The Program (1993)
Several players from different backgrounds try to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university. Each deals with the pressure differently, some turn to drinking, others to drugs, and some to studying.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Excellent but underrated film
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Most of the reviews are 10 and tell of a 'true' telling of life in a college football school, the ups and downs and twists and turns etc etc.... What a waste of time this movie was, the whole point is to try to portray the players as 'poor little men' trying their gosh darn dangest to succeed on the field of battle in football. What a joke. All the players are portrayed as the most ignorant, stupidest ape mentality with a full blown paid scholarship, that they seem to misuse to their advantage at every detail. Watching the woman in the film swoon over these neanderthals is comical, why on earth would any human want any contact with these insensitive, crude, drunk boors is beyond me.The acting itself is pretty low, the script poor and the plot can figured out in about a minute into the film. Now mind you, if this is what 'true' college athletes are like, please write your congressmen and other representatives to fully remove all sports from the college level because they appear be the worst scum of society ever....
Not really much plot - just life on a major college football team with the emphasis on their Heisman candidate QB and the freshman RB. James Caan dominates the film as the head coach who has seen it all and, after two losing seasons in a row, knows he needs a winner . Has this guy ever been in a really bad movie or given a bad performance? Goes back a long ways - he was making movies with John Wayne in the 60s.Hale Berry (before she became a star) has a big part as the tutor to the star RB. Even looks pretty for about the only time in her career. But the real appeal is Kristy Swanson, the most beautiful women in film history. She plays the QB's girl and is her usual knockout self, though she looks a few pounds overweight.
Trips Bunch. The Power I. The Cover 2. If you know what these terms mean, and understand their uses in football strategy, then you'll really enjoy watching David S. Ward's the Program. Ward also wrote and directed Major League, a great movie; however, with The Program, it is obvious how much his sports writing style has evolved.The movie traces one season of college football for a once dominant, but now struggling Division 1 powerhouse, the fictional ESU Timeberwolves. James Caan is hilarious and well-cast as the Head Coach on the hot seat, and it's really great watching him deal with serious issues both on and off the field. Craig Shaeffer does a solid job at both his role and the QB position. His character is like a young, much more tortured Steve Young: he can throw the long ball, he can buy time with his feet, and he can do it all while battling inner demons. Omar Epps (the Wood) is simply perfectly cast as Darnell Jefferson, the prototype freshman Tailback fighting for his spot on the 1st team (plus the beautiful Halle Berry plays his love interest).The movie is filled with hilariously awesome lines and performances, and is a classic among people who actually play football. While the editing work could be scrutinized among movie Nazis (the editing job when Kane and his girl are riding his motorcycle is questionable at times), the good far outweighs the bad. Namely, the in-helmet camera work really puts you on the field with them. Overall, David S. Ward does an excellent job of jumping from perspective to perspective, and it quickly builds into this chaotic, early 90s mosaic of Division 1 college football. And surprisingly, the issues explored in the film really resonate with the issues going on in today's sports (i.e. Steroids, Motorcycle death wishes).Listen, if you haven't seen this movie, and you love football, and are of mild intelligence, then you are either really young or really lucky that you missed it because I wish i could watch it again for the first time. However, if you have no appreciation for the game of football, you're better off going elsewhere. Football idealists, be warned as well. This movie is the anti-Rudy. It's the story of one school's fight for a bowl bid, and fighting for that bid at all costs.PS- My vote is very biased. I love to quote this movie with friends. I love to watch football on both Saturday and Sunday. I play fantasy football. I play Madden. I played Division 3 football in college. You have been warned.
OK, so this movie isn't a big Academy Award winner. OK, so it doesn't rank up there with Brian's Song or is as flashy and symbolic as Any Given Sunday.Maybe it doesn't have the attitude of The Last Boy Scout or North Dallas Forty; it lacks the comic appeal of Necessary Roughness. But you know what it does have that all of those above-mentioned films lack, a connection to any person that has ever stepped out on that field and experienced the pressures and bliss that comes with the nitty gritty game of football. I remember seeing this movie in the sixth grade and having never been into football that much, I didn't expect a lot. Yet,I walked away in awe at the sheer excitement experienced from this movie. This was an instant classic and even years later in my high school football days, the players were still talking about it. It is one of the best and most realistic football movies made. It puts you in the mindset of a big play maker like Jefferson or a back-breaking linebacker like Alvin Mack. It also has its human side displaying the pressures of trying to live up to expectations and coping anyway you know how. In Joe's case it's through a bottle. Lattimer sees enhancement drugs as the only way out...the film just takes you down to their level. Better yet, it's a college experience that you haven't experienced yet, or are trying to remember (it goes so fast!). After viewing this movie so many times every year when the college ball season starts, or even back in the day before two-a-days began; I can't help but to get excited and giddy from viewing it. My tape has worn out and I now own the DVD, I just wish they would add the deleted scenes. The Program will always be on my top ten list and that's why I give it a great rating.