The Big Game

While "The Big Game" has a few clichés and is predictable, it is enjoyable. It also lets the viewer know that cheating at college sports certainly is NOT a recent phenomenon!

Phillip Huston stars as Clark Jenkins--a star football player for Atlantic University. Atlantic is one of the best teams in the country and has gotten that way by blatantly cheating. Some of the players are former professionals who are WAY too old to be playing, some consort with gamblers and some get under the table payments to play. In other words, things back in the 1930s were a lot like today! However, inexplicably, although Atlantic clearly cheats, the viewer is expected to cheer for the school and its big star. This is a serious weakness of an otherwise enjoyable picture. Overall, clichés and all, it still manages to oddly entertain.

I don't care for (American) football, but it generally seems to entertain in movie format. From The Longest Yard to Rudy, there's something about the sport that translates well to celluloid. The Big Game, sadly, is not up to the standards of those other films, as it can't seem to decide whether it's a comedy, a crime drama, or an indictment of college football (which apparently was already controversial in the mid-30s!). James Gleason is wasted and only Bruce Cabot really draws any attention as the heel with a heart of gold. Andy Devine is particularly annoying in this one--be sure to turn the sound off whenever he's in an onscreen telephone conversation!

Although the film is not one of the best sports films ever made, and the storyline is droll and trite, to my surprise, some of the action sequences using the actual actors were more realistic than most football films; especially of this era, and especially with this sort of story. No poorly acting pitching as Ronald Reagan showed in "The Grover Cleveland Alexander Story" or odd batting stance of Anthony Perkins as Jimmy Persall in "Fear Strikes Out" or faked boxing as in "Rocky". This is a dated film per the acting, direction, plot, and so forth, but this actually adds to its charm. Was America actually this way: polite, articulate, innocent? My guess is that it actually was in this era. James Gleason as usual is excellent, the settings nostalgic even to someone far too young to have memories of the time, and a young Andy Devine is fun to watch and listen to with his trademark squeaky and broken voice. Of much interest to me is the first-time screenwriter is Irwin Shaw who later would become one of America's most renown novelists with "The Young Lions", "Rich Man, Poor Man", Beggarman, Thief", and "Evening in Byzantium". Additionally, this film cast actual college football stars, including the first Heisman Trophy winner, Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago and the immortal King Kong Klein. For these reasons, this film is a must for the sports film buff. As a work of art, this film fails; but as a guilty pleasure it scores high.

Some familiar character players plus a number of All Americans from that era of the 30s are in the cast of The Big Game. Phillip Huston because he's not one of THE Hustons is our lead and I'm sure most have never heard of him.

Huston is kidnapped before The Big Game and I'm I need go no further. You've seen that a dozen times over.

The film bears a slight resemblance to the John Wayne film Trouble Along The Way in that it raises issues about how college athletes are recruited. The issue was better raised in the Duke's film.

Some real football footage nicely integrated into the film. Huston is a most colorless hero though.

College quarterback gets involved with gamblers and falls for the daughter of a sports columnist. Movie wavers between sports drama, comedy, and crime picture. The football scenes aren't bad, despite the stock footage. The cast is actually decent. Phillip Huston shows a lot of promise. It was apparently his first film role in a limited career. I'm not sure why he didn't break out. He's not bad looking and has a very relaxed screen manner for 1936. Bruce Cabot is fine. Andy Devine is...well, Andy Devine. Donkey voice and all that. An acquired taste for many. James Gleason is great as usual but this isn't one of his better parts. June Travis is a pretty enough love interest, though a little colorless. Some solid support from Guinn Williams and C. Henry Gordon, among other recognizable faces. Despite being a competent production with some good actors, the film is kind of a snore.