Football is a funny game

Bill Knight column for 10-24, 25 or 26, 2019

Between last weekend’s University of Illinois upset win over No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers and the Chicago Bears’ 36-25 loss to the New Orleans Saints, we’re reminded that the gridiron can be a load of laughs.

With a nod to the late Joe Garagiola – whose career after retiring from Major League Baseball included stints as a colorful broadcaster and as author of “Baseball is a Funny Game” – FOOTBALL is a funny game, too. And besides amusement at on-field action and antics, the sport has been featured in many movie comedies over the decades.

            They range from cartoons (Disney’s “How to Play Football,” starring Goofy, and Tex Avery’s “Screwball Football”) and team frolics (Our Gang’s “Pigskin Palooka” and the Ritz Brothers’ “Life Begins at College”), to decent outings by Martin and Lewis (“That’s My Boy”) and Craig T. Nelson (ABC-TV’s “Coach”), and even 2000’s “The Replacement” (funny except for the premise that strike-breaking scabs are hilarious).

Here are football comedies to seek out and enjoy (11 of them, in honor of 11-man squads, of course):

“Eleven Men & A Girl” (1930). Joe E. Brown plays the only talent on a college football team, which loses every game. Desperate, he persuades the coach’s daughter (Joan Bennett) to recruit new players, leading to romantic conflicts before the Big Game.

“The Freshman” (1925). This silent picture from Harold Lloyd was one of the first movie comedies focusing on football. A guy’s first year at college is “highlighted” by trying out for the team and starting – as a tackling dummy. Brooks Benedict co-stars.

“The Game Plan” (2007). Dwayne Johnson stars in a family comedy about an NFL quarterback enjoying a bachelor lifestyle and then discovering that an old relationship resulted in an 8-year-old daughter (Madison Pettis). Struggling with parenting and extended-family conflicts, the ‘baller eventually is charmed by his girl, who captivates the whole team. Kyra Sedgwick co-stars.

“Hold That Lion” (1952). The Bowery Boys somehow go to college, but they benefit from “vitamins” making them stellar athletes. Maybe weird foreshadowing of steroid use, but funny.

“Horse Feathers” (1932). One of the best Marx Brothers films has Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo trying to fix a college football game. Classic silliness ensues. Thelma Todd co-stars.

“Leatherheads” (2008). Set in the 1920s when pro football was rougher, this stars George Clooney and John Krasinski, who end up falling for Renee Zellweger, a reporter who wants to expose the team’s cheating.

“The Longest Yard” (1974). Directed by Robert Aldrich, this stars Burt Reynolds as an ex-football player and ne’er-do-well sentenced to prison, where warden Eddie Albert is obsessed with football played by inmates and guards. Maybe less funny than Adam Sandler’s 2005 remake, it’s a better movie. Oddly similar to 1932’s romp “Hold ‘Em Jail” (as in “Hold’em, Yale!”), this features Bernadette Peters, Richard Kiel and Ed Lauter.

“North Dallas Forty” (1979). Nick Nolte and Mac Davis are two likeable rascals playing for an NFL team based on the Cowboys. Balancing the sports and celebrity, off-the-field escapes and goofy ownership, they survive and thrive. Charles Durning, Bo Svenson and John Matuszak are featured

“Semi-Tough” (1977). A romantic comedy with football as a backdrop, stars Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson as two sides of a triangle with Jill Clayburgh (daughter of team owner Robert Preston). It co-stars Carl Weathers, Brian Dennehy and (!) Bert Convy.

“Three Little Pigskins” (1934). The Three Stooges are down-and-outers who think they’re needed to promote a football game but instead find themselves hired by college recruiters to play. A 23-year-old Lucille Ball co-stars.

“The Waterboy” (1998). Adam Sandler stars as a 30-something college-football waterboy in Louisiana, where he loses his temper and shows amazing skills his coach (Henry Winkler) puts to use. Kathy Bates and Jerry co-star.