Le programme: Vaincre à tout prix

OK, so this movie isn't a big Academy Award winner. OK, so it doesn't rank up there with Brian's Song or is as flashy and symbolic as Any Given Sunday.

Maybe it doesn't have the attitude of The Last Boy Scout or North Dallas Forty; it lacks the comic appeal of Necessary Roughness. But you know what it does have that all of those above-mentioned films lack, a connection to any person that has ever stepped out on that field and experienced the pressures and bliss that comes with the nitty gritty game of football. I remember seeing this movie in the sixth grade and having never been into football that much, I didn't expect a lot. Yet,I walked away in awe at the sheer excitement experienced from this movie. This was an instant classic and even years later in my high school football days, the players were still talking about it. It is one of the best and most realistic football movies made. It puts you in the mindset of a big play maker like Jefferson or a back-breaking linebacker like Alvin Mack. It also has its human side displaying the pressures of trying to live up to expectations and coping anyway you know how. In Joe's case it's through a bottle. Lattimer sees enhancement drugs as the only way out...the film just takes you down to their level. Better yet, it's a college experience that you haven't experienced yet, or are trying to remember (it goes so fast!). After viewing this movie so many times every year when the college ball season starts, or even back in the day before two-a-days began; I can't help but to get excited and giddy from viewing it. My tape has worn out and I now own the DVD, I just wish they would add the deleted scenes. The Program will always be on my top ten list and that's why I give it a great rating.

That's the best way to describe 1993's "The Program" in as few words as possible. It's a realistic drama/sports film focusing on a handful of players and their stories as individuals and members of the ESU Timberwolves.

I was well into the second half of the film when it dawned on me that I was into the characters' stories and had forgotten I was watching a movie, which is always a good sign. The characters include the quarterback (Craig Sheffer) who has to deal with the incredible pressure of his position and the fact that his Dad's an aloof drunkard who's given up on life; the linebacker who takes steroids to compete and starts to become a rage-oholic; the black dude from the ghetto who memorizes big words to appear smart; and more. For most of them, their lives and futures hinge on the game and so getting seriously injured can wipe out their very reason for existence. James Caan is notable as the coach.

As for women, there's Halle Berry in her prime and Kristy Swanson, but their roles are too limited and there are essentially no other women to be found, except cheerleaders & students in the background.

People who have played university football have pointed out that "The Program" is realistic in its depiction. It's a really good sports film for sure, but 1999's "Varsity Blues," which focuses on Texas high school football, edges it out. In fact, "Varsity Blues" ranks with my all-time favorite movies; it's got a more compelling story & characters, a funner vibe and better women. But both of them are must-see sports flicks.

The film runs 112 minutes and was shot at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

GRADE: B+

The college football team of the Timberwolves is made up of students from all over America and of all sorts of background. Joe Kane is the team's poster boy and is tipped to go all the way to the NFL; Darnell is a rookie from the tough streets looking for a break with the team and his tutor Autumn and the rest of the team are made up of steroid takers, trash takers and course flunkers. With all this raw aggressions and raw ability, Coach Winters must try and hold it all together despite his own problems.

It has been so many years since it came out that many viewers will have forgotten the fuss that made this film better known than it really deserved to be at the time. I won't go into it but I really fail to see (aside from the one impersonation) why a scene involving chicken with cars was cut yet a scene involving chicken with trains was left in – surely if one was unsuitable then the other should be so too? Now, over 10 years later the film remains more famous that it deserves on the back of some fortunate casting – it was the cast list that attracted to this film. The actual story is a fairly ho-hum sports movie with all the usual clichés about college sports as well as the usual semi-drama stories around the characters – overcoming bad backgrounds, party excesses, girl troubles and so on. As a basic sports movie it is enjoyable enough but it doesn't really do anything that makes it stand out from the genre.

The cast is the ongoing selling point of the film and the performances are OK considering that the material doesn't give them a great deal to do other than go through the genre motions. Caan plays a grizzly old coach who has to cover the player's indiscretions and he does it well enough. Berry looks OK but has little to do in a very male dominated film. Sheffer is supposed to be the lead role but he doesn't really have the ability and he is easily swallowed up by his support cast. Epps is good and minor female roles are also given to Swanson and Adams. Bryniarski overplays his steroid addict but still works and I thought Davis showed a gentle touch when he was given the chance to in minor scenes during the final game.

Overall, aside from the controversy that helped it getting a bigger audience at the time of release and the good list of names in the cast, this is actually just a competent film rather than a really good one. It has all the usual clichés that you expect from college sports films and it doesn't do anything special with them but it doesn't do them badly either. Entertaining as along as you know what to expect.

Eastern State University football coach Sam Winters (James Caan) is under pressure after a second year unable to get into a bowl game. His quarterback Joe Kane (Craig Sheffer) is dealing with an alcoholic father and a Heisman campaign. He falls for tennis player Camille Shafer (Kristy Swanson). The big recruiting effort is tailback Darnell Jefferson (Omar Epps) and they use female student Autumn Haley (Halle Berry) as the lure. Once in school, he finds that she already has a boyfriend who is the starting tailback. Alvin Mack promises to buy his mother a house counting on signing an NFL contract. Andrew Bryniarski is the muscle-bound lineman found using steroids and attacking a girl.

This seems like a greatest hit of college football scandals. The scattered approach leaves this problematic. I don't have a big problem with any of the stories but none of them really takes the lead. Sheffer isn't compelling enough to be the star. Omar Epps comes close to be star material and it would be interesting to have him as the lead character. There are just too many main story material.

During the course of high school and college, we always come across numerous stereotypes. The 'jock' stereotype is possibly the most recognized. This movie transcended that and only focused on the brotherhood and comradery that arises from playing an organised sport. Not only did I enjoy this movie to a great extent I thought it to be both hilarious and dramatic. I believed the quality of acting in this film to have been superb, as well as the football scenes.