Necessary Roughness.
This was one of those little comedic gems I caught in the theatre and was very glad I did.
Hector Elizondo plays the coach of TSU's infraction-wracked football team, the Armadillos. Forced to cut a number of corrupt All-Americans, he forms a motley crew of players led by 34 year-old Scott Bakula.
As sports comedies go, this is one of the best, not quite up there with Slapshot but much better IMO than Major League - it doesn't always go for the easy laugh. It very much has the 'Tremors' sense of humour, with depth to their jokes. One of the best scenes has the team doing drills with inmates from a Texas maximum-security prison - a team which includes Ben Davidson, Dick Butkus, and Earl Campbell.
It also has wonderful characters, such as Robert Loggia's manic defensive coach, Sinbad's laconic chemistry prof returning to his glory days, and Larry Miller's jock-hating dean. It has a fantastic supporting cast - Rob Schneider's announcer, Andrew Bryanarski's rodeo rider, Michael Dolan's kung-fu fighting' linebacker, and the president of the university played by Fred Dalton Thompson. The film even has an effective villain in Tom Whitenight.
Stan Dragoti did a really strong job with the direction of this film - I'm disappointed this was the last feature he's done.
And it has a strong moral, arguing for honesty on the playing field - a much needed message these days of the Bonds and the Romos. Highly recommended.
This was one of those little comedic gems I caught in the theatre and was very glad I did.
Hector Elizondo plays the coach of TSU's infraction-wracked football team, the Armadillos. Forced to cut a number of corrupt All-Americans, he forms a motley crew of players led by 34 year-old Scott Bakula.
As sports comedies go, this is one of the best, not quite up there with Slapshot but much better IMO than Major League - it doesn't always go for the easy laugh. It very much has the 'Tremors' sense of humour, with depth to their jokes. One of the best scenes has the team doing drills with inmates from a Texas maximum-security prison - a team which includes Ben Davidson, Dick Butkus, and Earl Campbell.
It also has wonderful characters, such as Robert Loggia's manic defensive coach, Sinbad's laconic chemistry prof returning to his glory days, and Larry Miller's jock-hating dean. It has a fantastic supporting cast - Rob Schneider's announcer, Andrew Bryanarski's rodeo rider, Michael Dolan's kung-fu fighting' linebacker, and the president of the university played by Fred Dalton Thompson. The film even has an effective villain in Tom Whitenight.
Stan Dragoti did a really strong job with the direction of this film - I'm disappointed this was the last feature he's done.
And it has a strong moral, arguing for honesty on the playing field - a much needed message these days of the Bonds and the Romos. Highly recommended.
