I was 11 years old living in Texas, and therefore a huge football and Cowboy fan when 'North Dallas Forty' was originally released in the summer of '79. So, like a lot of fans of 'America's Team' in Texas, and across the country, I was extremely angered and offended when I first heard that a major Hollywood movie was released that was a scathing indictment of not only the Dallas Cowboy's, but professional football as well. And, I vowed then, to never ever watch that blasphemous film that dared criticized the sacred sport of football and its most important team.I guess, I was in a rather sacrilegious mood one day when I decided to watch 'North Dallas Forty' on cable 15 years after the movies original theatrical release. And, to my surprise, I became a big fan of the movie. Watching it every chance that I could when ever it was rebroadcasted.Unfortunately, I think the window for a potential sequel which continues the story line of Nick Nolte's character (Phil Elliot). Or, at least one of the main characters of the original film. Like Mac Davis's colorful character Seth Maxell/Don Meredith for example closed sometime in the mid-late 80's.Therefore, I'm recommending a 'North Dallas Forty' reboot that's based on ex-Cowboy player Thomas Henderson's '87 autobiographical novel "Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty" as the main source material for a sequel to 'North Dallas Forty'.For those of you who don't know? Thomas Henderson was the extraordinarily athletic and media-darling strong side linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys from '75-'79. Who was on the cover of Time Magazine in January of '79 for an article on Super Bowl 13. But, was later released the next season from the Cowboys in November of '79 for erratic play due to drug abuse. Then wound up playing in only a few games with other NFL teams until retiring after a career ending neck injury in '81.So, in other words, he was at the pinnacle of success in the NFL just 7 months prior to North Dallas Forty's original release in August of '79, and at its lowest depths just 3 months afterwards.And, let me tell you, the stuff Thomas Henderson covers in his personal account of his experience in the NFL, makes 'North Dallas Forty' controversial indictment of the Cowboy's organization and professional football as a whole, look like a white wash by comparison.Most of the events in Thomas Henderson's book take place during the mid-late 70's, just before the over-the-top deifying worship of football players and professional athletes in general began in the 80's by means of new cable channels like ESPN and HBO for example. That served to heavily augment the local sports news and talk radio that already existed at the time, along with national magazine articles commenting on games and sports celebrities leading up to national TV broadcasts of the games of the week. Eventually growing into the constant bombardment of sports media entertainment monster that exists today.So, one can perhaps imagine that the mine field of problems and worldly temptations that players are constantly confronted with, and have to negotiate through to maintain not only an athletic career, but a normal sense of humanity has only increased exponentially as a result of their athletic accomplishments since Peter Gent's or Thomas Henderson's NFL careers in the 60's and 70's.The cinematic version of Thomas Henderson's "Out of Control" can also serve as an explanation for why celebrated athletes on all levels get themselves caught-up in so many controversial and tragic events ranging from the goofy, love myself behavior of Terrell Owens, to drug overdoses of young athletes in professional and collegiate sports, to murder convictions. That is if the modern mass-media actually had an interest in educating the public about the people and the sports organizations that they worship?(which, apparently they don't) So, to sum up, I think you could still have a sequel to North Dallas Forty by staying true to the overall theme of the movies scathing indictment of the NFL, its players, coaches and the owners directly involved in putting on the weekly gladiatorial show. Along with an indictment of the over-the-top mass media coverage that's responsible for over-hyping the importance to gigantic proportions the sporting events, without providing one iota of "REAL" insightful information concerning the actual day-to-day operations of the organizations and athletes themselves.And, if someone was to use Thomas Henderson's "Out of Control" as the main source material for a kind of sequel to "North Dallas Forty"? Then I imagine the movie beginning with an over middle aged ex-NFL star who played for a franchise in Dallas, TX as the main character. Who, after being the keynote speaker of an anti-drug and alcohol seminar is listening to a sports talk radio program, or watching a TV satellite channel debating (ad-nausem) the most recent "controversial" conduct by the latest and greatest batch of sports celebrities. Causing him in turn, to reflect on his own conduct during his professional career back in the day.Sort of like, "The Raging Bull" meets "Any Given Sunday". And, I hope that you're listening Hollywood?!? After all, I'm giving away these great ideas for free.

The old "Grid Iron" has long been a favourite topic of Film Makers. First the College Game, which truly hit the heights in the 'Roaring 20's" was the subject of fans passion, young boys admiration and the Gamblers fascination. Tobe a College Boy on the 'Varsity' was surely a close approximation of Heaven on Earth. But what about the Pros, Professional Football, that is? Wouldn't a talented College, Simon Pure Athlete like to try his hand at this Professional Game. The American Professional Football Association had been formed and soon thereafter, the name changed to The National Football League, and it had its problems.The early pro football 'clubs' bore a greater resemblance to what we would today call, "Semi-Pro" teams. That is generally, the membership paid for equipment and game uniforms. Travel was usually done by auto and wasn't too far as a rule. The typical entrant was usually from Small Town, USA, not Bigville. So we saw less the likes of the Chicago Cardinal sand more like Decatur(Illinois) Staleys, the Providence(Rhode Island)Steamrollers and the Canton(Ohio)Bulldogs.The first and only truly recognizable "star" was Jim Thorpe, who was elected the figurehead President of the League right at the start. Then the Chicago Bears signed Harold "Red" Grange, old number 77 from the University of Illinois. The Bears went on a Barnstorming Tour following that season, introducing a sports crazy public to the "Galloping Ghost" and the Pro Game.Other College Stars and "All Americans" followed, their names alone guaranteeing boosts at Box Office numbers. Guys like Elmer Leyden, Jim Crowley, Don Miller and Harry Stuhldreyer, collectively known as Coach Knute Rockne's Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, all did hitches in the Pro Ranks, before going into Coching and Business.So the Pro FootnallWorld that our story is one of maturity, having gone through years of ups and downs in the attendance figures. By this time, the Mid-1960's, things were generally pretty good financially, to say he least. Franchises in the NFL, which had reportedly originally cost $100.00, now hovered in the Million$, as teams played their schedules in increasingly modern facilities.The story/screenplay of NORTH DALLAS FORTY(1979) is by Pertr Gent, former Pro Footballer with the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants. He was a graduate of Michigan State University, where his main Sport had been Basketball.In the screenplay a "DRAGNET" Style policy of "The Names have been changed to protect the Innocent.", and to prevent any civil litigation. All the characters' names are fictitious, of course. And as for the names of the various teams, we have ones like 'North Dallas Bulls' and 'Chicago Maurauders', but when a game is portrayed in the film, we all know who'w who in the real life counterpart.The whole drama unfolds in the space of a little better than about 2 weeks time. The main character, Phil Elliot, a veteran Wide Receiver,finds himself as being on the spot when a team mate receiver is injured and his(Elliot's)playing time will be greatly increased. We spend an awful lot of time following him around town, at practice, servicing a girlfriend of one of the owning family Hunter Brothers.He also meet up with a very lovely Lady at a team party, and strikes up a romance, the real thing, I mean! We are shown the life of a pro athlete, how they want for nothing, but crave everything intangible, like Love, Security, Respect and Home.The relationships of players as "friends" and the intricate construction of the Pro Sports Team "Office Politics" are given a thoroughly complete, through the microscope examination.It is in the end, that we and our story's protagonist are suddenly made aware of what we really are to the public and the Ownership.The point of view is of Author Peter Gent, who did go through several seasons on the rosters of both Dallas and N.Y.Giants. He was always known as a sort of "Football Non-Conformist", a sort of 'flake', if you will. But, we all know that there are 3 sides to every story. Your side, My side and the True Side! We'll take Mr. Gent's word for it as far as it goes. This is the way he saw it and we can't dispute anything first hand. Besides, were you there, Schultz? And the typical , that f

This movie ranks up with Hoosiers, Remember The Titans, Eight Men Out, and other outstanding sports' movies. However, this movie may be one of the most accurate and realistic. Nick Nolte is excellent as an aging receiver with gifted hands. Nolte has taken a beating in his profession. Pain killers is not even an option to avoid. The intense pressure and training is portrayed in a very gritty way. The brutality and luck involved in surviving intact is portrayed no better in any other movie. And yet, I would say that this movie was from the football lover's perspective. The movie used some real pro footballers. No matter how bad things got, no one wanted to quit on the team. The footballer lived for the thrill of the game. Lastly, the money side/management side has never been portrayed better in a sport's movie. Dabney Coleman plays the soul-less main investor in the team. No matter how much Nolte's character gave, the business side was going to get him in the end. There was enormous tension between the coaches and the players. The coaches demanded perfection. The players thrived on the spirit of the game, not being treated like robots. The players feared the coaches, but also despised them. I was surprised how good Mac Davis was. He is a singer, but seemed to get how to play a quarterback on a pro team with great believability.

This movie is the best "football" film ever made. Along with "The Natural" - baseball, and "One-on-One" - basketball, these are an outstanding trilogy of the three best pictures representing our primary American sports, and all have interesting multi-dimensional stories as well. Pete Gent was a maverick in his NFL career, but it would seem his alter-ego, Phil (Nick Nolte), while possessing this same nature, is significantly more accomplished in his pro career (even if on the coach's "secondary list" in the film). Gent played six years, 48 games, with only 68 overall receptions and four touchdowns. These numbers and his yardage (his average per catch was pretty good) would comprise a good single season's stats. The primary "athletes" in the film - played by Nolte, Davis, Matuszak and Svenson are realistic, interesting, tough and bawdy. Matuzsak's distinguished career was as a defensive end, and Svenson also possesses more of the physical characteristics of a defensive lineman. The fact, though, that they played offensive linemen in the film was obviously a necessity to the drama - both off- and on-field, where all four prime leads had to be on-screen simultaneously. As I mentioned in commenting on "One-on-One," where the great G. D. Spradlin was the basketball coach - coupled with this film, he wins the award of the "all-time horse's ass coach" hands-down. Durning was hilarious as the vacuous assistant coach. Anyone familiar with Gent and Tom Landry can see that Spradlin's coach Strothers is modeled - at least in part - from the latter. Although similar in appearance, and more "professorial" than most coaches, and probably often a bit distant -- Landry did not seem to possess the extremely negative traits displayed by Strothers. In the film, with the level of talent Nolte's "Phil" possessed, it is unlikely he'd have been as neglected by the coach as depicted, even in view of Strothers' compulsive devotion to his computerized statistics, and distaste for Nolte's persona. I suspect that this relationship has similarities to Gent's with Landry, but, again, Gent in real life was not as productive or talented as Nolte on film. Steve Forrest was excellent as the smarmy, wealthy team owner, and Dabney Coleman as his even smarmier, completely unctuous younger brother. {Has anybody, EVER, in the history of the motion picture industry (t.v., too), done "smarmy" or "unctuous" as well as Dabney???} This one's a "10" for both sport and drama.