Semi-Tough

1977 "They Lead The League In Scoring ... After The Game!"
5.9| 1h48m| R| en
Details

A three-way friendship between two free-spirited professional football players and the owner's daughter becomes compromised when two of them become romantically involved.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever
Listonixio Fresh and Exciting
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
gkmcc If you'd read the book and then went to see the movie, you probably ran screaming from the theater, vowing revenge on the @$$hole writers, director and producers who ruined one of the funniest sports books ever written. The thinly-veiled send-up of "est" was funny enough, but who the heck made that up? It sure wasn't the author of "Semi-Tough", sportswriter Dan Jenkins. I understand the compromises that must often be made when bringing a book to the screen, I understand that cuts and character deletions are necessary to squeeze a good-sized novel into a 2-hour (or so) movie) - but why rewrite the whole damn thing? Big Ed Bookman as the team owner? Where did that $h!t come from? Nothing about what they did to this movie made a lick of sense. Do yourself a favor - instead of trying to track down a copy of this movie on DVD (it's out there), get a copy of the book (it's been recently re-released in trade paperback format) and laugh yourself silly - then track down copies of "Life Its Ownself" and "Rude Behavior" (they're both a bit harder to come by - for reasons I can't fathom), the 2 follow-ons to "Semi-Tough", and laugh some more.Then - go find copies of every book by Dan Jenkins that you can lay your hands on and read them all: "Baja Oklahoma", "You Gotta Play Hurt", "Dead Solid Perfect" (the "Semi-Tough" of golf, featuring Kenny Lee Puckett, another Fort Worth native. This book also had an unfortunately mediocre movie made out of it - but with the minor thrill of seeing the luscious Corinne Bohrer (who usually plays squeaky-clean suburban mommies) as the lascivious and uninhibited Janie Ruth Rimmer (Kenny Lee's 3rd ex-wife-to-be), walking full-front naked down the hallway in a British hotel to fill the ice bucket - the shocked middle-aged couple who spot her are author Dan Jenkins and his wife, June, in a quick cameo appearance).More of Jenkins' books that are must-reads: "The Money-Whipped, Steer-Job, Three-Jack Give-up Artist" ('nother golf book, with another - different - Texas golfer) and its follow-up, "Slim and None". Find these books and read 'em - do it - do it now! You'll be glad you did.
david.steiner It's too bad Michael Ritchie died of prostate cancer in 2000. So there's no opportunity for a commentary track unless Reynolds, Kristofferson and Clayburgh decide to get together to do it, which would be an excellent idea. Bert Convy who played a caricature of Werner Erhard named "Frederick Bismark" died in 1991 at the age of 57 of a brain tumor. An unfortunate loss; his performance, one of his few in films is superior and worth the price of the disc. He's remembered as a game show host, but he earned his acting chops from 1958 in television dramas. Carl Weathers, who would have a major role as Apollo Creed in three Rocky movies, has a small role here. Jill Clayburgh's best work is arguable, but for someone who got her start in soaps in th 60s and whose movies include Portnoy's Complaint, Gable and Lombard and Hanna K., Semi-Tough has to be a highlight. It's difficult to think of someone who might have been better in this role. Robert Preston is one of those actors who hasn't been replaced. The movies he made, for the most part, can't be remade because there's nobody like him. From 1938 until his death in 1987: This Gun For Hire, Whispering Smith, The Bells of St. Mary"s, How the West Was Won, The Music Man, S.O.B.,Victor, Victoria. His performance as the football team owner is priceless. Lotte Lenya has a small role as Clara Pelf, in a not-to-be-missed scene as a masochistic masseuse by this great actress. True, it's not a great movie, but for those of us who were there or who'd like to know about the excesses of the 70s, this movie is very hard to beat for laughs and a sometimes painful look at the way we were.
Pangborne People don't seem to know how to respond to this movie. The people whowant "Smokey and the Bandit" think it's weird and not funny; the peoplewho want "Scenes from a Marriage" think it's sophomoric. Well, it isweird and occassionally sophomoric, but it is very, very funny in anunderhanded, ironic way - and also in an over-the-top goofball way. Youbetter be prepared for different kinds of jokes coming at youunexpectedly. This obviously big-budget studio comedy has more in commonwith discursive satires like "Smile" or "Nashville" than other studiocomedies of the period, although it is far more well-made and plottythan either "Nashville" or "Smile": I think it's the best of both worldssatire and spontaneity wrapped up in a comfy old-fashioned romanticcomedy. Think "My Man Godfrey" with four letter words and football. It'strue the characters do not have exactly novelistic depth, but surelyCarole Lombard's character in "Godfrey" was as thin as a pancake - butit didn't matter because Lombard was playing her, and she made up indizzy star-power what the writers left out. Here Jill Clayburg is theLombard part, a real star at the top of her game, radiating star-poweredcharm. Matching her watt for watt is Burt Reynolds, perfectly cast, andable to make the odd-ball anti-intellectualisms of the writing soundperfectly effortless. Kris Kristofferson is in the Ralph Bellamy part -the guy whose job it is to get jilted - but he oozes a full-bore sexualmagnetism that makes the heroine's confusion perfectly understandable.This is real neglected gem - you shall recognize it for the dunces arein a c
groucho-33 Supposedly based on the book of the same name, the only similarities are the characters' names -- SOME of the characters. Some of the best ones, such as Elroy Blunt, greatest country/western singer ever to warble a tune, were left out completely. The whole thing is a shame, because this was by far the funniest book I ever read. I remember eagerly anticipating the forthcoming movie back in 1977. Then I heard that Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson and Jill Clayburgh were the stars and thought "oh-oh." Still, I went to see the movie -- just awful. Watched it again a couple of years ago with the hope that time might have taken the edge off. Wrong; it was worse than ever. While I respect the "favorable" reviews given by some above, it's obvious that they didn't read the book. I'd invite them to do so, then watch the movie again and see how they'd rate it again.