This movie is based on a book by Peter Gent, a former end for the Dallas Cowboys. The messages are: 1) management has taken the fun out of football and turned it into a big business and 2) players are pawns manipulated by owners and coaches. Rather than let these points work themselves out dramatically through the storyline, screenplay writers Gent, Frank Yablans, and Ted Kotcheff hammer them across in one speech after another. By the end of the movie, the viewer feels like a bent nail.
Nick Nolte is featured as a seasoned wide receiver with the North Dallas Bulls who spends most of his time on the bench. The coaches (Charles Durning and G.D. Spradlin) don't like his wiseacre attitude or his unorthodox behavior off the playing field. Unlike teammate Mac Davis, he hasn't learned how to ignore the front office. Eventually, Nolte's head is turned around by his girlfriend (poorly acted by Dayle Haddon); she convinces him there are alternatives to playing football.
Despite the flaws in the script and the cartoon dimension of the coaches and team owner (Steve Forrest), North Dallas Forty boasts some good performances. Nick Nolte follows up his big league acting in Who'll Stop the Rain? with another top-notch portrait of an outsider. Mac Davis makes a notable film debut with a relaxed depiction of Nolte's buddy. And Bo Svenson and pro football player John Matuszak are on the money in their portraits of two brawling lineman.