Coach of the Year

Like another reviewer, my wife bought this movie as part of a 20 movie family pack. I guess you could say that this was a decent made-for-TV movie for 1980, but it is super-predictable and the acting, except for Robert Conrad, is generally sub-par. The football scenes are nothing special and seem to mainly act as filler for the movie. The movie is very dated now, but a decent remake could probably make this into a good movie. However, is that really necessary? I mean, how many "underdog sports team works together for the big game with the undefeated guys" movies do we really need? This is probably a good movie for your younger kids if you find it in the bargain bin, but a sports movie buff will find it lacking.

When this movie was made in 1980, I was a teenager in the football stands playing as part of the audience. This was done at Mooseheart, Illinois. The big letters spelling out "MOOSEHEART" at the top of the stands were covered up with a banner in the movie. The director would tell us to cheer loudly at certain points, as if a touchdown was being made. St. Charles juvenile correction center is a real place less than 30 miles from Mooseheart, although I think it may have closed down recently. During one scene, they show a black woman and a white man in the audience watching the game. Right below them, you can see my sister Noel's head (she was 11 at the time). In the VHS version, I can only see the top of her head, but when I saw it on TV in 1981 I could see her whole head and my sister Jacqui as well.

I thought the movie itself was OK for a made for TV movie. Since there's already a description of the movie here, I need not repeat it. It's worth seeing at least once.

I received this movie in a pack called "50 all-star Movies" for $18 (45 cents each). Many are good. This one was terrible. It was a hackneyed retread done 1000 times before and each time better. A crippled ex-jock is dared to coach a team made up of juvenile delinquents. They learn from him that they can make it if they play by the rules. I'm sure the kids and the locals were thrilled to be included in a "real TV movie", but I can't imagine what the folks that launched and produced this project figured they could bring to this already over beaten subject. I kept waiting to see that 'new twist' or 'new angle' but, honest, it doesn't come. Avoid this movie. Forget about the 45 cents, I want the 96 minutes of my life back.

Take away the paraplegic component of the story and what you have is an Eighties version of The Rock's Gridiron Gang from last year.

Paralyzed Vietnam veteran, Robert Conrad, left behind a career with the Chicago Bears to serve his country in Vietnam where he got the spinal wounds that left him in the wheelchair. He can't get any kind of coaching job due to his injuries. When his juvenile nephew gets himself arrested however for armed robbery and sentenced to a juvenile facility, Conrad takes on the job of athletic director of the place.

Just like in the big screen Gridiron Gang, football proves to be therapeutic for both the kids and the coach who's pretty down on himself. Conrad is fine in the part and he gets nice support from an old friend Red West who plays the warden at the juvenile center. West was a regular on Conrad's Black Sheep Squadron series. Erin Gray is Conrad's sister and Ricky Paul Goldin is the nephew.

Nothing outstanding here, but it's a decent enough made for TV film.

I was going through the $1 DVD bin and saw a football movie so I bought it! This 1980 made for TV movie is about a former Chicago Bears player named Jim Branden (played by Robert Conrad) who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War and now wants to coach. The Bears won't give him a coaching job so he ends up coaching a team at a juvenile correctional school, where his nephew resides. The kids there have horrible attitudes at first and lose their first game, which is against an exquisite private school. But Branden eventually wins the respect of his players, who unify around him and work hard to win the rematch. I find the movie to be a little too predictable down the stretch but it's a decent light drama and worth the dollar. As a nice bonus, Mike Post contributes some good music. 6/10.