Ep. 113 - North Dallas Forty

While the satire in North Dallas Forty didn't make us laugh, Ted Kotcheff's well-regarded film was ahead of its time with how it shows the brutality of football and the price players pay to do something they love.   This is also a movie about cold, hard analytics...and it beat Moneyball to the punch with that theme by more than 30 years. Despite ingratiating performances by Mac Davis and the (supposed) rebel Nick Nolte, Chris couldn't figure this movie out, although we both respected it for its honesty and for how authentic the cast is. The most memorable scene is the opening when a beat-up Nolte recalls his team's win the night before, but the sequence where the players get psyched up to go out and smash (and get smashed) in the playoff game zings too.   A shortage of giggles notwithstanding (okay, Nolte's "sorta" was pretty funny), there's plenty of meat on North Dallas Forty's bone. So learn how to play more than just the game of football as you ease your aching body into a bath with this episode in your earbuds and a mix of happy & frustrating sporting memories in your head.   You can talk to us in 2 easy ways: our tweets are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies while the email is [e-mail]