscent of other football films: The Longest Yard, All the Right Moves, North Dallas Forty, and so on, but I guess there are no real surprises these days after decades of the same essential stories in Hollywood. This is not just a "football movie" or a "guy movie" however, and it's well worth a look.