Movie review: ‘North Dallas Forty’

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It’s always with anticipation and always with trepidation when I hear one of my favorite novels is coming to the big screen. The lack of detail in film and just plain bad acting obviously hurt and are common sins in Hollywood, so, of course, few such translations really work – but you have to be optimistic. In the case of “The Day of the Jackal” from the Frederick Forsyth best-seller (click here for my review), it worked and remains a gold-standard for how to adapt a novel. The other side of the coin is “The Choirboys” from Joseph Wambaugh’s sensational cop story (click here for my review). That one fell flat on its face. And I mean completely face-first in a coma. So, today I’ll look at “North Dallas Forty,” which is from what I consider the best sports novel of the 20th century and it falls somewhere between the former and the latter as a film. In the end, I guess that gives it a passing grade despite so many flaws.

‘NORTH DALLAS FORTY’
(1979; 119 minutes; rated R; directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Nick Nolte, Mac Davis and Charles Durning)

HE PLAYED THE GAME AND THE GAME PLAYED HIM

(NOTE: I expanded this review on Nov. 17, 2015. I added some opinion without changing any; took care of a couple of typos; and added trivia. I again expanded the review and updated links on Nov. 30, 2018. I added the death of a co-star on Feb. 18, 2021.)

I knew without a doubt that when Peter Gent’s novel “North Dallas Forty” came to the big screen it wouldn’t be as good on celluloid as on paper or on today’s Kindles. It simply couldn’t match the passion of Gent’s writing (it’s pretty much him giving an autobiographical effort using the frame of a novel). Also, it absolutely would never have the chance to be able to explain all the emotion and nuances of a football player and his mind – especially such a rebel as Gent.

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Still, “North Dallas Forty” is a good but flawed film with a solid cast and capable direction by Ted Kotcheff, who also was at the helm for the funnies “Weekend at Bernie’s” (click here for my review) and original “Fun with Dick and Jane” (click here for my review) or the little-remembered but excellent “Who’s Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” (click here for my review).

In “North Dallas Forty,” Nick Nolte plays “Phil Elliott,” who’s an aging and aching pro football player for the fictional “North Dallas Bulls.” His career is stagnant because of his declining health but more so from his rebellion to the team’s structure and his acidic tongue stemming from his cynical psyche. The movie tries to show the pressure on players and coaches as well as the mind-games heaped on players by coaches. It also shows free-flowing prescription drugs and some of the bigotry of days (hopefully) gone by in football.

It doesn’t do all this well, but at least it tries and doesn’t insult its audience in making the attempt. Damning with faint praise, I guess.

On the acting front:

  • A three-time Oscar nominee (not for this one), Nolte is very good here, along the same lines as he was in “Who’ll Stop the Rain?,” and was well cast. He efficiently portrays the low-key passion for the sport and evolving personality of his character and is especially effective communicating the physical struggle that some athletes face each day. Nolte also showed his acting chops in efforts such as “48 Hrs.” with Eddie Murphy and “Teachers” as the headliner. He was in another good sports film, but that time as a coach in “Blue Chips” (click here or my review).
  • Country singer-songwriter Mac Davis had his first big-screen role as superstar quarterback “Seth Maxwell.” Davis is good and smooth, but not great. He is solid in conveying the affability of his superstar QB status as well as when he has to face up to reality in the fantasy world he usually occupies. Davis, who would co-star with Jackie Gleason in “The Sting II,” had more than twice as many soundtrack credits (123) than acting credits (33) as of February 2021. Davis passed in 2020 at 78 of complications following heart surgery … and he’ll continue to get soundtrack credits despite his death.
  • The love interest for Nolte here is Dayle Haddon, who plays “Charlotte Caulder.” Haddon, who was a model before her acting career, doesn’t do much here and this is one casting choice that should have been reconsidered. Haddon has no range of emotion and it is too bad since this character could have elevated the film. Haddon has also been in “Bullets Over Broadway.”
  • G.D. Spradlin does a great job as the tight, conservative and judgmental head coach “B.A. Strother.” Spradlin has been familiar with such roles in his career as he’s been such a coach in “One on One” as well as the unwise senator who tries extortion on “Michael Corleone” in “The Godfather: Part II.” He’s always a pleasure to watch even if you despise his character (the mark of a good actor). He died at 90 in 2011.
  • Dabney Coleman plays “Emmett Hunter,” the obsequious brother of the team owner (Steve Forrest as “Conrad Hunter” in a bland effort), but only gets one chance to show his considerable skill. He has an outburst at Nolte at the end that is OK. Coleman has been in “WarGames” (click here for my review) and “You’ve Got Mail” (click here for my review) in a prolific career of 170 credits and counting. I like his work best in “Nine to Five” with the wonderful trio of Fonda-Tomlin-Parton (click here for my review).
  • Back to an example in great casting is two-time Oscar nominee (not for this one) Charles Durning as “Coach Johnson,” who is a Maalox-swigging volcano of coaching frustration, aggravation and aggression. Durning is so good at being mad that you believe that his head will explode at any second when he’s yelling at the players. Good job, Mr. Durning. He was good in “Tootsie” and TV’s “Evening Shade” and even tried to elevate “The Choirboys” without success. Durning was actually a bright spot in the otherwise poor film “Tough Guys” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas (click here to read my review).

The two most interesting supporting characters are played by actor Bo Svenson and former star NFL player John Matuszak in his first film. They are massive and violent offensive linemen “Joe Bob Priddy” and “O.W. Shaddock” respectively. Both swagger and strut through the film and Matuszak has a great post-game locker room scene in which he confronts Durning. It is surprisingly effective and passionate from an athlete in his first movie.

Actually, I’m not sure why filmmakers change characters’ names from the source material since the characters played by Svenson and Matsuzak were “Joe Bob Williams” and “O.W. Meadows.” It was a step back for the film with such silly new names (it’s as if the original names weren’t Texas-enough or football-enough).

Matuszak (click here to read his colorful history), who was a two-time winner on Super Bowl teams, went on to roles in films such as “The Goonies,” but he died of a heart attack in 1989 at the young age of 38. Svenson has had a prolific career from “Heartbreak Ridge” to “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” to a variety of TV roles.

I don’t believe the film manages the indictment of pro football as much as the novel did, but it tries. It does show coaches conspiring to get players to use drugs to come back from injury and other nonsense by those in charge, but doesn’t quite close the deal. Nolte, however, closes out the film in a moment frozen for the credits that perfectly sums up his character.

A word about height here: Rumors abounded that Davis had to stand on boxes or other objects so that he would be at or nearly eye level with Nolte (6 feet tall) much less Svenson (6-foot-5½) and especially “Tooz” Matuzak (6-foot-8). I’m not sure of Davis’ height (some internet sources put him at 5-foot-9), but you sure don’t see many scenes showing him with other actors fully side by side where you see their feet.

“North Dallas Forty” made $26 million at the box office in 1979, according to Wiki, and wasn’t in competition for top 10 status as No. 1 was the pathetic, overrated snifflebag called “Kramer vs. Kramer” at $106.2 million and No. 10 was “The Muppet Movie” at $65.2 million. The other films from that year that I’ve reviewed are …

Assorted cast notes (via IMDb.com):

  • While the story mostly plays out in Texas, the filming locations were mostly Los Angeles.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “The character of Stallings was played by Jim Boeke (billed as James F. Boeke), who was one of source novelist and co-scripter Peter Gent‘s real-life teammates from the Dallas Cowboys. This was not Boeke’s cinema movie debut though, Boeke had film experience, as he had earlier appeared in Heaven Can Wait (1978) and had two other TV credits.”
  • There were always gossip that novelist Gent was portraying real star football players Don Meredith and Roger Staubach plus legendary coach Tom Landry with the characters “Seth Maxwell,” “Art Hartman” and “B.A. Strother” in “North Dallas Forty.” Anyone familiar with the Dallas Cowboys of that era will have no doubt that there’s truth to the rumors. However, check out the novel – that tells a much better story about the trio.
  • What wasn’t a rumor was conflict between filmmakers and Gent about how the story was being brought to the big screen. Well, that’s no surprise, since so many authors have been critical of Hollywood “treatments” before.
  • As to Gent in real life … well, his pro football career crashed; he wrote more books after “North Dallas Forty” but none were as successful; and, sadly, he died at 69 on Nov. 30, 2011, of pulmonary disease. Click here for the Wiki biography of Gent, whose full name was George Davis Peter Gent.

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