Movie Name: Necessary Roughness

Director: Stan Dragoti

Produced By: Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme

Release Date: September 27th, 1991

Box Office: $26.3 Million (USD)

Introduction

I remember watching this movie when I was a kid and I rewatched it recently. There have been many types of these movies in the past. The one that comes to mind for me is The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler. It was a remake but it had the same vague idea. Let us bring in some old finished up stars and put them all in a movie. Let us see if this movie stood the test of time.

Story

The story starts with the Texas State Armadillos being a very powerful team, that had scandals hit them hard. After winning multiple championships, the NCAA cracked down on the Armadillos for violations against them. As a result, everyone from the team from Management to the players, except for one really bad player called Charlie Banks, were fired.

So the Dean of the university Phillip Elias (played by Larry Miller) hires a retired coach who goes by the name of Ed "Straight Arrow" Gennero (Played by Hector Elizondo). He is mandated to basically recruit a brand new team from scratch. He first starts with getting his old time friend, Wally "Rig" Riggendorf (played by Robert Loggia). Since the team is lacking much of anything, Wally tries to recruit an old student, that still has eligibility at the university. His name is Paul Blake (played by Scott Bakula).

The team essentially sucks and they cannot fill out enough players for the team to be complete. As a result, they need to play Ironman football. For those who do not know what that is, it is when the defence and the offence are played by the same players. So basically players do not get any time off during a game.

Other recognizable recruits are Andre Krimm (played by Sinbad), McKenzie (played by Louis Mandylor) and Jarvis Edison (played by Jason Bateman). One of the great recruits for the team is when Wally and Ed spot someone kicking soccer balls with distance and accuracy. Before seeing who that person is, they know that they need them to be kicker. When they come face to face with the player, she is a female soccer player played by Kathy Ireland.

The rest of the movie is just going through the growing pains of getting a team from the gutter to win. Everyone pulls through with the little resources that they have.

In the end, learning of the Dean's plans to kill the football program, TSU President Purcell fires him on the spot.

Necessary Roughness Theatrical Trailer

Bottomline

You cannot get more B-Movies than this. First of all I will go on to say that I do like this movie more than I liked The Longest Yard. Although TLY had some funny moments, I think this one was slightly better.

The humour is not very advanced. A lot of typical old man jokes and the normal slapstick kind of humour that could be found in the Major League movies.

I do like the chemistry between Sinbad and Scott Bakula. It seemed like they knew each other for years and when they were on screen it was awesome.

I also liked the performances from Hector Elizondo and Robert Loggia. They had good chemistry on screen as well. I always loved Robert Loggia and although with limited use in this movie, he does an admirable job.

To be honest, it is not a horrible movie. Yes the jokes and gags have been done numerous times but in the end, I think that it was an enjoyable movie. It is just a feel good sports movie that does not take itself too seriously.

This movie will not win any awards but it can be a guilty pleasure that you watch ever so often.

Rating: 3.75 touchdowns out of 5

What do you think? Was it a hidden gem or should have stayed with the hidden gum. let me know at the coordinates below.

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