The movie was about the infamous preseason training camp that took place back in the 1950's. The college wanted a winning football team bad enough that it would spare no expense, and allow anything to go on, in order to achieve this goal. The school's administrators hired a coach with a great record for winning, one that latter went on to the professional leagues, Paul "Bear" Bryant. The man was a focused individual that cared for only one thing in life; The Win. Upon arriving at the then small college, he fired most of the staff and proceeded to review the team's performance and record. With almost no time before the school year started, he embarked on an ambitious plan to recruit better players and shape the entire team into a force to be reckoned with. With only three weeks before the season started, he loaded up three buses with the players and headed off to a drought-ridden town of the state, Junction, Texas.

Ignoring the whines of the players upon arriving, the coach ignored the fact that the long abandoned training camp was a shambles and the supplies were limited. He also ignored that the training fields were covered with large thorns and dangerous to work on, figuring it would help quickly toughen the players. Those that stayed would be tougher and those that left were deadwood that were better off leaving. The training regimes included enough grueling hardships that the players quickly deserted, with those who stayed finding injuries were treated as minor inconveniences by the coach. If you were hurt, you played through the pain or you left, it was that simple.

The movie documented a host of anecdotal stories that were the basis for the book from which the movie was written. It usually portrayed the view of the coach, alternated by that of a couple of players, and the ending result was kind of mixed. The main focus was, of course, the training camp in the boonies of Texas. I think the movie might've been a lot better if it had gone one step further and shown at least part of a game with the players proving the extreme training methods being worth the effort. For that matter, if it had shown some of the later troubles the coach had encountered to flesh out the story, I'd have been more satisfied. As it played out, it was worth a rating of Rent It for all football fans that have watched Remember The Titans, North Dallas Forty, and the host of other movies that would have you believe that winning at any cost, no matter what the sacrifice, makes sense.

The acting by Tom Berenger as the coach and a couple of the players was solid enough, although the accents were pretty weak by all. The direction of the movie was somewhat mechanical and the screenplay somewhat stilted too but this was made for ESPN, not even a major pay channel so you can't expect too much. The movie also serves as a warning to those who would place concepts like mindless sporting events over the health and well being of young athletes, particularly poignant in our driven society these days.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame as originally shot. It was basic looking with some artifacts and grain (noticeable in the darker scenes) and print scratches. This was a low budget movie made overseas and looked it but football fans won't likely mind that.

Sound: The sound was presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo English with optional Spanish and French subtitles. The vocals were clear although sometimes they appeared to be dubbed with a slight delay in the lip movement. The soundtrack was basic but also fairly clear.

Extras: The extras were primarily 2 features: a Sportscentury documentary on Paul Bryant and Outside The Lines: The Real Junction Boys. In the first, a historical overview of the coaches life was provided and in the second, a group of the now older players from the training camp were interviewed in a circle with some commentary by the author of the book edited in from time to time (telling how some of the players had faulty memories about the camp. There was no paper insert in my dvd case.

Final Thoughts: Students of Texas A&M, Aggies, are known for several things; their dedication to their school, their work ethic and football (not necessarily in that order mind you). While I thought the movie was too limited in what it presented, I recognize that it did manage to encapsulate a pretty good idea of their willingness to tough out obstacles in order to succeed at their chosen path. I'm not familiar enough with the coach's exploits in real life to suggest whether or not the movie was historically accurate, but the spirit of the Aggies was certainly caught as well as anywhere else on film.