Heston, of course, was one of the biggest stars of the 1950s and ‘60s, first playing larger than life biblical and historical figures in The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), El Cid (1961), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), etc., then later headlining cynical science fiction and disaster films such as Planet of the Apes (1968), Soylent Green (1973), Earthquake, and Airport 1975 (both 1974). The obscurity of Number One is all the more puzzling considering that it was directed by Tom Gries, who also helmed Heston's excellent, equally underrated Western Will Penny (1968), as well as other high-profile films starring Burt Reynolds and Charles Bronson, along with the mini-series Helter Skelter (1976) before his untimely death in 1977.

If Heston fans thought he had it rough on the Planet of the Apes they should see this searing portrait of an aging NFL quarterback at the end of his career. The picture wasn't a financial success, no doubt partly because Heston's role, Ron "Cat" Catlan, is a miserable soul like no other and one of his darkest-ever characters.

Once one of the greatest quarterbacks the game of football had ever seen, Ron "Cat" Catlan (Heston) is, at the age of 40, washed up, at least based on his performance during the New Orleans Saints' pre-season match-ups. Rumors spread in the press and the locker room that Cat is about to retire, something he's reluctant to even consider.

He's childless and unhappily married to Julie (Jessica Walter), who loves him but can't grasp his angst. Instead, she fuels her energy running a modest fashion label. Catlan, in turn, has an affair with tennis goods store owner Ann (Diana Muldaur), whom he meets at a party hosted by Richie Fowler (Bruce Dern), a former teammate from Catlan's glory days. The much younger Richie retired at 34 to start a successful car-leasing empire that trades on his fame and Richie himself seems content, but for Catlan playing football utterly defines his existence.

Catlan mulls a sincerely made management-spokesperson offer from Harvey Hess (Bobby Troup) at a high-tech computer company, but Catlan is noncommittal. Hess cautions him, "There are a lot of kids coming out of college, Cat, and they're smart kids. It's frightening. A year from now, I might not be able to offer you a job driving the company truck." In the Saints parking lot Catlan bumps into another retired player, Roy Nelson (Roy Jenson), a former lineman, who's bad off financially and, almost with tears in his eyes, talks about still missing the game, further unnerving Catlan. (Criminally, Jenson's fine performance goes unbilled.)

The clock ticking down to the start of the regular season, the pressure is on for Catlan to either retire gracefully or, as Saints coach Southerd (John Randolph) suggests, aim for a few more "good seasons" before Catlan's body gives out entirely.

Number One is more an internalized character study than a conventional football yarn, getting inside the head of this unhappy NFL star. The movie frequently shifts around in time; Catlan's mind often wanders in the middle of conversations, triggering flashbacks, and the movie audience likewise experiences his dreams.

As football defines Catlan's identity and self-worth (he doesn't care about the fame or the money particularly), he's naturally bitter about the sport's mercilessness when it comes to aging players and the fickleness of its fans. In one of the film's best scenes, Catlan and Ann are pulled over by a motorcycle cop for speeding ("Ditch the beer!" cries Catlan, tossing an open beer can from Ann's convertible). "You look like a man who enjoys football," Catlan unsubtly tells the officer, who recognizes him immediately. The quarterback bribes the cop with a couple of 50-yard-line tickets and he lets them off. Catlan, intriguingly, is disgusted that the cop could be bought so effortlessly but not, perhaps, with his own, equally unethical behavior.

He's been playing the game nearly all his life but it's ready to give him up. For years he's ignored his wife, pointedly complaining that she never comes to his games anymore, and she's understandably moved on to other interests. Clearly Heston, who conceived the entire project based on a famous photograph of Y.A. Tittle taken moments after a play that signaled the end of his career, could identify with the aging footballer.

Forty-five years old at the time, Heston already had, career-wise, outlasted most of his contemporaries in a business as heartless and unforgiving as the NFL. As Catlan he's emotionally aloof (also like the real Heston sometimes was), introspective, self-involved, and extremely unhappy.

Some argue the actor was too old and physically inapt to make a convincing quarterback, but the game was very different in 1969, when the average player made just $25,000/year (today's star quarterbacks earn $10-35 million). As for Heston's age, George Blanda played a championship game at age 43, and continued in the NFL until he was 48. Heston was tall (6'3") and, for the film, a lean 200 lbs. or so. His hair, cut short, made him appear a few years younger, and though athletic - he was an avid tennis player - in the movie there's maybe a single shot showing him actually completing a pass. Still, he's credible enough.

United Artists had little faith in the film, allotting it a budget of just $1.1 million, making Heston's last film of the 1960s also by far his cheapest. The budget is just enough to make the picture work, though it clearly skimps here and there, such as the casting of primarily TV guest star actress Muldaur in the co-lead, and with no other marquee names beyond Heston and, marginally, Jessica Walter.

Walter played a not-dissimilar role in John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966), and like that film Gries uses a lot of split-screen techniques the earlier picture all but invented, as well as a similar use of flashbacks, flash-forwards, and other narrative interrupters. The acting is fine all around, particularly Randolph's coach, so integrated with the film's mix of actors playing footballers and real footballers playing themselves one can imagine the movie audience mistaking Randolph for a real coach trying his hand at acting, rather than the other way around.

Video & Audio

An all-region DVD-R in 16:9 enhanced 1.85:1 widescreen, Number One looks really great, the first time ever it has looked any good at all on home video. The mono audio, English only with no subtitle options, is also fine. No Extra Features.

Parting Thoughts

The movie is in some ways more dated than Heston's famous movies. Watching Bobby Troup explain how his computer system works is almost quaint, and a couple of scenes with Walter's gay assistant (Steve Franken) are rather embarrassing ("You disgust me!" growls Catlan.) But Heston's performance as a nationally famous but unhappy, disagreeable football star is one of his most underrated, and the film is really worthwhile. Highly Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian and publisher-editor of World Cinema Paradise. His new documentary and latest audio commentary, for the British Film Institute's Blu-ray of Rashomon, and commentary track for Arrow Video's Battles without Honor and Humanity are newly available.