Wildcats (1986)

A rookie high school football coach has a harder time than she expected trying to whip her tough inner city team into shape.

Director:

Michael Ritchie

Writer:

Ezra Sacks

Stars:

Goldie Hawn, Swoosie Kurtz, Robyn Lively

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Goldie Hawn	...	Molly McGrath
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Verna McGrath
Robyn Lively	...	Alice Needham
Brandy Gold	...	Marian Needham
James Keach	...	Frank Needham
Jan Hooks	...	Stephanie Needham
Bruce McGill	...	Dan Darwell
Nipsey Russell	...	Ben Edwards
Mykelti Williamson	...	Levander 'Bird' Williams (as Mykel T. Williamson)
Tab Thacker	...	Phillip Finch
Wesley Snipes	...	Trumaine
Jsu Garcia	...	Cerulo (as Nick Corri)
Woody Harrelson	...	Krushinski
Willie J. Walton	...	Marvel
Rodney Hill	...	Peanut

Storyline

Molly is a high school track coach who knows just as much about football as anyone else on the planet. When the football coach's position becomes vacant, she applies for the job, despite expecting sniggers from fellow staff members and her former husband.

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Plot Keywords:

coach | high school football | ex husband ex wife relationship | custody battle | mother daughter relationship | 

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Taglines:

Her dream was to coach high school football. Her nightmare was Central High.

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Genres:

Comedy | Sport

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 February 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

First and Goal

Filming Locations:

1328 W. Chestnut Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,472,905, 17 February 1986

Gross USA:

$26,285,544

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hawn / Sylbert Movie Company,Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stadium scenes were filmed at Lane Technical High School's athletic field in Chicago, Illinois.

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Goofs

Whilst the team is exercising on the field, the shadow of the camera crew can be seen.

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Quotes

Peanut: [about Finch's weight] How did you folks let you get like this?
Krushinski: Are you kidding me? He probably *ate* his folks!

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Woody Harrelson/John Cena/Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa (2017)

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Soundtracks

Hard To Say
Performed by James Ingram
Written by Hawk Wolinski, James Newton Howard and David Pack
Courtesy of Qwest Records

User Reviews

Another Funny Goldie Hawn Movie

In the 1980's there wasn't a bigger female comedy star than Goldie Hawn. She excelled at playing the 'fish out of water' character in films like 'Private Benjamin,' 'Protocol,' and 'Overboard.' 'Wildcats' has the same formula those films had, only instead of the Army, Washington DC, or abject poverty, Goldie finds herself coaching football.

Here Goldie plays Molly, a divorced mother of two who has always dreamed of coaching a football team. But throughout her coaching career all she's been allowed to do was coach female track and field. When Molly gets the opportunity to take a head coaching job in an inner city school, she jumps at the chance. When she arrives at the school she is faced by a disorganized and disrespectful team of players. They don't want her as their coach, but she sticks to her guns, and she fights to gain their respect and obedience.

Of all the comedies that Goldie has starred in, this isn't one of her best. She's still great in this, but the film is overlong, bogged down by a buzz killing custody storyline with her schmuck ex-husband (Keach) and her two kids. There's also a lot of unfunny 'fart humor' on display, but thankfully not from Goldie's character.

But when the film is good, it's good. Besides the custody storyline, things move at a brisk, fun pace. It's fun to watch Goldie work to get the team to see eye to eye with her, or hunt down the truant quarterback in the ghetto and almost get herself caught up in a robbery, or hide a rival teams goat mascot in the locker room.

This isn't really heavy stuff here, but it is a fun 80's comedy with a great star doing what she does best. So if you're a fan of Goldie Hawn and 80's comedies, check this out.