College Coach

I usually like the movies that Warner Bros. put out in the 30's and I liked this little film. Dick Powell is supposedly the main character but to be honest he's not in the film much - Pat O'Brien and Lyle Talbot steal the show. Pat, as usual, is great in the role as the college coach and Ann Dvorak, a very under-rated actress, is wonderful in her small role as his poor wife, he is more into football than he is into her. ;-)Her beauty is really something to behold! Lyle Talbot though really impresses here, usually his roles were small and his talent was never used the way it could've/should've been, but he is wonderful as the loveable bonehead who is only good at one thing - FOOTBALL! Dick Powell was a bit miscast in my opinion as a footballer who is into chemistry although we do get to hear him sing, which is always nice.

Anyway - if you have some free time and this is on tv I advise you to check it out. It's a little entertaining bit o' fun!

Interesting Pat O'Brien vehicle directed by William Wellman. Pat plays a college football coach with no morals or scruples at all. He's a totally corrupt, heartless SOB! Lyle Talbot plays the big-headed star of the team. Dick Powell is the honest goody-two-shoes who cares more about chemistry than football. Great support from Arthur Byron, Hugh Herbert, the lovely Ann Dvorak, Arthur Hohl, and Donald Meek. Nat Pendleton is also in this but he's way out of his depth as an immigrant student. Pretty terrible performance. Anyway, this one's worth checking out for the cast as well as the fact the movie flouts convention and basically has the "bad" people get away with everything!

College Coach is the story of a college that invests so much of it's money into schooling that it becomes financially insecure. The board decides that what the school needs to bring in the necessary revenue is to hire an excellent football coach and focus on the sport. Coach Gore is hired (Pat O'Brien), a tough, somewhat crooked man whose interest in money and winning makes for an unbeatable team. Phil Sargeant (Dick Powell) and Buck Weaver (Lyle Talbot) are the two stars of the team. Phil also has an interest in integrity and chemistry while Buck is only interested in fame and in his coach's wife (Ann Dvorak). However, with success comes failure and several pitfalls hinder the team including the discovery that Coach Gore has passed some players that should have failed simply to win games.

If this film sounds interesting to you, it is probably because you already like football. If you're looking for a look at relationships, then skip this movie. And if you're a big Dick Powell fan like I am, don't expect to see much of your star. He sings one mediocre song and fades into the background fairly early in the film despite being credited first. It is really O'Brien that is the star with Talbot following closely after.

College Coach isn't a bad film in any respect and better than most of it's contemporary college football-themed brethren, but I'd like to make a few admittedly mild observations: watching it reminded me of the 40-year old looking college "kids" that would do walk-ons on Ozzie and Harriett in the early 60's. Almost all the principal football players here are over 30 (Lyle Talbot was 31, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams 33, Nat Pendleton was 37!)... even Dick Powell was 28 or so. This one's got almost all of Warner's stock company: Donald Meek, the underrated Arthur Hohl, Herman Bing (a tragic comedic character actor), daffy Hugh Herbert, and Guy Kibbee's brother, Milton. It seemed like half the cast of Footlight Parade's here. Another thing: even as late as 1933, college life was an unattainable netherworld to most of the audiences that paid 15-cents to see this. Having the college on the verge of insolvency managed to humanize an institution that might've as well been on Mars to most Depression-era Americans. Made during the late spring-early summer of pre-code 1933, this one's nowhere near as racy as many of the studio's other releases of the year. Bonus: keep your eyes peeled for John Wayne taking one of his many 1933 walk-on breaks from Warner's micro-budget Lone Star oaters. His future buddy (and fellow right-winger) Ward Bond is also on hand as an assistant coach. Still I don't know how Wellman (who had an astounding 7 films released that year!) sandwiched this between timely Wild Boys of the Road and the steamy Female.

College Coach (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Warner film about Coach James Gore (Pat O'Brien) who is hired by a college to turn their football team into winners. Gore is able to do this in one season but some of the trustees don't like how he did it. Fixing test scores, playing players to come to school and overlooking various other violations are just some of the ways of winning. Dick Powell plays a player who wants to play fair, Lyle Talbot is the star of the team who doesn't care if he's failing all his classes and Ann Dvorak plays Gore's wife. There's a lot to enjoy in this film even though there are still quite a few flaws. The strongest thing going are the performances, which are really strong and that includes O'Brien who comes off like a real coach. Talbot steals the film however as the ruthless idiot who only knows football. Even John Wayne and Joe Sawyer plays small parts as members of the team. It was weird watching a football game from this era in the way it was played compared to today and I'm not sure if it's true but the film gives some numbers as to how many people are killed playing the sport during this time, which was pretty shocking.