Paper Lion

If you are a fan of Pro football, this is a must. Before Alan Alda shot to fame in the TV series MASH, he was in Paper Lion. Many Football movies have been made, some good, some bad. Longest Yard and Brain's Song rank as two of the best, with Paper Lion a close third. One of the best scenes doesn't take place on the Football field. When Plimpton (Alda) explains his idea to Vince Lombardi, Lombardi laughs and replied " Have you thought about the AFL?" Giving him a dirty look, Alda leaves. This shows the bad blood that existed between the NFL and AFL at the time. One year after this movie was filmed, the merger of the AFL and NFL was announced.

This is a competent film version of reporter George Plimpton's ill-fated attempt to be a NFL quarterback. Although Alan Alda does a good job as Plimpton, the real joy of this film is in the way it unintentionally documents the sense of community shared among the teammates (many of those used in this film were actual football players, including Alex Karras of "Webster" fame) before money, egos, and greed corrupted the sport.

A fairly good adaptation of George Plimpton's book. A young Alan Alda did pretty well playing Plimpton. But as another commenter pointed out, it was most interesting to see pro football in the days when the coaches were the bosses, the players did what they were told, and no thuggishness or criminality was tolerated. Football was tough, and masculine, and that was okay. No strutting, no trash talk. Ah, those were the days.

This is simply a fun movie. Alan Alda portrays Plimpton believably. I was left constantly thinking, "How would I survive a professional football training camp?" Definitely not as well as Plimpton did. I would have quit after the first day.

Another interesting thing about this film is to see all of the cameos from real people and players from 1968. Players from Alex Karras, Frank Gifford, and even the late Bill McPeak pop up in this movie.

Oh and lest we forget. Ms. Hutton is gorgeous!

To echo what another commentator said, this was real football. No cell phone celebrations in the end zone, no agents who held their players out of camp,no players moving to five different teams in five seasons (like Seinfeld says "Your rooting for the laundry"}, only real football by real football players. The big money, free agency and showboating have ruined the sport.These guys played together for 6 or 7 seasons and knew each other well. It shows in every scene. There was real veteran leadership, and real veteran depth on these ball clubs.

The action, on camera anyway, must be the 1967 season, because thats the year Roger Brown was traded to the Rams to complete the final version of the "Fearsome Foursome". This is mentioned in the film. The Lions did not have a good season that year. Their once proud defense, of which Coach Joe Schmitt was a key element at MLB, was unraveling and their offense (especially at QB) was never that efficient to begin with. Another important footnote is that Lem Barney, seen singing his alma mater in the film, was defensive rookie of the year in 1967. Mel Farr, the rookie running back seen in several scenes, was the offensive rookie of the year.That is the only time this has ever happened in NFL history. Despite this infusion of new talent,the Lions only finished third in the Central Division, with a record of 5-7-2. Ironically, it was Vince Lombardi's Packers (Lombardi initially rejects Plimpton's offer to cover the team in the film)who would win the division, their third straight NFL title and the Super Bowl.

Alda is OK as Plimpton, but an approximation of the real George Plimpton would have been much funnier. Plimpton had that upper crust Havard accent, which the players liked to mock. ""Forrrty Fouurrr"!! Somebody talking like that among a bunch of football players would have been a scream. I think the non-professional football actors did a wonderful job in this one.Karras showed real acting ability, and John Gordy and Pat Studstill came off like pros. Even Mike Lucci was very effective as the "villian" of the training camp. Joe Schmitt played himself without the self consciousness of most non professional actors. In all, this movie was not only very amusing, but a real look at the guts of pro football during its golden age.