Mann, du bist Klasse!

This was the first Robbie Benson I ever saw. Once I did see it, I have always been alert for other things which involved his talents.

This movie was especially meaningful to me because I took a much younger friend to view it with me. After seeing the movie I bought the fabulous movie soundtrack album by Seals and Crofts, and those songs were played over and over by this young friend and I until every word and note could be sung-along with the artists. I think this experience was an inspirational time for both myself and my young friend, who could identify in many ways with Benson's character.

Decades later I find that few fans of Seals and Crofts even know they recorded such a soundtrack, much less having any familiarity with the movie One On One. However, I have always since sought-out other features and appearances by Robbie Benson, and have become a life-long fan of this talented, if somewhat obscure, actor. I will continue to seek-out his productions and performances wherever Robbie Benson may show himself next. We are blessed by the gift of such a competent and gifted artist.

Henry Steele grows up playing basketball in small town USA, doing well at his high school he is soon signed by a college. There he enjoys easy money and special treatment in many ways. However when he begins to fall for Janet, who is teaching him extra classes, he loses his focus on the basketball. This causes his coach to regret his pick and ask Henry to resign his scholarship. When Henry refuses it begins a war of attrition between the two.

At heart this is a tale of a little guy who overcomes obstacles in his attempt to do well in life and in sport. When I taped it all I knew was that it was a basketball movie, so I thought I'd give it a try. At the start I thought it was going to be all innocent as opposed to sports movies now that focus on the real side of it as well as the game (Any Given Sunday, Blue Chips etc), however this had layers of brutality, drugs, money being `given' to students etc. The story at core is one of Henry battling against his coach and it is quite good, but the added layers add more too.

It may never be excellent but it is better than expected and was quite enjoyable (even if the basketball is played at a bit slower pace than now!). Benson is a bit too innocent and whiney at times as Steele but once you get used to him it's ok – he also co-wrote, not bad for a 21 year old! O'Toole is OK but isn't really anything other than a device for moving the plot on. Spradlin is good – but for the first 20 minutes I could hear his voice giving better lines in a better film – it bugged me until I placed him in Apocalypse Now. An almost unrecognisably young Melanie Griffith makes a brief appearance – but overall the cast is good enough to keep this just above the level of a TVM.

Overall it may seem a little naive compared to modern college sports films but it's actually quite enjoyable, even if it won't change your life!

If it wasn't for "Hoosiers", I would have to say that "One on One" would be my favorite basketball movie of all time. In fairness, I am partial to movies where the actor playing an athlete can actually perform as one. You would be hard pressed to find a real actor(I'm not talking about the cast of "Space Jam") who displayed as much basketball skill as Robby Benson does in this movie. The dude can flat out play.

I am not giving a backhanded compliment when I say that G.D. Spradlin does an outstanding job of portraying an a$$hole coach. He gives virtually the same performance as he did in "North Dallas Forty". His attempts to crush Henry seem harsh but believable given the power and ego that some of these big time coaches possess. Annette O'Toole does a good job although watching the movie again with my son, I forgot how much of a love story this film is as well.

Realistic basketball play and a true underdog theme make this movie a good one for me. Certainly a little dated but hardly irrelevant, I would say watch this movie with your young athlete. It is finally available on DVD and worth the $12 I paid for it.

Perfect? No. Rewatchable? Yes. I liked the movie when it came out and I can still watch it. Sure, Steele makes some bonehead mistakes and reacts to things awkwardly like a young inexperienced noob. I felt like this when I first joined the football team, some of those players were men! Yeah, I got head butted by a samoan during non-contact practice but I learned from that and dodged him the next time he came around but my inexperienced noob friend Gary wasn't as lucky as he got jacked off the ground by the same guy. Yeah, I blew it on a few girls when I didn't know what to do with them in my younger days. These are all why I feel this movie is real to me. Of course, the coach bloodying Steele's face is overdone but I remember my first coach calling me by the wrong name and showing a little disrespect. Steele's roommate reminds me of my friend George Devaney, who helped me while I was trying to make the team (No he didn't give me drugs). He ended up starting while I quit (but I ended up starting both ways the next year elsewhere). This movie hits close to home for me. And didn't we all just hate that snooty hippie and enjoy it as Steele finally stood up to him. Some of the lines in this movie are corny but that's how the 70s were. "Justice" by Seales and Croft adds some nice emotion to the film. BTW, in Spike Lee's opinion this is the worst sport movie ever. Spike who? I've seen much worse.

Robby Benson and Annette O'Toole have good enough chemistry to make their unlikely pairing a crowd pleaser nonetheless. Benson is very good as the jock who is first coddled, then spurned, stirring the man within him. The movie has a great deal of fun with the special treatment given Jocks. Benson's work-study job is to turn the sprinklers on and off, but the sprinklers work automatically. Gail Strickland and (Director) Lamont Johnson are marvelous in small but hilarious supporting bits.

But the true star of the movie is G.D. Spradlin as the humorless and amoral hard-nosed basketball coach. Best exchange is when Benson says: "You're a great molder of character, coach" and Spradlin retorts, "You never asked me to mold your character." Spradlin is 100% true to his character as a John-Wooden-type of basketball coach. All in all, One on One shouldn't be taken too seriously but is quite enjoyable on its own terms.