Domani vinco anch'io

How many popular teen heartthrob actors co-wrote a sports movie script about college basketball with their Dad, got the lead role in the movie and is so good at basketball that he doesn't need a double? The answer is probably only one and that was Robby Benson.

Robby stars as a short (5' 11" is short by basketball standards) but fast and feisty high school wunderkind called Henry Steele from a small town in Colorado who scores a full ride scholarship to Western University in LA replete with all the excess inducements like a sports car, sellable tickets and cash in an era before stricter NCAA enforcement. Henry arrives to start his freshmen season with the kind of doe-eyed innocence and gentle down home naïveté that characterized a number of roles Benson had previously played. Pretty soon he's thrown in the deep end of the seedier side of college professional sport including bribes, corruption, sexual favors, coach bullying, performance enhancing drugs and wild parties.

The WU Coach Smith is played brilliantly by GD Spradlen who is an amalgam of every hard assed demanding sports coach imaginable. He reacts negatively to Henry's hot dogging playing style and tries to force him to give up his scholarship. Here Benson assumes a familiar coming-of-age gritty determination that was a feature in many of the more than half dozen roles he played as a teenager as he refuses to be broken by the coaches. At first Benson's baby face looks and height well shorter than his fellow players means he looks like literally a boy amongst men (despite being 20 when the movie was filmed) but Benson's never-say-die attitude and his obvious intense athleticism gives an edge of realism to the intensity of the college basketball scenes and the realities of the bullying he faced.

The budding romance between Henry and his senior aged tutor Janet (ably played by Annette O'Toole) gives the movie a very touching and sweet counterbalance to the coaches' attempts to drive Henry out. At first Henry seems destined to be a typical jock in Janet's eyes but quickly he proves to be a more genuine scholar than Janet is used thus gradually endearing him to her. One of the movie's best acted scenes is a tutoring session in the presence of Janet's current professor boyfriend, an anti sport cynic, where Henry not only won't take the jock stereotyping lying down but he almost comes to blows with the man who held thrall over the woman he is falling for. His feisty determination to stand his ground leads Janet to dump the professor for her eager, younger pupil.

One on One also offers a real blast down a 1970's memory lane with tight flared pants, huge collars on flowery shirts and basketball shorts that were SHORT. Final bits of trivia: 19 year old Melanie Griffith makes an endearing cameo appearance and this movie was the first of three sporting movies Benson starred in, all with pretty demanding physical roles but throughout these roles, he nursed a shortness of breath due to a faulty aortic heart value eventually necessitating open heart surgery undertaken in his late 20's that effectively ended Benson's storied career in front of the camera.

I came across this movie on TV by chance, and was compelled to keep watching purely due to Robbie Benson's performance. If you are in any way a fan of the young (or older) charming, adorable, and sexy Robby Benson, this movie is worth your time. A young, completely collagen, silicone, and botox free, Melanie Griffith also has a wonderful little part as a hitchhiker at the beginning of the film. The first ten minutes are worth watching just for her!! (And I don't even like Melanie Griffith.)

In the lead role as Henry Steele, Robby Benson is completely engaging and totally believable as a naive and talented basketball player having his eyes opened to the realities of life in the big city and the world of big-business college sports. He also clearly trained physically for the part, increasing both his watchability on the court (as an athlete) as well as his sex appeal. Annette O'Toole is charming as his tutor; it is not hard to see why she grows to care about him as he rises to her challenge to study hard in spite of "jock" stereotypes.

As for Henry's conflicts with his coach and his difficulties in practice, while this part of the storyline is undoubtedly heavy-handed, his character is all the more lovable for the trials he faces physically, emotionally, and morally, both on and off the court. In addition, the story of the smalltown sports star who finds himself "humbled" when up against other great players from across the country is always interesting, even if it is overdone in certain respects.

Although the storyline overall is entirely predictable, the performances hold up over time. I found myself wishing Robby Benson was still a young heartthrob--or at least putting his pretty face, as well as his other talents, in front of the camera more often.

Be forewarned, however; unlike the rest of the film, the '70s ballads used for the soundtrack do not stand the test of time. Also, the corny movie tagline does not do the film justice.

While ultimately unimportant to the overall plot, I did find it quite annoying that so little attention was paid to the fact that Henry Steele is supposed to be this great basketball star, yet he's at least a foot shorter than every other player. It is mentioned maybe twice in the entire film. If you won't be able to set this annoyance aside while you watch, ... better to save this film for someone else.

Note: I would like to thank the previous reviewer, whose spot-on comments helped me pay attention to (and even re-watch) the film's better scenes, while pointing my finger to the fast-forward button on my TiVo at some of the "less-than-stellar" movie moments.

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.

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.

G. D. Spradlin is a splendid actor. Between his role as the coach here, and in the same role in the great football flick, "North Dallas Forty" - he has undoubtedly won, hands-down, the prize for the best portrayal of the quintessential "total horse's-ass coach." As others have pointed-out, it is illogical that he would recruit Henry (Robby Benson) as heavily as he did, then not know who he was when he reports on campus. Also, he knew Henry was a small-school, small-in-stature, fast-break player, whose talents were speed, ball handling and shooting - and yet, he is non-plussed when this doesn't seem to fit with his slower, ball control, "big-team" offensive philosophy.

The gratuities furnished Henry (automobile, do-nothing job, alum booster buying his game tickets for exorbitant amount) are beyond the scope even the most "liberal" programs would furnish - at least in terms of their obviousness, with little intent to provide some sense of legitimacy to them. And the coach's decision regarding Henry's scholarship, and his measures to try to drive him off the team, are over-the-top, even for the heavy-handed character portrayed (and even bearing in mind that big-time college athletic programs are not as altruistic as the schools like to portray).

But these contrivances are also what make the movie more interesting, and sometimes characterizations which are exaggerated help as much as they hinder the plot - and they do so here. I remember seeing Burt Reynolds with Johnny Carson on a show, discussing a movie in which Benson had appeared with him. He laughed about winning bets from others when Benson was able to do 100 sit-ups in about a minute. With some of the performances in sports movies, where the principals can be made to look like they can perform only by using trick photography or stunt doubles - it is a pleasure to watch Benson, who obviously is physically capable, and knows how to handle, pass and shoot a basketball. Annette O'Toole is engaging in the female lead, and together they make an attractive, appealing young couple.