Trouble Along the Way (1953)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Pretty Good

Boring

Blistering performances.

Hard times hit "Saint Anthony's College" and blustery old Charles Coburn (as Matthew William Burke) is advised to close the university, which is $170,000 in debt. Believing "the Lord will provide," Father Coburn reads God's advice in Deuteronomy 32:15, "The beloved grew fat, and kicked." So, he hires washed-up football coach John Wayne (as Stephen "Steve" Aloysius Williams) to turn the school's team into money-making winners. Although initially refusing, Mr. Wayne decides to accept the Priest's offer when "Domestic Relations Court" officer Donna Reed (as Alice Singleton) catches him with a hangover and dirty dishes...Wayne's whorish ex-wife, Marie Windsor (as Anne), isn't interested in their daughter, telling Wayne, "I want you to visit me" since her new husband only raises her "to the heights" with his checkbook. Wayne appreciates Ms. Windsor's directness, but declines. He moves to the Christian school with cute eleven-year-old tomboy Sherry Jackson (as Carol). Ms. Reed sees the wholesome environment as an improvement, but still feels heavy drinking and smoking Wayne is a "degenerate" influence on his daughter. To make matters worse, Wayne has psychoanalyzed Reed as a sexually uptight virgin who needs to be taken by force… "Trouble Along the Way" is both intentionally and unintentionally funny. It's filled with clichés, like Wayne's "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" motto. Before his "you-know-you-want-it" moment with Reed, Wayne issues some amusing guidelines for lonely women, "In the best Christian tradition, I'm gonna return good for evil," he advises Reed, "Start winking at strange men. Drop your gloves anytime you're in an elevator with an eligible bachelor. Go boat-riding with lonesome sailors. Get out on the town! Let life rub up against ya! And, then maybe some man'll do this to ya!" ...LOL... At least, young Jackson is endearing.**** Trouble Along the Way (4/4/53) Michael Curtiz ~ John Wayne, Donna Reed, Charles Coburn, Sherry Jackson

This is definitely a wonderful change of pace for John Wayne. He is a wonderfully, sympathetic character here and he gets great supporting work from Charles Coburn, Sherry Jackson, Marie Windsor and others.When St. Anthony's College is threatened with closure due to failing finances, the rector of the college, played with dignity, reverence and a bit of humor by the fabulous Charles Coburn, the latter enlists the help of a down and out football coach (Wayne) who is in the midst of a custody battle with his wife over the child she walked out on years ago.Sherry Jackson certainly makes room for this daddy in this film. She would later play Danny Thomas's daughter in that much beloved television series of that name.The ending may not be to everyone's liking but this is definitely a heartwarming tale of a head priest admitting that he has been selfish, the problems associated with college football, but a myriad of warm, personal relationships.Donna Reed is also great as the social worker who finally sees Wayne for the good man he really is.I wish that John Wayne had made more pictures like this.

This is a big departure for John Wayne, as this is a sort of family film. No dead Commies, Indians or Western bandits in the film at all. Instead, Wayne plays a college football coach who has a history of doing ANYTHING he needs to do to win. However, this time a small Catholic college has hired him. The school has almost no money and in fact is on the verge of being closed. So, how does Wayne take their horrible program to champions in practically no time? To make all this more complicated, Wayne is involved in a custody dispute with a a vindictive ex-wife who seems to have no maternal instincts whatsoever. Social Worker, Donna Reed, has been sent to investigate Wayne's parenting of his 11 year-old and the Duke handles this intrusion into his life pretty much like you'd expect--he has complete contempt for the process. So, the film is basically Wayne trying to create a winning team AND keep full custody of his daughter.In an interesting idea, the glue that holds this film together is Charles Coburn's character, a kindly Catholic priest who is in charge of the college. He's perfectly suited to the role and he offers a contrast to Wayne and his "win at all costs" notions.Overall, the film is well worth seeing because it is so different and tough to predict. Also, Wayne, Coburn and Reed all work well together--much of this is due to their talents, but the writers also did a nice job as well. However, one problem some might have with the film is that by the end of the film, everything is NOT all wrapped up neatly. Instead, the ball is rolling towards completion, but there are still many unanswered questions, such as will he keep custody and will Wayne and Reed become romantic. I didn't mind this lack of clarity and thought the film was a nice change of pace. Deep? No, but interesting and a good time-passer.

I checked this out during a recent John Wayne retrospective on American Movie Classics because it sounded so different from the Duke's usual "w/w" fare (war & westerns). Here he plays Steve Williams, a disgraced professional football coach enlisted to build a revenue-producing team that will save a down-at-the-heels Catholic college from being forced to close. In the process he has to fight for custody of his daughter from a spiteful and vengeful ex-wife. Wayne plays this role beautifully; his performance makes us aware of the fine actor he made of himself as he worked his way up over the years from those low-budget westerns, learning all along the way. Donna Reed puts in a turn as a social worker, and Charles Coburn is in his usual fine fettle as Father Burke, rector of the failing college. Wayne/William's daughter is played very well by a young lady named Sherry Jackson, and there are many familiar faces among the character actors in the cast. Chuck Connors makes one of his earliest screen appearances here.The pacing is good, and the story keeps us involved. These are all interesting people, and we want to find out what happens to them. The script is intelligent, gritty, and extremely witty in many places. Also notable is a very on-the-money portrayal of the corrupting influence of big-time athletics at the college level, as Wayne/Williams pulls many shady tricks to field a team that can stand up to the ridiculously ambitious schedule that Father Burke manages to finagle. The commentary is even more relevant today, fifty years later, as college athletics have spun almost completely out of control.One of the nicest things about the movie is the way in which, surprisingly, it does not opt for the easy-way-out happy ending that we all think we see coming as soon as Donna Reed as the social worker comes on the scene. The film is brave enough to leave things a bit unresolved.Altogether an off-beat, intriguing, well-made, well-written, well-acted and thoroughly enjoyable little "sleeper" that is well worth your while.