The Program (1993) Review

 

The Program (1993)

Definitely not the movie I had planned for my hiatus return, but I had to watch it for class.
The Program follows the ESU football team that is plagued by issues during a make-or-break season where they must make it to a bowl game, or lose their coach.

Honest to goodness, I didn’t expect much out of this other than being a typical football movie, but I was wrong. While it still has your usual underdog, win the big game story line, this movie also sprinkles in real life, ethical dilemmas that make it entertaining and educational. It diverts expectations by not being overly predictable and showing the sides of the players that you usually don’t see, from steroid use, taking money, alcoholism, and the misconduct all of that usually includes, from both players and coaches. As a football movie, it works well and as an eye opener to the realities of college, it does even better, especially with the relationship the two share.

The cast is stellar, led by Elf’s James Caan and including Andrew Bryniarski, Craig Sheffer, Kristy Swanson, Omar Epps, and Duane Davis. Each character gets their own story, mostly rooted in redemption, and it’s how they deal with their hardships and how the bounce back that will define them. Joe’s alcoholism, Lattimer’s roid taking, Jefferson’s relationship, and even Sam’s dilemmas with keeping his players in line and making sure they stay out of trouble, all create branching storylines that make this more of movie about corruption and compromises than football.

The Program is a conflicting film where you want the good guys to win, but are they really the good guys? It doesn’t shy away from the dark realities of drugs, addiction, rape, and cover ups, which is what I kind of admire about it; not showing a romanticized (not overly anyways) version of college football. Yes, in the end, everything sort of works out, but it still leaves multiple people broken, and leaves their stories on lower notes than when we met them, which is unbelievably human.

6.4/10