The life of a battered, aging, half crippled, pill addled, alcoholic pro wide receiver (Nick Nolte) as the trials he faces on the field pale in comparisons to those off of it while playing for a decadent Dallas Cowboys resembling organization. From a Peter Gent novel, which he helped to adapt for the screen, Ted Kotcheff's North Dallas Forty is a no holds barred look at the world of professional football, a film defined by its stark realism that ruffled some feathers in its time, and one which still resonates in today's world of seemingly nonstop athletic hooliganism. Nolte is spectacular in the lead and is given great support from Charles Durning as his hard nosed coach. The climactic game is a knockout as is the concluding gut-wrenching sequence.
*** 1/2 out of ****
*** 1/2 out of ****
