Necessary Roughness - 1991

Paramount Pictures

Directed by Stan Dragoti

Cast:

• Paul Blake – Scott Bakula
• Coach Ed Generro – Hector Elizondo
• Coach Wally Rig – Robert Loggia
• Dr. Suzanne Carter – Harley Jane Kozak
• Dean Phillip Elias – Larry Miller
• Professor Andre Krimm - Sinbad
• Dean Carver Purcell – Fred Dalton Thompson
• Jarvis Edison – Jason Bateman
• Lucy Draper – Kathy Ireland

Story:Ooops. The team and coaches of Texas State University are sanctioned by the NCAA, and the school is forced to recruit a football team from actual students in order to play. Ed “Straight Arrow” Generro is hired to coach and recruit his team. He brings in Wally Rig as his defensive coach, and starts to recruit students. But Dean Elias sees this as an opportunity to eliminate football from the curriculum forever, and sets about trying to sabotage the team academically. Meanwhile, Coach Rig has a brilliant idea. He recruits Paul Blake, a former high school quarterback who was set to play for Penn State when his father passed away and he had to take over the family farm. Blake is in his thirties, but his curiosity to know if he can still play draws him back into the game and he enrolls to play. All sorts of things emerge. Blake's journalism professor, Dr. Carter, was a cheerleader who had a major crush on Paul in high school. Blake's science professor, Andre Krimm, was a former football player who dropped out of football to pursue his career in science and still has eligibility left. In need of a kicker, they recruit a soccer player, Lucy Draper, who is anything but male. While they fail to win all their games, they prove that honesty and college football can go hand in hand.

Review: So why review a 21 year old movie? Easy. Good movies have no expiration date, and this is certainly one of them. At the time, the NCAA was going through all sorts of problems with player bribes, payoffs, faked grades, violations from steroids to hookers to cars for the players. This movie was brave enough to face these problems and gives an accurate picture of trying to build a football team from a bunch of wanna be's and never were's. Scott Bakula is perfect in the role, neither attempting to affect a fake Texas drawl nor over playing the role. Hector Elizondo and Robert Loggia, two veteran actors who could easily dominate the film, instead add their considerable talents to make the film believable. Several great touches are added, including Rob Schneider as the announcer for the games, and the appearance of a prison team arranged by Dean Elias (Larry Miller, the schmuck you love to hate) adds an extreme and interesting comic scene. Dick Butkus, Earl Campbell, Roger Craig, Ben Davidson, Tony Dorsett, Evander Holyfield, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Jim Kelly, Jerry Rice, Herschel Walker, and Randy White are the prison football players. The film is cohesive, the language is minimal, and the violence is limited to the football field, practice, and a slight altercation between two teams at Billy Bob's. Collectible if you are a fan of good sports movies, and definitely a great film for the family on a Saturday night.