Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Ted Kotcheff's la 'lMnrth n. By David Baker Qamacock FHm Critk; Ted Koteheff's North Dallas Forty opened in theatres scarcely five months after it began prinicipal photography. In these days when so many films have six-month shooting schedules and even years to complete post-production work, that's a miracle in itself. Still, the most amazing thing about North Dallas Forty is that it's so affecting. Kotcheff has bungled so many potentially good films in the past, among them The * ?r Ia_ tlAl. Apprentices nip 01 uuaay ivravuz, run wiui Dick and Jane and Who is Killing the Great "'"5 v V It I^v Nickel Be< I k ... test film alias Foi Chefs of Europe?, that I just wasn' prepared for the height of excellence he hai achieved in North Dallas Forty. Of course the director didn't have Nick Nolte to worl with in any of his previous films, so th< credit for the new movie's success cai hardly be attributed solely to Kotcheff. Based on Peter Gent's best-selling novel North Dallas Forty is the biting, perceptiv and excruciatingly funny story of Phil Ellio (played by Nolte), an aging offensive em whose only concern in life is being able t play football for the North Dallas Bull every Sunday afternoon (or Monday nighl as the case may be), and his struggle wit the team's owners and coaches, who ar constantly accusing him of immaturity an lack of team spirit. It's hard to work up any team spirit though, when the same owners and coache who preach togetherness make a habit c pitting their players against one another. Each man on the Bulls team may hav one or two good irienas minors is quai terback Seth Maxwell, played by Ma Davis), but he has no loyalty to the entir team except during a game and even the he's hardly brimming with comraderie. North Dallas Forty makes several majc statements about the lonely giants who pla professional football and any one of them i enough to make the game seem a great de* less enticing than it looks on nation; television. The film's primary satirical thrust deal with the players' dependency on drugs, the movie is accurate, every player i professional football is a junkie. The coi stant strain the men put on their bodies h? nraetieallv shot them all to hell Most of th players depicted in North Dallas Forty can even attend a team meeting without soir type of injection. Many of them, Elliot ii eluded, drag on pot as if the smoke w* oxygen. The aspect of drug use the film shows i ?r Every W< Dunbar Road i for private partie rty9 spoofi j hp fhp Rirwt Hiaonctino hnmotmp Jc tKo ?i?hi - ? ? -r-? Iiv ?? V f Vi , *0 MIV fTUJ s the coaches make no attempt to discourage i, it. In one scene, an accident-prone running t back has pulled a hamstring and, fearing e permanent damage, is reluctant to have the i leg artificially deadened. One of the coaches (played by Charles 1, Durning) brings Elliot in to shoot up his e knee as the other player watches. When the >t hypodermic enters Elliot's knee, the coach d lays the ultimate guilt trip on the running o back, who then agrees to have an injection, s Elliot then bounces around the locker area t, spewing epigrams like "Better football h throueh chemistrv f'' e Possibly the most brilliant scene in North d Dallas Forty is the pre-game sequence wherein players, each of whom is on the t verge of falling apart, spend what seems g like an eternity psyching themselves into a level of hatred and meanness that is downright frightening. e This scene establishes the only bond between the players we ever see and it's f a Ka flia KamaI fK?a?t aha** q iiupiKuu iv ia; tuu viujr uvuu uicjr cvci *;a e perience. Thus, the scene backs up the n movie's overwhelming theme of isolation and loneliness. As I mentioned earlier, Nick Nolte is the >r main reason for North Dallas Forty's efy fectiveness. He plays Elliot as a man having is so many injuries that he can't make love or ?1 even get out of bed without grabbing various il parts of his body in pain. Nolte uses an extremely raspy voice to Is indicate the toll taken by Elliot's addiction If to cigarettes and he hobbles about the fields n and locker rooms so pathetically that one can't help feeling sorry for the man whom is the Bulls head coach says once had the ie greatest hands in football." 't Nolte's is the most riveting performance I ie can recall seeing since Robert DeNiro went ti- on a rampage as Travis Bickle in Martin is Scorsese's Taxi Driver. In many ways, Nolte's portrayal is more impressive even to than DeNiro's - it's certainly more | &&ili&??l?9W fifiBftd , West Columbia Sunday, Monday am 5pro hall believable in the context of their respective films. If Nolte doesn't win an Oscar next year, the Motion Pictures Academy will never be able to live down the reaction such a mistake is bound to incur. The supporting actors in North Dallas Forty do an exceptionally good job as well, especially Davis as the fast-talking Southern quarterback and Bo Svenson as a racist lineman who is subject to frequent fits of rage both on the field and off. North Dallas Forty is an experience one isn't likely ever to forget. The film joins Manhattan, Norma Rae and Moonraker on this year's must-see list. tmmmm | I Thursday | a Tigesqqy |