Main Cast: William Tepper, Karen Black, Michael Margotta, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne
Release Year: 1971
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Jack Nicholson first put his well-documented enthusiasm for basketball to good use in this film, which he wrote and directed between his roles in Five Easy Pieces and Carnal Knowledge. William Tepper plays Hector, a student at a college in Ohio who shares a room with his friend Gabriel (Michael Margotta) and is the star player on the school's basketball team. Hector has been approached to quit college and play pro ball, but Gabriel is urging him to devote more time to radical political causes. Of course, both have plenty of other things on their mind; Hector is having a clandestine affair with the wife of one of his professors (Karen Black), while Gabriel, in a bid to beat the draft and avoid going to Vietnam, is trying to convince the draft board that he's insane. Unfortunately, Gabriel is feigning madness so well that he's not so sure he hasn't actually become crazy. Director Henry Jaglom and screenwriter Robert Towne also have supporting roles, as do future sitcom greats Cindy Williams and David Ogden Stiers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Henry Jaglom - Conrad; June Fairchild - Sylvie; Don Hammer - Director of Athletics; B.J. Merholz - Pro Lawyer; David Ogden Stiers - Pro Owner; Bill Sweek - Finnegan; Joseph Walsh - Announcer; Mike Warren - Easly; Lynn Bernay - Dance Instructor; Harry Gittes - Announcer; Bill Kenney - Phoneman; Jack Nicholson; Cindy Williams - Manager's Girl Friend; Robert Page; I.J. Jefferson - Secretary; Charlie Robinson
Credit
Harry Gittes - Art Director, Jack Nicholson - Director, Donn Cambern - Editor, Christopher Holmes - Editor, Robert Wolfe - Editor, Pat Somerset - Editor, David Shire - Composer (Music Score), Mason Williams - Songwriter, Louis Hardin - Songwriter, Bill Butler - Cinematographer, Harry Gittes - Producer, Jack Nicholson - Producer, Fred Roos - Producer, Bert Schneider - Producer, Steve Blauner - Producer, Jeremy Larner - Screenwriter, Jack Nicholson - Screenwriter, Gus Arnheim - Featured Music, Arthur Freed - Featured Music, Abe Lyman & Band - Featured Music, Jeremy Larner - Book Author
It also had an interesting cast, with Karen Black, Bruce Dern, and regular Nicholson collaborators Robert Towne and Henry Jaglom in leading roles. Familiar faces such as David Ogden Stiers and Cindy Williams were also featured in small supporting roles. It was filmed on the campus of the University of Oregon and in the city of Eugene, Oregon.
The film is an examination of libidinous basketball star Hector Bloom (William Tepper), and contrasts his sporting prowess on the court to his bedroom antics. Mostly notably, Hector has an affair with his favorite professor's wife Olive (Karen Black) that goes nowhere. This, and many other events occur within a heated early 1970s backdrop of university politics, sporting hijinx, and anti-war rebellion sentiments.
Contemporary reviewers of the film were split in their reception of it. Steven Scheuer found the film "utterly downbeat, and unfortunately dated" (Scheuer, 1990: 294) even at the time of its release. On the other hand, while Roger Ebert found the film “disorganized” he also said it was “occasionally brilliant” with the performances being “the best thing in the movie” (Ebert, 1972).
In contrast, Leonard Maltin found the film “confusing”, and in spite of fine acting performances still "loses itself in its attempt to cover all the bases" (Maltin, 1991: 325). Vincent Canby was complimentary when he lauded the film as being "so much better than all of the rest of the campus junk Hollywood has manufactured in the last couple of years" but felt that the lead male performance was a let-down for the film as a whole (Canby, 1971).
