Directed by:
J. Lee ThompsonScreenplay:
William Peter BlattyCinematography:
Leon ShamroyComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Shirley MacLaine, Peter Ustinov, Richard Crenna, Jim Backus, Scott Brady, Fred Clark, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Harry Morgan, Jerome Cowan, Jerry Orbach (more)Plots(1)
This silly and amusing football comedy spurred the University of Notre Dame (which objected to a scene in which Fighting Irish players are entertained by harem girls) to sue the studio, drawing the curious to the theaters. Crenna, an infamous football player-turned-U2 pilot, crash-lands in the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Fawzia, whose ruler (hammily portrayed by Ustinov) presents the American with an ultimatum: either coach the football team the king is assembling for his son--who was cut by Notre Dame--or prepare for a trip to the USSR. The king then informs the US State Department that if it still wants to have a military base in his country, Notre Dame will have to take on his team in Fawzia. An international crisis brews when the Notre Dame players refuse to lie down in the climactic game, but MacLaine, a reporter who has joined the kings harem to do a story and who has fallen for Goldfarb, comes up with an unexpected resolution to the problem. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Shirley MacLaine
USA
Best movies:
Barbra: The Concert (1994) (concert)
The Apartment (1960)
Being There (1979)
Peter Ustinov
UK
Best movies:
The French Revolution (1989) (TV movie)
Spartacus (1960)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977) (TV movie)
Richard Crenna
USA
Best movies:
First Blood (1982)
Hot Shots! 2 (1993)
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Jim Backus
USA
Best movies:
Crazy Mama (1975)
Deep in My Heart (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Scott Brady
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Winds of War (1983) (series)
The China Syndrome (1979)
Fred Clark
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
White Heat (1949)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
Wilfrid Hyde-White
UK
Best movies:
My Fair Lady (1964)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Browning Version (1951)
Harry Morgan
USA
Best movies:
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (series)
The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
Jerome Cowan
USA
Best movies:
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Bernadette (1943)
Shall We Dance? (1937)
Jerry Orbach
USA
Best movies:
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Jackie Coogan
USA
Best movies:
The Kid (1921)
Chaplin (1992) - a.f.
The Proud Ones (1956)
James Brolin
USA
Best movies:
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Traffic (2000)
Von Ryan's Express (1965)
Carl Reiner
USA
Best movies:
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Toy Story 4 (2019)
The Majestic (2001)
Telly Savalas
USA
Best movies:
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Cape Fear (1962)
Barbara Bouchet
German Empire
Best movies:
The Scarlet and the Black (1983) (TV movie)
Sex With A Smile (1976)
Milano Calibro 9 (1972)
Teri Garr
USA
Best movies:
Tootsie (1982)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Ghost World (2001)
David Lewis
USA
Best movies:
The Apartment (1960)
The Boston Strangler (1968)
Kid Galahad (1962)
Red West
USA
Best movies:
The Rainmaker (1997)
Glory Road (2006)
Wild in the Country (1961)
Richard Deacon
USA
Best movies:
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
The Young Philadelphians (1959)
The Proud Ones (1956)
Irene Tsu
China
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996)
Noble House (1988) (series)