North Dallas Forty

Year: 1979

Grade: C+

Country: USA

Director: Kotcheff

Review

takes a good look at the darker side of professional sports, especially football. other than that the film doesn’t do very much. it lacks a purpose throughout most of the film and that gives it a wandering feeling that could/should have been tightened up a bit. it gives a good impression of the football lifestyle, but because it lacks a cohesiveness it feels really lose through most of the film. as a result the viewer, too, wanders; and that’s not a good thing. a little looseness in the screenplay can be advantageous – it can provide some slack for the viewer to get involved emotionally or mentally. but too much slack means the viewer gets lost and drifts about within the film. things tighten up towards the end, but that only makes you all the more disappointed by the rest of the film. if only the first three quarters of the film had had as much vision and purpose as the last quarter. oh well. nolte turns in a fine performance while most of the others do reasonable jobs. not a great sports film, but it’s important to get some of the dirty side of sports in while i’m watching all these sports movies so i’m glad i checked this one out.