Chuck Connors, as an asst coach, has one of the best lines: "For once I'd like to make as much as the players."

This Michael Curtis directed film is kind of strangely titled. You could call it going out of the way for trouble. It has a lot of good things.The cast is one of those. Wayne is a down and out football coach whose career has had scandal at every step. Sherry Jackson is a delight as his daughter whom he has custody of though mom is taking him to court. Donna Reed is suitably ruthless and vulnerable as the probation officer who is trying to take the daughter.Charles Coburn is the Rector of St Anthony's college which is on a shoe string in financial trouble and in danger of being closed. Coburn is very good in the role as an old rector who maybe should retire. The film pulls at the heart strings and even though the script is a little faulty, the chemistry between the characters in the cast bring it off quite well. I don't think Wayne even throws a punch.

We associate John Wayne with westerns, yet he did play other parts and genres quite well. The overlooked Trouble Along the Way is worthy of a second look. The plot of a single father, who has basically fallen from grace, raising his daughter in an unconventional way, is not new. The twist is when Alice (Donna Reed) the court appointed social worker comes on the scene. She complicates and pretty much messes up Steve's (John Wayne)relationship with his daughter Carol (Terry Jackson). There is some football in its earliest years, a struggling Catholic college, a bitter ex-wife looking for revenge,and most of all there is amazing amount of witty dialog throughout. A fine family film, one of Wayne's best, actually. Terry Jackson shines as his daughter, and it isn't surprising that she went on to play Danny Thomas's daughter in the popular series Make Room for Daddy later on. One would expect a typical, happily-ever-after ending--yet readers get a surprisingly refreshing ending, in that we don't know how it will actually all turn out--kind of like real life. Check this movie out if you are a Duke fan and want to see him without a horse in the scene.

Picture a "Cary Grant" style script but take it from the French Riviera and put it in urban New York! The "Grant" staple of high intrigue, beautiful scenery, and opulent subject matter is replaced with dirty streets, pool parlors, and a crooked football team but the dialogue and pacing are still there. Now throw in John Wayne is the seedy football coach who has been thrown out of the "legitamate" football leagues, Charles Coburn is the desperate head priest of a failing college, and Donna Reed is a tunnel visioned "do-gooder" cop. Reed wants to protect Wayne's daughter Sherry Jackson from his unhealthy influence and is sympathetic to Marie Windsor's (ex-wife from hell) claim that her daughter (Jackson) needs to be with her (even though she had abandoned Jackson as an infant when she ran off with another man). Wayne feels he's done nothing wrong but sees that antagonizing Reed is a mistake and takes the job of head coach at Coburn's St. Anthony's college as "cover" to clean up his image. Wayne realizes that if he wheels and deals under the table he can achieve Coburn's goal of making St. Anthony's a winning team and make a fortune for himself and his cohorts (including Chuck Conners in an early role). Wayne pulls in favors, blackmails everyone who doesn't play along, and deceives his benefactors to get a major schedule and almost succeeds. The conclusion of the film is thoroughly satisfying with Richard Garrick as the judge presiding over the case. Wayne takes over in true streetwise "Grant" style and is hilarious to the point that Reed asks the judge "Can I get a word in?" and Garrick resigns himself to say, "Ask him, I lost control of this trial a long time ago". The opposing attorney makes the comment "I could have been trying a murder case this week" and Garrick says, "Hang in there, you might still be". When Reed is asked by the opposing attorney if she loves Wayne, Wayne jumps up and tells the judge, "Remind the witness she's under oath!" Charles Coburn makes a wonderful speech at the end and reminds us of how good an actor he was. This is not John Ford's movie, this is Michael Curtiz' movie and it makes me wonder how much more Wayne had to offer in this genre (we would get a hint of it in "McLintock" and "North to Alaska"). The supporting cast is superb with the likes of Tom Tully and Dabbs Greer. Everyone does a great job and I place this at the top of my John Wayne list of films. Don't miss it.