A Reel Retro Review: SEMI-TOUGH (1977)

Reel Speak’s Retro Reviews will randomly review a classic film every week, with the intention of introducing some overlooked and perhaps forgotten screen gems from the past to those of us who may be unfamiliar or unawares of their existence. 

 

Professional football is back in season, and when fans aren’t screaming at the TV or at each other, they may take a moment or two to discuss the best films that have visited the ol’ gridiron (read Reel Speak’s take on that matter HERE). One of the overlooked and perhaps thankfully forgotten football films came in 1977 with Michael Ritchie’s rowdy comedy, SEMI-TOUGH. 

 

Billy Clyde Puckett (Burt Reynolds), and Marvin “Shake” Tiller (Kris Kristofferson), are pro football players who share an apartment with Barbara (Jill Clayburgh); the daughter of their team’s owner (Robert Preston). As the team makes a run to the Super Bowl, Marvin begins a romance with Barbara, while enrolling in a New Age self-help program. 

 

Directed by Michael Ritchie and based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Dan Jenkins, SEMI-TOUGH is less of a football film and more of a romantic comedy; focusing on the love triangle between Billy, Marvin, and Barbara…while also throwing a few harpoons at self-help groups. Marvin and Barbara’s romance is bothersome to Billy, who goes out of his way to try and woo her into his life romantically, while trying to make sense of Marvin’s commitment to the over-the-top self-help group. 

 

The various plotlines of the love triangle and the self-help group all but bury any football time. The team’s playoff run and appearance in the Super Bowl almost comes as an afterthought, as none of the other storylines effect what happens to them on the field. SEMI-TOUGH is also a prime example of the over-the-top, raunchy comedy of its era; the players are hard partiers, vulgar, with more than one insensitive racial joke or quip. It’s one film that did not age well. The NFL did not give license for any of its teams to be presented in the film, leaving SEMI-TOUGH with a bunch of cheap-looking generic teams...not to mention a few scenes where it's obvious they were filming in empty stadiums. 

 

Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson seem to be having a blast in the film, and their charisma and sense of “life is playground” really carries the movie. Jill Clayburgh is excellent in keeping up with the massive amounts of testosterone all over the film. Carl Weathers pops in as a rival linebacker. 

 

The finale, which involves  a brawl at a wedding, is ridiculous and not as funny as it thinks it is. SEMI-TOUGH finishes with a few laughs, but misguided in its telling. This is one game that should be forfeited. 

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it. 

*

Reel Facts: Michael Ritchie also directed the sports films DOWNHILL RACER (1969), and THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976). He also helmed the Chevy Chase FLETCH comedies. Jill Clayburgh would have her breakthrough role a year later in AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, for which she was nominated for Best Actress.