Semi-Tough

1977's SEMI-TOUGH is more ambitious than its lascivious posters would suggest. You know, the ones with bare chested stars Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson behind some scantily clad young women about to hike a football.  It's amusing to wonder about those movie goers expecting a leering sex comedy, and instead getting an insightful, intelligent examination of friendship and love.  Set in the world of pro football, but with only a few scenes on the field and in the locker room.   This is unsurprising given the participation of director Michael Ritchie, known for his personal, eccentric films, sometimes set in the realm of sports.

It was probably wise of the studio to focus on the elements that got asses into theater seats.  But once the rather low-key SEMI-TOUGH unspooled, did anyone stalk the concession for a refund? Maybe not.  Fans of Burt get one of his most relaxed, natural performances here.  Even if Walter Bernstein's script (based on Dan Jenkins' novel of the name name) had nothing else to recommend it, Reynold's megawatt charm really carries this movie, which in some ways is an updated screwball comedy.

Marvin, aka "Shake" (Kris Kristofferson) and Billy Clyde (Reynolds) play for a fictional Miami team owned by Big Ed (Robert Preston), father of the guys' lifelong friend and current roommate Barbara Jane (Jill Clayburgh).   You'd expect some menage a trois, but they're all just platonic friends.  Until Barbara Jane begins to have feelings for Shake, and soon they are engaged.  Billy Clyde, whose life has been all about "fucking and football", realizes that he really does love his platonic friend, and subtly sets out to derail the marriage.

SEMI-TOUGH is about these well drawn and likable folks.  The star trio has unforced and believable chemistry.  It's nominally about football, though this ain't NORTH DALLAS FORTY or THE LONGEST YARD.  There is also a significant thread that rather savagely parodies 1970s trends like Est, a self-help program of sorts where people paid to spend a weekend locked in a hotel ballroom with a guru who breaks them down in an effort to help them find themselves.  In this movie the religion is called B.E.A.T., which is fully embraced by Shake, who claims it changed his life and helped him to not drop any more passes.  Barbara Jane tries it out, but her session leaves her discouraged, unable to "get it."  B.E.A.T leader Friedrick Bismark (Bert Convy, in far and away his best movie role) tells warns Shake that he will be unequally yolked in a "mixed marriage".

I wouldn't call this Ritchie's finest hour, but SEMI-TOUGH is interesting, amusing, and mostly easy to take.  I wasn't too impressed with Brian Dennehy's role as the guys' lunkhead teammate T.J., who gets mad at his girlfriend and holds her upside down by her ankle, threatening to drop her off a roof.  The scene is played lightly, an opportunity for Shake to work his B.E.A.T. magic on the meathead (and woo Barbara Jane even more).  I was impressed with the comic invention and genius of one scene, where Bid Ed demonstrates "creep therapy" to Billy Clyde.  The satire is strong with this one.