I agree with you!
Really there is only one thing that Kilmer is doing wrong in the film, and
that is endangering their health, mainly by playing them when they are truly
not healthy, such as forcing Billy Bob to play when he was clearly in no shape
to play and giving Cortizone injections to mask injuries which jeopardized
their health and futures. This could have simply been handled as a separate
issue with the Interscholastic Federation considering it is against the rules
and every other school has a reason to call it cheating.
And I'm sorry, but all players complain about not getting the ball enough,
even the ones who complain that they are "dog tired" at the end of the games
from getting the ball so much. To accuse Kilmer of allowing racism to
interfere with his desire to win is a cheap shot, especially considering that
the point of the film is that he wants to win at all costs. Kilmer could have
simply been leaving Wendell out of situations where he might get hurt, which
is what happened anyway. How did Kilmer injure Wendell's knee? He didn't!
Other than that, Kilmer gives the players, the parents, the school, and the
town everything they want. The movie ends in hypocrisy when the players go
out on the field and finish exactly what Kilmer started.
I have no sympathy for Mox at any point in this film. He doesn't even deserve
to be on the team in the first place. Reading a book during a game? A
drinking party the night before a game? Not knowing the signals? Ignoring the
coach and calling his own plays? Making up his own plays in practice? Throwing
balls at mascots, or his father for that matter? What exactly does his father
do wrong at any point in the film? I can't even sympathize with his decision
not to dump his girlfriend and be with whipped cream girl. His girlfriend is a
high maintenance, whiny, stuck-up brat, and a waste of his time.
Mox enjoys all the benefits of being the QB but thinks its unfair and
sulks whenever someone expects him to take it seriously.
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ndhwn
16 years ago
Seriously, if I was Mox's teammate, I would've beaten the crap out of him. If you can't handle it, get the hell off the team. That part about partying the night before was unacceptable. They lost the game because those lame fahks decided to go drinking the night before the game.
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McFly_2015
15 years ago
My main beef with Kilmers character was that he endangered their players; had Billy Bob play hurt, tried to inject the needle into the player near the end and knew of previous leg problems Lance had and never did anything about it. Also they do seem to be running up the scores on teams quite a bit but by all accounts, Moxton doesn't take a single snap all season until Lances injury. You can add the racism aspect too.
But anyhow Moxton is far from a hero for me. He showed no desire to play whatsoever prior to the injury. Anyone who's ever been a backup athlete in any sport knows that they have to practice and prepare harder than the starters because unlike the starter, the backup could only get in for one play so they have to be able to use the most of the little playing time they get. Moxton seemed to have the athletic skills Lance did but Lance knew the plays and the playbook better as evidenced by Moxton reading during the game. You ask any backup QB (or backup player in general) in the NFL what they do on the bench and the answer is take the reps mentally and prepare as though they are going in for the next snap at all times. Moxton isn't doing this hence why he didn't know the signals.
It's often a sign of disrespect when quarterbacks change their own plays in the huddle and practice without permission. Imagine Tom Brady going down and the backup deciding his play ideas are better than Bill Belichicks? Say what you want about Kilmer but his knowledge of football ws better than Moxtons.
And yes the strip club incident was another bad one especially when Kilmer continues to preach to Moxton to rest up. I'm surprised the O-linemen who were not at the bar weren't letting Moxton take a few hits on purpose.
You can go on all day about how Kilmer may have taken the fun out of football but if Moxton hated it so much he could have quit or played a less glamorous position.
I think they could have played out the hero/villain rivalry better. Moxton is no hero. I can't see him inspiring his teammates to go all out for him. They got some elements as far as Lances parents taunting Moxtons folks but maybe if they developed Lance into more of a jerklike jock and Moxton as a football star who doesn't act like one (not into himself, doesnt look down on others), it would have turned out better. Instead we find far more character flaws in the replacement QB than we do in the starting.
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Viltrumite
15 years ago
I agree with a lot of what people are saying about Mox, but not changing the plays. It was a good call.
Mox's father was kind of a dick, though. Most fathers would be proud of him for getting into that one school, not keep banging on about playing football at another school.
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BettOnThat
15 years ago
Reading some of these post I can't help but think a lot of you are in high school now or were scrubs on your football team. Kilmer was an ass for risking his players health over high school football, I don't care if it is the culture of the town. He blamed Billy Bob for Lance's injury even though he already knew about Lance's leg and saw Billy Bob was loopy from the previous play. Wendell didn't accuse Kilmer of being racist because he didn't get the ball enough. Wendell admitted to having big numbers in carries and yards. His point was that every time the team could sniff the end-zone he had to sit out in favor of a white rb or a passing play. Wendell flat out said he had a few touchdowns and those all came from big yard gains, he pointed out Kilmer wasn't talking to schools for him like he had for Tweeter, Lance and key players.
Moxon was an ass for taking three other players to a strip club and keeping them out all night. Kilmer didn't care about his players getting drunk high and stealing a cop car as long as it was an after party.
Moxon was studying during practice while sitting on the bench as the 2ND string QB that hadn't played a down throughout his high school career. Kilmer threatened to get Moxon's scholarship pulled if he blew the game.
Do you really want to compare Kilmer's actions to Moxon wanting to introduce some new plays and taking three players with him to a strip club?
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kyleb18940
15 years ago
While certainly Moxon did some things wrong, in the football sense, Kilmer was a bigger ass, as he was risking the long term health and life of young kids for wins. That trumphs Moxon's sins.
One thing that seems to get lost I notice is that a lot of the things Moxon did was so he could bond with his team mates. While the coach/player relationship is an important one, the players/quarterback one is just as important, if not moreso. Calling his own plays, the drinking party, had their downsides of course, but they also brought the team closer to Moxon, making him the unquestioned leader on the field, which is the most important aspect of being a QB
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megameme (370)
4 years ago
Viltrumite you obviously never played football if you can't understand how changing the plays (not an audible) can be seen as very high disrespect.
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