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This post Hippie, late seventies, anti establishment film (the establishment in question being corporate sports) has a few problems but is mostly an enjoyable and at times powerful look at by far the most brutal of American athletic obsessions. It is especially good when employing locker room humor and disturbing, locker room detail to get at the pain and raunch that are at the center of football culture. Mac Davis' wonderfully scatological tale of the corruption of a religious QB is alone worth the price of admission. And the stuff involving needles, pills, and agonizing physical discomfort at times borders on the harrowing. As do the scenes on the football field, both in practice and actual games.

Where the film loses its edge, in my opinion, is when it gets up on its soapbox and pushes the very tired trope of the Evil Owners versus the Downtrodden Players. Not only were football players, even in the 1970s, paid way too much to be downtrodden but the speechifying from Nick Nolte and John Matuszak in the film's last third really slows down the action and takes what had been a fairly unpretentious movie into heavy, message laden waters. I also wearied of Nolte's character, modeled on Peter Gent upon whose novel the film is based. There is about him a general, unattractive air of elitism and superciliousness, especially evident at the orgy scene, where you can almost hear him bemoaning the fact that he, the reader of books and dater of intelligent brunettes, must suffer the company of these savages and their blonde bimbos. The character played by Mac Davis, by contrast, based on Don Meredith, is much more appealing in his combination of virtues (a wicked sense of humor and general perceptiveness about the folly of humanity) and flaws (a very elastic morality that easily embraces corruption). Indeed, if this Ted Kotcheff film had concentrated on the always uneasy Davis/Nolte friendship, instead of the evils of corporate sports, it might have had a chance at greatness. As it is, let's give it a B minus.

'ND40' is my favorite of all the sports movies I've seen. It's both a dark and funny look at professional football, succeeding on both levels, with special emphasis put on the way the pro machinery chews up players and spits them out. There's no doubt who the fictional North Dallas Bulls are supposed to correspond to in real life, and the Dallas Cowboys were none too happy with either the book or the movie. For the rest of us it is first-class entertainment.

The movie abounds with great performances. Nick Nolte is superb as the aging wide receiver, weary in spirit and broken of body. His independence and declining skills are threatening his usefulness to the team. G.D. Spradlin gives one of his usual excellent performances playing the team's amoral head coach. It's the type of role he seems almost to have a patent on.

Some actors in this movie, I suspect, are doing the best work of their careers. Mac Davis plays the fun-loving quarterback who is serious about keeping his position both with the team and the ladies, and knows all the tricks, whether it's before, during, or after the game. Steve Forrest is the millionaire owner who wants nothing in the world more than a Super Bowl championship team. And Bo Svenson and former pro player John Matuszak are a couple of linemen who play by the same rules on the field and off.

It's a complex movie with so much going on in some scenes (just like a football game) that it deserves to be seen more than once. One small quibble: the big game was obviously not filmed before an audience. That doesn't detract too much from the overall picture, but a viewer is aware of it.

I hadn't seen ND40 since it first opened, but I always remembered it as my favorite football movie. Since my friends are sick of me comparing every football movie to it, I decided to make sure I was still right after 20 years. The movie holds up remarkably over the years. Sure, lots has changed--making the movie a humorous period statement. The bad hair, the bad polyester clothes, and cigarettes everywhere. The coach actually has to tell the team to put out their cigarettes five minutes before the big game!

On substance, the movie is still right on the mark. The addiction to pain killers, the crippling effect of the game, and the effect the game has on the players personal lives all ring true today. Although we try to unsuccessfully bury some of those problems today, they sneak out anyway in Bret Favre's pain killers or OJ Simpson's arthritis.

One problem: if Nolte really is the best receiver on the team with the best hands in the league, why isn't he playing? I can hypothesize reasons, but the writer/director could have made the reasons more obvious.

9 stars out of 10

Fine sleeper film, very much a reflection of iconoclastic 1970's. Seldom has corruptive nature of professional sports been on more vivid display than here. Pro football (and others?) comes across as supremely exploitative of players, with millionaire owners collecting the reflected glory. Sure, the money is good as is the lure of easy women, while all the adulation is hard to resist, but the cost comes high as battered and bruised Nick Nolte finally figures out. Emphasis throughout is on obvious physical toll, but inner toll proves equally devastating. Team quarterback Mac Davis's sly character and coaching staff's slimy ploys illustrate that inner rot in sometimes subtle fashion.

Davis's understated performance provides memorable glimpse of intelligent man trapped by own weaknesses. Also one of Nick Nolte's most natural performances in both a brilliant and unorthodox career. His Phil Elliot may not be as clever as Davis, but the love of the game is truer, helping him finally see through the clouds of hype. But where oh where was director Kotcheff when beleaguered non-actress Dale Haddon so clearly needed help. Her one and only expression, paralyzed fear, almost brings down the entire film. Was the casting of this ex-Playboy playmate Hugh Hefner's price for assistance with the production?

Thanks Peter Gent for the gutsy expose' and Frank Yablans for bringing it to the screen intact. (After all those Monday evenings on TV, who could ever think of Tom Landry, Don Meredith or straight-laced Roger Staubach the same way again.) (Then too, fans might check out 1949's "Easy Living", a less caustic but also revealing film on the earlier days of pro football.) All in all, the screenplay of North Dallas is one of the best from the period -- humorous, savvy, and richly ironic -- the final boardroom scene arguably among the most compelling of any on sports. It's also one of the best arguments for getting athletics out of all those cathedrals of cult worship and back into neighborhood sandlots where they belong.

Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte) is a worn out wide receiver for the North Dallas Bulls professional football team in the 70s. It's crazy parties, drugs, sex, and alcohol. Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis) is the popular quarterback. Jo Bob Priddy (Bo Svenson) is a dumb wild lineman. Phil meets Charlotte Caulder (Dayle Haddon) at a party but she's not happy to be there. He rescues her from Jo Bob with a lot of help from Seth. Coach Strother thinks Phil isn't serious enough. Team executive Emmett Hunter (Dabney Coleman) is dating Joanne Rodney but Phil is actually sleeping with her. Johnson (Charles Durning) is the assistant coach. Phil is constantly threatened with the CFL. His body is all worn out and the trainer gives him 'B12' shots. Somebody mysterious is after him.

Based on the novel by Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent, this has the feel of authenticity. It's not quite a spoof with few outright laughs. Nick Nolte is terrific as the weary player. The story is a bit scattered. It could be even darker and more intense.