North Dallas Forty

Something of a mess, both in terms of the wayward plot which rambles all over the place, and in terms of the rather muddled juggling of audience sympathies. Nolte is the pro-football player who is disgusted on the one hand by the ruthless machinations of the team management, and on the other by the brute macho behaviour of his fellow-players. The trouble is that his confusion is mirrored by the film-makers in that they seem undecided as to whether the sports biz and the hulks it enlists are charismatically exciting or morally bankrupt. But Nolte ambles through it all with naturalistic conviction, and Durning is his usual reliable self.