In Real Life: B.A. A semi-fictional account of life as a professional football player. August 14, 1979. In the final game of the season, Elliot catches a touchdown pass with no time left on the clock to get North Dallas to within one point of division rival Chicago, but the Bulls lose the game due to a mishandled snap on the extra point attempt. North Dallas Forty A very savvy, 1978 film directed by Ted Kotcheff (First Blood) dealing with the seamier side of professional football. Dan Epstein on how the 1979 football-movie classic rips a pre-free agency, pre-Kaepernick league a new one, Mac Davis, left, and Nick Nolte, right, in 'North Dallas Forty. 1979. It was the first football movie in which the games looked like real football (rather than the usual odd mix of newsreel footage from actual games and ineptly staged shots of the actors in "action"). Gent. In Reel Life: Elliott and Maxwell go to a table far away from the "Maybe he forgot all those rows of syringes in the training room at the Cotton Bowl. We want to hear it. A TD and extra point would have sent the game into OT. there was anything wrong with them. All rights reserved. [5], Based on the semiautobiographical novel by Peter Gent, a Cowboys wide receiver in the late 1960s, the film's characters closely resemble team members of that era, with Seth Maxwell often compared to quarterback Don Meredith, B.A. He's wide open. championship game in 1967, and Jim jumped offside, something anyone could Maxwell understands where his friend is coming from, but urges him to take a more pragmatic approach to his dealings with the coaches and the managers. 1979. Your Ticket Confirmation # is located under the header in your email that reads "Your Ticket Reservation Details". 1979's North Dallas Forty is perhaps the archetypal example of the counterculture football movie: Respectful of the sport but deeply distrusting of the institutions and bureaucracy that surround it, with more than a slight pall of existential crisis hanging over the whole affair. Made in a time when men where men and sports meant more than money, a lot more. While . your job. Even though pot is significantly less harmful than any of the amphetamines and painkillers that he and his teammates regularly scarf to get through the season, its an excuse to get rid of their problem player. Despite my usually faulty memory, that scene has stayed in my head for more than 30 years. as it seemed. ", In Reel Life: Throughout the film, there's a battle of wits going on between Elliott and head coach B.A. North Dallas Forty #1 North Dallas Forty Peter Gent 3.90 1,439 ratings88 reviews This book is a fictional account of eight harrowing days in the life of a professional football player. It's not as true a picture as it was 10 to 15 years ago, when it was closer to the truth. We struck over "freedom issues," like the one-sidedness of contracts and the absolute power of the commissioner, for which we were accused by the public of being "greedy" and by the owners of threatening the survival of the game. You scored five TDs? the authority figure thunders. The movie flips the two scenes. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s. good as he portrayed himself in the book and the movie. The next step is expecting real players to live up to those unrealistic standards and feeling cheated when they fail. Dolly Parton, Bruno Mars, and Rascal Flatts were among the dozens of artists to record his songs or issue cover versions of Mac Davis hits. , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. The movie is a milestone in the history of football films. In Real Life: According to Gent, the Murchisons did have a private island, but the team was never invited. In Reel Life: As he talks with Elliott in the car during the hunting Drama. Nolte proves his versatility by embodying a sane, contemplative protagonist, a man's man who isn't instinctively a battler. The coach is focused on player "tendencies", a quantitative measurement of their performance, and seems less concerned about the human aspect of the game and the players. Neither is a willingness to endure pain. Unsurprisingly, the league refused to have anything to do with a film that took such a pro-labor stance, and which portrayed the organization as treating its players as little more than cannon fodder. Sure, players now receive more equitable financial compensation (thanks in part to free agency, which was finally instituted in the league in 1993) and protective equipment have improved considerably since the 1970s. He was one tough SOB. playoff game against the Browns. series "Playboy After Dark" in 1969 and 1970. To make ends meet, he, much in the fashion of his creator, wrote about . He also hosted a TV variety show and worked on Broadway. "When I was younger, the pain reached that level during the season and it Throughout the novel there is more graphic sex and violence, as well as drug and alcohol abuse without the comic overtones of the film; for instance, the harassment of an unwilling girl at a party that is played for laughs in the movie is a brutal near-rape at an orgy in the novel. It felt more real than the reality I knew. More importantly to this story, neither is free agency. They reveal proof of his marijuana use and a sexual relationship with a woman named Joanne, who intends to marry team executive Emmett Hunter, the brother of owner Conrad Hunter. Gent exaggerated pro football's dark side by compressing a season's or career's worth of darkness into eight days in the life of his hero, Phil Elliott. Nick Nolte is excellent as the gruff and rough guy with lots of problems on and off the football field. When even the occasional chance is denied him by a management which believes it more prudent to dump him, Elliott has enough character to say Goodbye To All That with few regrets and recriminations. "North Dallas Forty" is an important picture for Nolte, who paid his dues working for 10 years in theater companies in the Midwest, who finally broke into the big time with an enormously successful TV miniseries and a hit movie, and who was then immediately dismissed by many critics as a good-looking sex symbol, a Robert Redford clone, an actor . This weeks special, Super-Bowl-weekend edition: Dan Epstein on the football-movie classic North Dallas Forty. struggles to the bathtub, in obvious agony. In his best season, 1966, he had 27 catches for 484 yards and a touchdown. By contrast, in the movie version of "Semi-Tough" the same kind of jokes seemed cute and affecred. The book had received much. by former Dallas Cowboy receiver Pete Gent, came to the silver screen in Players have not been so thoroughly owned since they won free agency in 1993. The most important thing a man can have. The conflict in values never becomes one-sided or simple-minded. minus one if you didn't do your job, you got a plus one if you did more than The novel is more about out-of-control American violence. was, in a way, playing himself in the film -- Gent has said he was August 3, 1979. - Conrad Hunter: There's one thing I learned early on in life. Gent, a rookie in 1964, explains in an In Real Life: Gent says he was followed throughout the 1967 and 1968 B.A., Emmett Hunter (Dabney Coleman), and "Ray March, of the League's internal investigation division," are also there. It's a variation of the older "John Thomas," which is probably of British origin. But in the same way that the hit on Delma Huddle seemed more real than reality, Gent's portrait of the relationship between the owners and the owned exaggerated the actual state of affairs in a clarifying way. The films practice and game sequences still hit hard, however, making you admire and fear for the men who have chosen football as their profession. A brutal satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team "family" is bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches. Elliot, at the end of his career and wise to the way players are bought and sold like cattle, goes through the games pumped up on painkillers conveniently provided by the management. The coaches manipulate Elliott to convince a younger, injured rookie on the team to start using painkillers. The novel ends in apocalypse when, after having been dumped by the Bulls, Phil drives into the country to begin a new life with Charlotte, the woman who can heal his life, only to find her murdered for living with a black man on her farm. been credited against Landry's disciplined system of play," writes Gary Cartwright, who covered the Cowboys during the 1960s. In Reel Life: At a wild postgame party later that night, a date coach called that play on the sideline or if Maxwell called it in the huddle. North Dallas Forty (1979) Movies, TV, Celebs, and more. CAPTION: Picture, Nick Nolte in "North Dallas Forty". depicted in the scene, but the system, in Gent's opinion, wasn't as objective like an Italian fishwife, cursing and imploring the gods to get the lad back on his feet for at least one more play; Landry would be giving instructions to the unfortunate player's substitute.". treated alike," Landry told Cartwright in 1973. Elliott's nonconformist attitude incurs the coach's wrath more than once, and at one point, the coach informs Elliott that his continuing attitude could affect his future career with the Bulls. Cinemark For example, Landry benched Meredith during the 1968 NFL divisional In Reel Life: Elliott and Maxwell break into the trainer's medicine cabinet, and take all kinds of stuff, including speed and painkillers. Terms and Policies yells, "Elliott, get back in the huddle! North Dallas Forty movie clips: http://j.mp/1utgNODBUY THE MOVIE: http://j.mp/J9806XDon't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6prCLIP DESCRIPTION:Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis) and Phillip Elliot (Nick Nolte) hook up for the final plays of the game.FILM DESCRIPTION:In a society in which major league sporting events have replaced Sunday worship as the religion of choice, North Dallas Forty appears like a desecration at the altar. I played professional football, but I was stunned by the violence of the collision. "He truly did not like Don Meredith, not as a player and not as a person," writes Golenbock. Ultimately, Elliott must face the fact that he doesn't belong in the North Dallas Bulls "family." In Real Life: We know that Page 2's TMQ is surfing around right now looking for cheesecake shots of this year's Miss Farm Implements, but he's wasting his time. In North Dallas Forty, he left behind a good novel and better movie that, like that tackle scene, resonates powerfully today in ways he could not have anticipated. Easterbrook should be able to find a shot or two of Roberts, though. In Reel Life: Mac Davis plays Seth Maxwell, the Cowboys QB and Elliott's close friend. was that good, I would have thrown to him more," said Meredith, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, after reading the book. "Tom actually told the press that I had the best about pro football. Two shots out of that and Hartman is shot to shit, freaked out. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. In Real Life: Clint Murchison, Jr., the team's owner, owned a computer of genius, and it isn't until you leave the game that you found out you may have met the greatest men you will ever meet. Maxwell: You know Hartman, goodie-two-shoes is fidgeting around like a one-legged cat trying to bury shit on a frozen pond, until old Seth fixes him a couple of pink poontang specials. North Dallas Forty movie clips: http://j.mp/1utgNODBUY THE MOVIE: http://j.mp/J9806XDon't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6prCLIP DESCRIPTIO. "We played far below our potential. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Marathon debates in Montana House and Senate ahead of key deadline KRTV Great Falls, MT; MTN 10 o'clock News with Russ Riesinger 3-1-23 KTVQ Billings, MT an instance where a player was made to feel he had to do this where he was put in the position of feeling he might lose his job. Genres SportsFictionFootballNovelsHumorUnited StatesMedia Tie In .more 338 pages, Paperback First published January 1, 1973 Book details & editions It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and based on the best-selling 1973 novel by Peter Gent. years went on,' writes Peter Golenbock in the oral history, "Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes. scolds the team for poor play the previous Sunday. In Real Life: Lee Roy Jordan told the Dallas Times that Gent never worked out or lifted weights, and that Gent was "soft." A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches.A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches.A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches. Were the jock straps, the helmets. But worst of all, so will you -- what if the team loses and you might have made the difference? North Dallas Forty is a 1979 American sports film starring Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, and G. D. Spradlin set in the decadent world of American professional football in the late 1970s. Elliot deduces that Maxwell knew about the investigation the entire time. Which probably explains the costume. The site's critical consensus states: "Muddled overall, but perceptive and brutally realistic, North Dallas Forty also benefits from strong performances by Nick Nolte and Charles Durning. Better football through chemistry, he cracks through gritted teeth, while the teams assistant coach (a Maalox-chugging Charles Durning) uses Phils example to manipulate the needle-shy Delma Huddle (former WFL star Tommy Reamon) into taking a similar shot for his strained hamstring. Elliot is a demanding character for Nolte, and he delivers. (1979) Ted Kotcheff directed this movie in 1979 Title North Dallas Forty Year 1979 Director Ted Kotcheff Genre Drama, Comedy, Sport Interpreted by Nick Nolte Charles Durning Bo Svenson Plot - After being one of the best players of the 'North Dallas Bulls' football team, Phillip Elliot finds himself on the bench watching his companions' victories. We plan for em. The depictions of drug use and casual attitudes about sex were still semi-taboo in the film industry at the time, but Gent wrote the 1973 book from experience as a former Dallas Cowboys player with 68 receptions from 1964-68. "Pete's threshold of pain was such that if he had a headache, he would have needed something to kill the pain," Dan Reeves told the Washington Post in 1979. having trouble breathing after he wakes up; his left shoulder's in pain. We dont have to wonder about that at all. Called into a meeting with the Bulls front office, hes unexpectedly confronted by a representative from the leagues internal investigations commission. If they make the extra point, the game is tied and goes into overtime. Seth Maxwell, the down-home country quarterback and Phil's dope-smoking buddy, was obviously based on Don Meredith. If they want to trade him to the Canadian Football League, as they keep threatening to do, theres really nothing he can do about it. action, and share a joint. In the novel, Charlotte was a widow whose husband was an Army officer who had been killed in Vietnam; Charlotte had told Phil that her husband had decided to resign his commission, but had been killed in action while the request was being processed. Nikola Joki is your 2023 NBA MVP right? There even were rumors around the time of the movies release that Hall of Famer Tom Fears and Super Bowl XI MVP Fred Biletnikoff both of whom served as advisors on Forty were blackballed from the NFL because of their involvement. Elliott goes over to see how he's doing. computers, they become a greater factor in the game-plan equation. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, this on-and-off-field comedy/drama stars Nick Nolte as a wide receiver . Dayle Haddon may also be a little too prim and standoffish to achieve a satisfying romantic chemistry with Nolte: Somehow, the temperaments don't mesh. It literally ended his Are you kidding me? Phil responds. But Gent says Jordan's comments were not accurate: "I was not particularly strong but I took my beatings to catch the ball," he says. Widely hailed as not only one the best American football movies, but one of best sports movies of all time, North Dallas Forty continues to score touchdowns with film audiences and it's winning more fans thanks to its debut Blu-ray release from Imprint Films in Australia, limited to 1500 copies. Mac Davis lived a vast and varied career in the entertainment field that included performing memorable songs and writing monster hits for Elvis Presley. As with 1976s The Bad News Bears, which North Dallas Forty resembles in many respects, it takes a heartbreaking loss to finally bring clarity to the protagonist; though in this case, the scales dont fully fall from Phils eyes until the day after the game. Editors picks The psychotic outbursts Nolte dispayed as Hicks are now characteristics of Elliott's bigger, tougher, crazier teammates, notably the Brobdignagian offensive guards Jo Bob Priddy and O.W. Dont worry, it wont take long. Elliott's high regard of his "Phil, that's If a player is contributing and performing the way he ought to, he will usually conform We just can't get along with a player who doesn't conform or perform. [14][1] The following weekend saw the weekend gross increase to $2,906,268. thinking of Boeke when he wrote this scene. The gulf between coaches or owners or fans, is also clarified because of Gent's intimate understanding of the milieu and intense psychological identification with the players. "That story in 'North Dallas Forty' of being in a duck blind and Mike McCarthy Just Sent a Concerning Message About the Cowboys $50 Million Star. Strother to Tom Landry, and Elliott to Gent. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Elliot, at the end of his career and wise to the way players are bought and sold like cattle, goes through the games pumped up on painkillers conveniently provided by the management. The endings are more dramatically different. And so from then on, that was my attitude toward Tom Landry, and the rest of the organization going all the way up to Tex Schramm. In Reel Life: Elliott catches a TD pass with time expired, pulling North Dallas to within one point of Chicago. In Reel Life: During a meeting, the team watches film of the previous Sunday's The scenes are the same, then, but the reversal of order makes a difference. in "Heroes." But happily every other important element of the story plays with a zest, cohenrence and impact that might turn Coach Strothers green with envy. Gent, who was often used as a blocker, finished his NFL career with 68 He was hurting, too, but he has the guts to do what it takes when we need him You cant make it in this league if you dont know the difference between pain and injury! Huddle acquiesces. In Reel Life: Elliott wears a T-shirt that says "No Freedom/No Football/NFLPA." The movie opens with Nolte in bed, his pillow stained by a nosebleed that he'll discover as soon as he wakes up. While both actors were accomplished in the entertainment industry, neither was particularly athletic. "I have always felt that it [the loss] was partly my fault. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and based on the best-selling 1973 novel by Peter Gent. When the coach starts to lay the blame on Davis, Matuszak intervenes with a rant punctuated by salty language so brilliant that it feels as though he was speaking from experience rather than reciting a script. In Real Life: Landry stressed disciplined play, but sometimes punished Kotcheff wisely chooses to linger on the interaction of Joe Bob and his fellow lineman O.W. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes and lines from all your favorite films. trap play last season? Trending. ", In Reel Life: Delma Huddle (former pro Tommy Reamon) watches Elliott take a shot in his knee. Ah, come on, Delma, the coach growls. Similarly, we're allowed to accumulate contradictory impressions about the pro football fraternity. Phil is a veteran wide receiver for the North Dallas Bulls. As Elliot walks away, Maxwell briefly reminisces about their time together on and off the football field. But in recent years, the NFLs heated, repeated denials of responsibility for brain trauma injuries suffered by its players not to mention its apparent blackballing of Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid for taking a knee during the national anthem to protest systemic racism and police brutality hardly point to an evolved sense of respect for the men who play its game. But North Dallas Forty holds together as a film despite directorial crudity and possible bewilderment because Nick Nolte has got inside every creaking bone, cracking muscle, and ragged sigh marking Phil . In Real Life: Why North Dallas? Director Ted Kotcheff As I got We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your email. sorts of coaches, (including) great ones who are geniuses breaking new ground own abilities is a continuing theme throughout the film, and there's plenty Profanely funny, wised-up and heroically antiheroic, "North Dallas Forty" is unlikely to please anyone with a vested interest in glorifying the National Football League. saying, "John Henry, the Expect to see numerous tributes to Mac Davis from stars in the entertainment industry these next few days following the news that the singer-songwriter died on Sept. 29 in Nashville after heart surgery, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Were the equipment. The actors (with the exception of NFL players like John Matuszak in the major role of O. W.) were not wholly convincing as football players. One player, Shaddock, finally erupts to assistant Coach Johnson: "Every time I call it a 'game', you call it a 'business'. In Reel Life: As we see in the film, and as Elliott says near the end, when knocking out the quarterback was a tactic for winning," says Gent. Menu. Elliott and popular quarterback Seth Maxwell are outstanding players, but they characterize the drug-, sex-, and alcohol-fueled party atmosphere of that era. A faithful and intelligent adaptation of the best-selling novel by Peter Gent, a former pass receiver with the Dallas Cowboys, "North Dallas Forty" has the ring of authenticity that usually eludes Hollywood movies about professional athletes. seasons (more about this later): "One time a neighbor told me, 'Pete, now When you are young, you think you In Real Life: Gent says the drug was so prolific that, "one training camp I was surprised nobody died from using amyl nitrate. And a good score in a game was 17 And they would read your scores out in front of everybody else. You better learn how to play the game, he counsels Phil, and I dont just mean the game of football. I could call Tom an ass---- to his face, and he wasn't going to trade me until he had somebody to play my spot, and the moment he had somebody to play my spot, I was gone. During the climactic game with Chicago, the announcers mentioned several times it was a Championship Game and Dallas lost, their season was over. By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and North Dallas Forty 1979 R 1 h 59 m IMDb RATING 6.9 /10 5.6K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 3:00 2 Videos 75 Photos Comedy Drama Sport A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches. Although considered to possess "the best hands in the game", the aging Elliott has been benched and relies heavily on painkillers. In Reel Life: Elliott catches a pass, and is tackled hard, falling on In the scene, Matuszak gets into an argument in the locker room with a coach following a loss. Read critic reviews. It's an astonishing scene, absolutely stunning, the most violent tackle ever shown in a football film, and it has not been surpassed. "[10] Sports Illustrated magazine's Frank Deford wrote "If North Dallas Forty is reasonably accurate, the pro game is a gruesome human abattoir, worse even than previously imagined. In Real Life: Elliott is, obviously, a fictional version of Gent. "We were playing in the You know, that crazy tourist drink that I fix for stewardesses? Later, though, the peer pressure gets to Huddle, and he takes a shot so he can play with a pulled hamstring. But we dont wonder whether or not his former team and former league would give a damn about his current situation and well-being. In Reel Life: North Dallas is playing Chicago for the conference championship. Though ostensibly fictional, Gents book was to the NFL as Jim Boutons 1970 tell-all Ball Four was to major league baseball a funny-yet-revealing look at the sordid (and often deeply depressing) side of a professional sport. getting sprayed by shot was a true story. Maxwell prompts Elliot to turn around and throws a football to him, but Elliot lets it hit him in the chest and fall incomplete as he shrugs and throws his arms into the air, signifying that he truly is done with the game. The Packers led the Cowboys 34-20 with a little more than five minutes remaining. "That is how you get a broken neck and fractures of the spine, a broken leg and dislocated ankle, and a half-dozen broken noses." Kotcheff allows the camera to go a little inert in some scenes, but he's transcended the jittery, overemphatic tendencies that used to interfere with his otherwise vigorous, performance. Look at Delma. Remove Ads Cast Crew Details Genres Cast A man in a car spies on them. bears some resemblance to Tom Landry, who coached critical section of the male anatomy dates to the late 19th century, A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches. Released in August 1979, just in time for the NFL pre-season, North Dallas Forty was a late entry in the long list of Seventies films pitting an alienated antihero against the unyielding monolith . Seth happens to have a football, and he tosses one last pass to his buddy Phil, who lets it hit his chest and fall to the pavement. In Reel Life: In the opening scene, Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte) is And every time I call it a business, you call it a game.. I don't like this Elliott's skill as a receiver is readily acknowledged by his coach, B.A Strothers (G.D.) Spradlin, exceptional as the martinet basketball coach in "One on One," contrives to make this gridiron Draco a fresh impression of the same type). In Real Life: Landry did not respond emotionally when players were injured during a game. In Reel Life: The movie's title is "North Dallas Forty," and the featured team is the North Dallas Bulls. And, he adds, that's how he "became the guy that always got the call to go across the middle on third down.". They tell Elliott that he is to be suspended without pay pending a league hearing, and Elliott, convinced that the entire investigation is merely a pretext to allow the team to save money on his contract, quits the team, telling the Hunter brothers that he does not need their money that bad. ", In Reel Life: Elliott meets with B.A. Elliott's attitude is unacceptable: He hasn't internalized the coach's value system and he can't pretend he has. Encouraged to develop a ferolious rapport, Svenson and Matuszak emerge as a sensational, eversized comedy team. easily between teammates and groups of players, and seems to be universally respected. Charlotte may be waiting for him, but so perhaps are hip and knee replacements, back surgeries, depression, uncontrollable rages, maybe dementia. Go figure that out. "I wanted out of there," he writes in "Heroes." just another weapon that we had to do the job that had to be done,' said Landry.". Our punting team gave them 4.5 yards per kick, more than our reasonable goal and 9.9 yards more than outstanding ", In Real Life: Landry rated players in a similar fashion to what's But he was surrounded by Nick Nolte, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, and noted NFL wildman John Matuszak. The introspective Elliott is inclined to avoid trouble and temporize with figures of authority. Good, fun all round film with great thought put into the story especially when entering Nolte's problems with team management/owners. self-scouting," writes Craig Ellenport at NFL.com. North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - It's a Sport Not a Business, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Breakfast of Champions, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Pre-Game Final Words, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - A Quarterback Sandwich, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - You the Best, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Boy Meets Boy, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Final Play of the Game, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Serious Training, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Ice Bath & Beers, North Dallas Forty: Official Clip - Full-Speed Scrimmage. North Dallas Forty was to football what Jim Boutons Ball Four was to baseball, showing the unseemly side of sports that the people in charge never wanted fans to know about. When the coach starts to lay the blame on Davis, Matuszak intervenes . In Real Life: Gent really grew to despise Cowboys management. In this film, directed by Ted Kotcheff (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz), the National Football League is revealed to be more about the money than the game.
