The Program (1993)

A moderately engaging pileup of sports-movie cliches. As the (fictional) Eastern State University football team aims for a spot in one of the year-end bowl games, the film occasionally fumbles its way toward being an expose of the sleazier aspects of college football (player perks, steroid use, etc.). But most of The Program is on the level of a mediocre television series. The games, on the other hand, are genuinely exciting. Director David S. Ward takes us inside the raw-meat braggadocio of the huddles, and, in the climactic contest, he gives us a nifty, behind-the-faceguard vantage on what it looks like to race down a field studded with linebackers who want to kill you. As the crusty father-figure coach, James Caan does what he can with an underwritten role.

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