A 74-minute TV movie where Ned Beatty plays a guy named Frank and somehow that's NOT the craziest thing happening.
A football coach is hired by a small college to shape up its football team, and he finds himself in trouble with local gamblers who don't want the team to improve.
Acting
Richard Crenna's coach has main character gravity in 74 minutes.
Direction
Paul Wendkos squeezes actual tension from TV movie constraints.
Director
Paul Wendkos
Richard Crenna
Paddy
Clu Gulager
Jonas Kane
Joanna Pettet
Sarah Allison
Forrest Tucker
Bradford Emmons
Ned Beatty
Frank Powell
Mary Murphy
Martha Hagger
Beah Richards
Jessie Blake
Allen Garfield
Brewster
Al Lettieri
Zimmerman
Robert Carradine
Gas Station Attendant
Lou Frizzell
Meat Inspector
James Woods
Reporter
Jack Colvin
Crowther
Jennifer Lee Pryor
Doreen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was part of NBC's 'World Premiere Movie' series, a factory for disposable 90-minute entertainments that occasionally landed real talent.
1972 was peak 'corruption in sports' anxiety—Watergate was brewing, and this tiny football program became a microcosm of institutional rot.
US
