Product ReviewsNorth Dallas Forty (DVD, 2001, Sensormatic)

To You It's Just a Business; To Us It's a Sport

In this movie, which was made in 1979, we learn the truth in a funny way about the insides of the NFL. Phil Elliott (Nick Nolte) and Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis) are aging football players for the North Dallas Bulls football team. In one of the first scenes, Seth sums it up when he says that "we are just prostitutes (really another word), so we might as well be the best."

Phil is especially on the outs with the business side of the team: Owners named the Conrad Hunter family, coaches B. A. (G D Spradlin), Emmett (Dabney Coleman) and the training coach played by Charles Durning are forever critical. They are constantly criticizing Phil for immaturity and poor attitude. But the other side of the picture is that he constantly saves the day by catching long passes tossed by his good friend and quarterback Seth Maxwell.

In this movie we also see the women who throw themselves at the guys, the crudeness and immaturity of the guys, the constant cursing by the guys, their regular lives that are just miserable due to the pain inflicted daily at practice and in the real game, and finally the prescription drugs and shots that they take like candy in order to play just one more game. Phil talks about the thrill of catching one big pass and that that high makes it all worthwhile.

Phil is lucky in a way. He is attracted to a woman named Charlotte Calder (Dayle Haddon) who sees through it all. She is willing to be his girl, but he will have to give up the game first.

You will have to see the one real game that the movie displays near the end. It is as good as some of the real games we watch every Sunday and Monday night. And I won't disclose how the movie ends, but it is mesmerizing.

This movie did not receive any Academy Award nominations, but it is still worth your time. Leonard Maltin, renowned movie critic, says that this movie is "the best gridiron film ever made and one of the best on any sport."Read full review...

Still the best

Had to have NORTH DALLAS FORTY in my DVD library because I think it is still the best football movie ever made. It was transferred nicely to the screen from
former Dallas Cowboy receiver, Pete Gent's, excellent novel which was a BARELY disguised memoir of his mid to late 1960s career with "America's Team", the Dallas Cowboys. Nick Nolte is dead-on as Gent's fictional, battle worn, alter-ego, Phil Elliot "There's pieces of me on fields from here to Pittsburgh". Providing excellent support are singer, Mac Davis (QB Seth Maxwell), G.D. Spradlin, Charles Durning, Bo Svenson and former NFL defensive lineman, John Matuszak.Read full review...

Good movie

Very little football is actually played in this throwback of a football movie. But the characters are entertaining and it shows a different time when people were allowed to not agree. Worth a watch.

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I love it

Thank you I couldn't find you had it

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Nick nolte when hes young enough said!

Worth it for the locker room scenes alone nick and mac davis.im in 💘

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Fooootball!

great movie, i bought it to pass around to friends.

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Great movie

A must for the collection

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North Dallas 40

Classic Football movie...no true NFL fan should be without it! Explores the unside of professional football in a very humorous way...Mac Davis and Nick Nolte are perfect as the quarterback and his former #1 receiver.Read full review...

Great movie, especially for football fans.

Terrific movie about the life of pro football players in the 70's. This movie is a classic. Nick Nolte is great in his role as an aging veteran player.