larrymerchant Chuck Connors, as an asst coach, has one of the best lines: "For once I'd like to make as much as the players."

utgard14 A bankrupt Catholic college hires struggling football coach Steve Williams (John Wayne) to help turn things around but he uses methods that are frowned upon. Meanwhile, Steve is going through a nasty custody battle, so the court sends an uptight social worker (Donna Reed) to assess what kind of father he is. Not surprisingly, the two develop feelings for each other.Wonderful change of pace for John Wayne. He didn't do many movies like this but he's really good in the part. Beautiful Donna Reed is excellent and has nice chemistry with Duke. Great supporting cast includes Charles Coburn, Tom Tully, Leif Erickson, Dabbs Greer, and Marie Windsor. Adorable Sherry Jackson plays Duke's daughter. Fine direction from Michael Curtiz. A sweet, heart-warming, dramatic film with some comic touches. One of the best and most underrated movies Duke did in his long career.

mark.waltz If so, watch out for this football coach, 'cause he packs a lot of drama in addition to a mean scrimmaging plan. He's got a trampy ex-wife (Marie Windsor, no less), and their devoted daughter (Sherry loves him, hates her mother, and wants no part of the repressed social worker's plan to take her away from Wayne & pass her onto his mom. That social worker is Donna Reed, as far from her "From Here to Eternity" character the very same year. She's instantly antagonistic towards Wayne, but warms up to him somewhat after seeing the loving relationship between father and daughter she can relate to. Unfortunately, that father/daughter relationship Reed had made her repressed around the boys who considered her plain, which here she is anything but. But for some reason, on and off throughout the film, she takes the neglectful mother's side, whose backstory we see in a flashback Wayne has in the middle of the film. This cold-hearted ex is only really interested in getting Wayne's attention and has no idea of how to relate to the little girl. There is one scene where the re-married ex-wife tries to seduce her ex, indicating that there is no physical relationship between her and her second husband (Tom Helmore). At a party for the little girl, it is made apparent that she has no interest in her daughter, which Reed witnesses.In addition to all of this soap opera, there is the head of the Catholic college Wayne has gone to work for, played by the always lovable Charles Coburn. The aging priest hopes to keep his college open by creating a winning football team. Coburn, whose character of the priest complains of being considered obsolete, seems to be anything but; In fact, he would continue to play lovable old codgers for another 7 years, most notably opposite Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and as the American uncle his rich British family wants to kill in "How to Murder a Rich Uncle". One of the other priests is played by "Little House on the Prairie" preacher Dabbs Greer who is instantly recognizable from his first appearance on screen. Chuck Connors and an unbilled James Dean also appear. There are some great affectionate scenes between Sherry Jackson and Charles Coburn, but they are overshadowed by the drama which the film focuses on. Had the script focused more on the football team, the survival of the school, and the loving relationship between father and daughter, it would be less cloying. The trouble is how it is set up in the first 10 minutes, you would never realize that it's going to be more than 75% dramatic. Wayne, likable as always, remains unscathed, but Reed's character is sadly too cold and unfeeling to make her character believable and likable, let alone any possibility of a romance between Wayne and Reed likely. Windsor does what she can to add some humanity to her cold character, but the script is against her. Jackson manages to make the little girl likable. A false promise at the start leads to an unsatisfying film as a whole.

MartinHafer 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.