Number One

During the life of Charlton Heston, he often selected to personify men who lived larger than life. Yet, for all of his superior talent, he often said he liked to portray ordinary men in ordinary lives. One exceptional film was 'Will Penny.' Here is another. The movie is called " Number One. " In this role he plays NFL football Quarterback, Ron Catlan. For several years he has been the mainstay player for the New Orleans Saints and has proved to be an exceptional individual. Years ago, he was selected to be the Quarterback and has taken the team to a number of play offs and a Superbowl. During the up-ward climb, men have come to respect and admire him, in addition he has garnered the praise and accolades of both his fans and his team mates. Indeed, everywhere he is seen, both professional men and adoring women seek him out. But that was then, now-a-days, he is being reminded by his coach (John Randolph) that time is catching up to him. Former team players like Richie Fowler (Bruce Dern) who are successful businessmen, advise him to quit football soon and market his name to an advantage. Yet, 'Cat' feels his present career can last several more years and doesn't want forced retirement. Hoping for the best, he plays as if his skill will last beyond his present ability. Roy Jenson makes a brief appearance. ****

In the final scene when Catlan is crushed by the Dallas defense (actually portrayed by Saints players Mike Tilleman, Dave Rowe and Fred Whittingham), neither Heston nor the producer felt the hit on him was realistic enough, so Heston asked them to cut loose to make it look authentic. On the second take, the trio slammed the actor to the ground, breaking three of his ribs!!

As for a better actor to play this part or the "realism" as criticized below, Hogwash. I can't think of many actors back then or NOW that would take a hit like Heston did for any movie.

I enjoyed the show, LOVED the football scenes, liked the 60's look and feel of the show, and still love watching Charlton Heston movies. May he R.I.P.

The faded star-quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, over-the-hill at 40 and nursing a bad knee, considers retirement after an anonymous source disparages his season performances in print. Character rumination stacks the deck against our embittered hero: he's offered a management position with a computer firm and another job leasing cars (both offers are seen as dead-ends), while his unhappy wife is ready to walk out and a former teammate comes to him begging for a loan ($200!). Screenplay by David Moessinger is full of cynical one-liners substituting for insight into these unfulfilled people, while the football milieu is used mainly as a backdrop to the melodramatic action off the field. Charlton Heston is all wrong as an athlete--just because the man is tall and lean doesn't mean he's an ideal candidate for a football uniform. Heston is also unusually harsh with spouse Jessica Walter, who tired quickly of the Football Wives circle and now runs her own successful fashion business (Heston insults her creativity, equating it with an apparent inability to conceive a child; she slaps at him, he grabs her, and they end up making love). Director Tom Gries offers us only a flicker of insight into the world of professional football. He tries avoiding gridiron clichés, and his narrative timeline is interestingly woozy (mixing staccato flashbacks with bits of reality and, maybe, delusion), but the overall mood of the piece is unbelievably morose. Moessinger really does appear to believe that 40 means you're finished, washed-up. Heston may have felt there was something in the script he could play, something substantial and (atypical for the actor) not-heroic, but the picture isn't convincing. The foundation of the story--an aging man's fear that he's no longer useful after outgrowing his profession--is a good dramatic starting point for a character portrait (and still feels relatively fresh today), yet the writing is pretentious and dishonest. As to the downbeat finale, it underlines the pervading message that we're all "whores", like it or not. ** from ****

Mr. Heston and director Tom Gries teamed up in the late 60s and early 70s to make three woefully under-appreciated movies. One of those is Number One.

This one happens to be the lowest rated of the three here on IMDb. I'm shocked that its rating is a lowly 5.6. I believe this gem deserves greater recognition.

The movie is about a once great quarterback who's a few years past his prime. The movie itself isn't really about football. As in Will Penny with the Western setting, football is the backdrop for a character study which goes much deeper.

I believe this movie is especially potent today in the aftermath of the recession which saw a lot of older people in this country lose their jobs through no fault of their own. They have to ask themselves, what was it all for? And... what do I do now? Mr. Heston plays Ron "Cat" Catlan, the aforementioned quarterback. His status with the New Orleans Saints seems to be in question. His wife is too busy for him. An exotic new woman isn't the answer but at least she listens to him.

This movie explores the questions we'll all ask ourselves one day if we haven't already, and does so admirably.

Charlton Heston's second of three films with director Tom Gries was this film set in the world of pro football. Heston plays a quarterback who's seen his best days, but just wants to hear the roar of the crowd. I can't think of another reason he could possibly have to stay.

Later on his career Heston played in a really great film about pro football, Any Given Sunday where he played the Commissioner of the game. Number One is seen from a different angle, that of the player who sees nothing out there for him when he's through hence he keeps going. Heston has not even heard too many cheers lately, in fact in a bad performance as the film opens he gets quite a few boos. Sports fans can be mighty fickle.

Football has a caste system more than any other team sports. The glamor guys are the backfield and the line are the grunts whose job it is to protect the glamorous ones who score the points. Two other portrayals of aging football players that of Roy Jenson and Bruce Dern. Jenson has one scene with Heston where he hits him up for a touch after a game and briefly and movingly describes his rather bitter life after the career was over.

Dern is different. As he puts it so eloquently he'd play a game on Sunday and he'd hurt through Tuesday. When he started hurting through Saturday it was time to quit. Smart man, as a running back and a glamor guy buy definition he's used his celebrity to build a nice profitable automobile leasing business and is looking to diversify. Next to Heston I liked him best in the film.

Dern typifies something that Stan Musial said about baseball. He knew when to quit when just getting into the uniform and playing a kid's game for lots of money ceased to be fun. Heston should have heeded his and Dern's advice.

A couple of women in Heston's life are wife Jessica Walter and football groupie Diana Muldaur. Walter has a very successful fashion designing business and hangs around with a crowd that Heston hates. It's the whole macho thing with Heston, but he also envies the fact they and the wife are making a success of something they love and are talented in.

Number One ranks up there with other great football films like the aforementioned Any Given Sunday. Heston paid great tribute to Tom Gries as a great director in his memoirs. His three films with Heston, Will Penny, Number One, and The Hawaiians give testimony to that.