Second String (2002)

American football coach Chuck Dichter has worked wonders with the Buffalo Bills, and is even confident to crown his career with a Super Bowl victory, but before the play-offs an oyster ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Lieberman

Writers:

Jere Cunningham (story), Tom Flynn (story),

Stars:

Van Miller, Doug Flutie, Mike Ditka

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Van Miller	...	Himself
Doug Flutie	...	Himself
Mike Ditka	...	Himself
Chris Berman	...	Himself
Donovan Greer	...	Himself
Jon Voight	...	Coach Chuck Dichter
Gil Bellows	...	Dan Heller
Teri Polo	...	Connie Heller
Richard T. Jones	...	Gerry Fullerton
Garcelle Beauvais	...	Larissa Fullerton
George Eads	...	Tommy Baker
Evan Parke	...	Jackie Mumms (as Evan Dexter Parke)
Mike O'Shea	...	Jeff Vandevier
Gouchy Boy	...	Carl 'Big Daddy' Harris
Jeff Pustil	...	Bill Conners

Storyline

American football coach Chuck Dichter has worked wonders with the Buffalo Bills, and is even confident to crown his career with a Super Bowl victory, but before the play-offs an oyster food-poisoning wipes out his first team for a month. Dan Heller, an insurance salesman and former college quarterback, who was hired -relactantly, but his wife twisted his arm- just for practice, now has to captain and train a bunch of rookies and old-timers against the hardest adversaries. Dichter decides to sign up triple Super Bowl-winner Tommy Baker in Dan's place...

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Plot Keywords:

american football | buffalo bills

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Taglines:

She believed in him. Now he must believe in himself to lead the team to the Super Bowl.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

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Details

Official Sites:

TNT

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Del banquillo a la super bowl

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Michael London Productions, TNT Originals

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References Patton (1970)

User Reviews

A good replacement for "The Replacements"

We just got "Second String" on video today, and I always the sucker for underdog movies, and after reading the synopsis on the box, decided to check it out. I was rather impressed by this small release (we only got two copies in). Now, I too, got the whole "Replacements-wannabe" vibe that several of the other reviewers may have had. However, I really got into this one a lot more. I thought it had a much better, and more importantly, believable story to it than the "Replacements" did. I thought Voight did a much better job than Hackman ever did as the old coach. Bellows was great as the QB, and since his 5-year stint on TV, its great to see he's making a comeback. I particularly liked when Bellows helped out his teammates with their physical and mental aspects of their game. While other movies have done this several times over, "Second String" doesn't have that corny feeling that is left over for the viewer to digest. Instead, it adds a little humor into it. I chuckled a few times as the players were counting up how much their running-back would pay up for the Superbowl party everytime he dropped the football. If you manage to find this treasure somewhere in the back of our store and are trying to avoid some of the more recent blockbusters that have been released, try giving it a chance. I'm sure you'll be quite impressed.