North Dallas Forty (1979)

North Dallas Forty lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Ted Kotcheff and Paramount Pictures brought the raucous North Dallas Forty to movie theaters in 1979. Nick Nolte plays an aging wide receiver, with Mac Davis as his more pragmatic quarterback.

Peter Gent’s North Dallas Forty Novel

North Dallas Forty is based on the 1973 best-selling novel of the same name by Peter Gent. A Michigan State graduate and a standout basketball player for the Spartans, Gent had played flanker and tight end for the Dallas Cowboys from 1964-68.

“The only novel ever written from this deep inside pro football…strongly recommended,” reported Sports Illustrated.

Ted Kotcheff Directs North Dallas Forty

Peter Gent, Frank Yablans and Ted Kotcheff wrote the screenplay for Regina Associates and Paramount Pictures. Kotcheff (Fun with Dick and Jane, First Blood, The Shooter) directed. John Scott created the original music score and Paul Lohmann served as cinematographer.

Nick Nolte (Phil Elliott) and Mac Davis (Seth Maxwell) head the cast. Other players include Charles Durning (Coach Johnson), Dayle Haddon (Charlotte Caulder), Bo Svenson (Jo Bob Priddy), John Matuszak (O.W. Shaddock), Steve Forrest (Conrad Hunter), G.D. Spradlin (B.A. Strothers), Dabney Coleman (Emmett Hunter), Savannah Smith (Joanne Rodney), Marshall Colt (Art Hartman), Guich Koock (Eddie Rand), Walter Brooke (Doctor), Tommy Reamon (Delma Huddle) and Alcie Weeks (Doug France).

The North Dallas Bulls

North Dallas Forty opens the day after a football game, with veteran wide receiver Phil Elliott, bleeding from the nose, trying to rouse his battered body out of bed. While soaking in the tub, Elliott’s bathroom is invaded by a pair of gun-toting good ol’ boy football players, who blast a hole in the ceiling and then head out into the country for a combination hunting trip/alcoholic bender.

At a wild party Phil meets Charlotte Caulder, a young woman whom he rescues from the clutches of crazed offensive lineman Jo Bob Priddy. Assisting Phil is quarterback Seth Maxwell, who holds considerable sway over the drunken Jo Bob.

Phil and the North Dallas Bulls are in preparation for the final game of the regular season. A victory will guarantee them a spot in the playoffs. Head Coach B.A. Strothers takes Phil aside, telling him that he doesn’t like his immature attitude. A starter for six seasons, Phil is now warming the bench, hoping to get back into the lineup via pills and the injection of painkillers, or what he calls “better football through chemistry.”

With team owner Conrad Hunter looking on, the Bulls face off with the Chicago Marauders. The game is an old-fashioned slugfest, with the Bulls coming up short after backup quarterback Art “Try God” Hartman mishandles a perfect snap on an extra point try.  

Phil Elliott’s off-field activities eventually earn him a meeting with the Bulls ownership who suspend him, pending a league hearing, for violating the morals clause in his contract. But rather than accept the suspension, a defiant Phil decides to simply hang up his spikes for good.

North Dallas Forty Release and Reviews

North Dallas Forty opened on August 1, 1979.

“North Dallas Forty…includes a number of well-honed supporting performances, most notably G.D. Spradlin in the role of the coach. But the uncontested star of the show is Mr. Nolte, who may surprise a lot of people who had the ill fortune to see him in The Deep and the even worse luck to miss him in Who’ll Stop the Rain?” reported Janet Maslin of The New York Times (8/1/79).

“It’s no surprise that the National Football League refused to cooperate in the making of North Dallas Forty. The production is a most realistic, hard-hitting and perceptive look at the seamy side of pro football,” observed Variety (7/25/79).

North Dallas Forty Trivia, DVD

• Pete Gent garnered the title of his novel from a Dallas Cowboys practice field located in North Dallas. In 1964, the year Gent reported to the Cowboys, that section of the city was off limits to black players, something which offended the socially-conscious Gent.
• Ever since the release of the book and movie, fans have speculated as to the “true identities” of the featured characters. The North Dallas Bulls are of course the Dallas Cowboys, with these real-life personalities generally thought of as subbing for the film’s principals: Peter Gent (Phil Elliott), Don Meredith (Seth Maxwell), Coach Tom Landry (Coach B.A. Strothers), Roger Staubach (Art Hartman).
• The movie version ends on a high note, with Seth Maxwell tossing a good-natured pass to Phil Elliott. Not so in the novel, which concludes with Phil stumbling on a grisly murder scene.
• John Matuszak (a.k.a. “Tooz”) played professional football for the Oakland Raiders. He died of heart failure at age 38 on June 17, 1989. As O.W. Shaddock, he gives a rousing speech: “Job! Job! I don’t want no job. I want to play football. I want some feelin.’ I want some team spirit.”
• Peter Gent’s sequel: North Dallas After Forty (1989).
• On DVD: North Dallas Forty (Paramount, 2001).

“We’re not the team! They’re the team! We’re the equipment! And they just depreciate us. Take us off their damn tax returns,” Nick Nolte lashes out at the North Dallas Bulls’ wealthy owners.

Better football through accounting, huh?