Revisiting NORTH DALLAS FORTY

NORTH DALLAS FORTY (DVD)

1979 / 118 min

FROM PARAMOUNT

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😼

I hadn’t seen North Dallas Forty since I went with my parents to catch it back in ‘79. It was likely my dad’s idea, because he’s always been a sports guy and probably read the book by ex-footballer Peter Gent. Though I wasn’t yet the sports enthusiast Dad was, I certainly loved movies about sports.

There were three things I remember about the movie. One, it was the first film with a sex scene that I watched with my parents, which was sort of uncomfortable since Mom kept glancing over at me. I tried to act like it was no big deal, but at that age, naked women were astounding (they still are). Still, I doubt she knew beforehand that the movie had any grinding.

Second was Charles Durning as foul-mouthed assistant coach Johnson. Almost everything he said was loud, abusive and absolutely hilarious, such as “This is national TV, so don’t pick your nose or scratch your nuts.” But my favorite line occurred when a priest was leading a locker room prayer before the game, and Johnson interrupts with “Take off your fuckin’ hats!” I must have laughed for five minutes after that one.

Finally, Dad loved the movie because he hated the Dallas Cowboys. Though North Dallas Forty is based on a novel, it’s a thinly disguised account of author Peter Gent’s time with the team. Both the novel and film offer an incendiary look at the Cowboys and football as a business - the players being mere equipment - as well as plenty of off-field debauchery. 

Bodies by Bud.

Gent played wide receiver, just like the film’s protagonist, Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte). After the movie, Dad told me head coach B.A. Strother (G.D. Spradlin) represented Tom Landry, while quarterback and Elliott’s best friend Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis) was supposed to be Cowboys QB “Dandy” Don Meredith. I knew who those guys were because Dad rooted against them whenever they were on TV (which seemed like every Sunday, since they were supposedly “America’s Team”). 

Revisiting North Dallas Forty decades later, I still find Durning hilarious, but the rest of it isn’t as funny or uproarious as I remembered…not like The Longest Yard or Slap Shot anyway. And I could've sworn the film had more football scenes than it actually does. In fact, only one game is depicted, which doesn’t happen until the final act. The rest is mostly Elliott partying with teammates and clashing with coaches while trying to stay stitched-up and injected in order to keep playing.

But even back then, I knew the movie was supposed to be sort of a revealing expose on the realities of pro football and not your typical underdog sports flick. And I suppose it was pretty eye-opening at the time. North Dallas Forty is still enjoyable and probably remains topically relevant. However, the players’ drug use & treatment of women, as well the film’s depiction of teams & owners as corporate monsters, doesn’t really surprise us anymore.

This is a re-issue of a previous released DVD. There are no technical upgrades or additional bonus features.