This, in the right hands, could have been a decent thriller about match-fixing and murder, but the final result we see here is flabby, poorly paced and self-indulgent.A pretty decent cast, wasted. The multiple story strands could do with pruning, but the slow, talky nature of the more central scenes would still make the rest of this movie a bore. Even the action scenes lack drama.I have also seen the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of this, but even Joel & the Bots struggle to inject much life into this poor effort.

The Super Bowl is a few days away. Veteran player Dave Wolecki (bland Ken Howard) has a bad knee and neglects his fed-up wife Nancy (shrill Susan Howard). Handsome quarterback McCauley (a pre-"Magnum P.I." Tom Selleck, who manages to make an amiable enough impression despite the weak material) is being courted by a management firm represented by desperate agent Chip Green (Van Johnson struggling with a thankless role). Meanwhile, a killer attempts to spoil the big game by bumping various folks off. Can gruff manager Mike Shelley (a grouchy David Janssen) catch the psycho in time? Sound exciting and compelling? Well, it just ain't because of Jerry Jameson's slack direction and a hopelessly talky'n'tedious script by Barry Oringer that gets bogged down in far too many dull and uninteresting soap opera-style subplots. Moreover, the meandering narrative unfolds at a plodding pace, thereby negating any tension or energy this made-for-TV outing needs in order to be remotely engrossing and entertaining. Worse yet, not only does all the behind the scenes drama and politics prove to be incredibly dry and boring, but also this clunker fails to adequately capitalize on the New Orleans setting or the rampant mania of the fans. Hell, it even punks out on showing the big game at the conclusion! This movie attempts to generate a few thrills towards the end, but it's much too little and too late to alleviate the overall numbing drabness. Only a neatly varied cast that includes such familiar character actors as M. Emmet Walsh and Michael Pataki and professional football players Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus keep this one slightly watchable. A total snorefest.

It's 1978, and yes obviously there are too many black players on the teams as well! Fans will be upset and certainly the 75,000 seats will be full, only less happy there are so many black players on the field! This made for TV Super Bowl movie is watchable. It's not much more, but it's really surprising the cast of talented actors that make an appearance (for the time), probably most notably Tom Selleck. Unfortunately any goodness Selleck brings to the screen, is quickly trumped by "actors" like Dick Butkus.It's a silly story about super bowl betting. PJ Jackson is charged by "New York" (read mafia) for ensuring the game ends for their favor, in this case a $10,000,000 bet. PJ is innocent enough, and seems to have a loose grasp by buying off a few people here and there. But things seem to fall apart for him. Another person, the unsuspected Lainie, takes charge. For a while, the mystery of murders isn't known for certain, but is revealed rather plainly at the final murder that Lainie is the new antagonist.It's a bad movie, but is watchable. The acting is decent, and the filming is OK. At least there weren't any silly typical 70s car chases (they have their place just not here). Just keep an open mind about past stereotyping and the cocaine era and you'll survive.2/10 (maybe a 2.5)

This TV movie goes to show that bad films do exist. The only reason I saw this was it was covered on a KTMA MST3K. It's Super Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans. However, no football is played whatsoever and we see the behind the scenes look at basically nothing. With the many stars in this film, it made no difference. I really don't know why I watched this.