When the boy's basketball team at Ranger High School gets their new head
coach, they discover the new leader isn't at all what they expected. You
see, their new coach is a woman, Randy Rawlings (Cathy Lee Crosby), which
doesn't sit that well with several people. Even though Randy is a former
Olympic medalist and accomplished athlete, it seems like her female status
is enough to make her a bad choice in most eyes. In addition to her
athletic prowess, Randy is also blonde, bouncy, and beautiful, and her
looks also seem to be more of a hindrance in this case. The principal of
the school, Fenton Granger (Keenan Wynn) wants her out of the position
more than anyone, and he just might have the right plan to do it. Thanks
to discrimination laws, Granger can't fire her just because he goofed and
hired a woman, so he says unless her team has a perfect season, she's
fired. And since the team is not very good and not showing signs of
improvement, this could be the end of her coaching days. But with a little
luck, some hard work, and maybe some romance, Randy just might keep her
job after all.
This is the type of movie which defies reason. I mean if you view the
film to gather cinematic genius, you won't even find a small strand, and
time has not been kind to the film, which means it now seems very dated.
So why then would someone want to watch this movie? Well, unlike many
other reviewers out there, sometimes I like to kick back and have fun with
a movie. No matter how bad the dialogue, how wooden the acting, sometimes
movies are just so damn entertaining, nothing else matters. For me, Coach
is a movie I can watch and have a good laugh as well as just enjoy myself.
The dated politics and references in the movie don't bother me, I think
they add charm to the film. I'll freely admit that the dialogue is awful,
the acting is poor, and the social value is null and void. But you know,
that doesn't bother me with a film like this, because it entertains me,
which is all I need sometimes. If you like cinema such as this, or perhaps
need a nostalgic kick in the pants, by all means look this release up.
While the disc is of average quality, so long as I can hear it and see it,
I'll have this movie in my collection.
This film was directed by Bud Townsend, who has a very eclectic mixture
of films on his resume. From a pornographic musical based on Alice In
Wonderland to the horror gem Nightmare In Wax, this guy has a lock on
strange, but entertaining titles. This may not be the stuff of Academy
Awards, but it seems like the guy knows how to have a good time with his
movies. The lead role in this movie is played by Cathy Lee Crosby, who
looks the part for sure, even if her acting is not so great. Given the
nature of this movie, I think Crosby (The Player, The Big Tease) does a
fine turn here, and she's bouncy when she needs to be, which is good.
Other noteworthy performances come from Michael Biehn (The Abyss, Aliens)
as the young stud point guard and Keenan Wynn (The Last Unicorn) as the
stereotypical chauvinist male. Both roles are vital to the movie, and
these guys do as good as they can with the material. The rest of the cast
includes a gaggle of sexually oppressed teens, including one guy that is
partially bald with an afro, that looks about forty years old.
