Journey Into DVD: Semi-Tough

If ever a DVD presentation of a movie cried out for a special edition, or at least a package offering some kind of bonus material to elaborate on the filmmakers' intentions, it would be "Semi-Tough." Unfortunately, all we get on the current disc is the original trailer. Yippee!

See, Michael Ritchie's 1977 film adaptation of the classic sports novel veers quite a bit from the source material, and I'd like to know why. The movie is OK, with some moments of insight and wit, but it is nowhere near the brilliance of Dan Jenkins' book--at least from my perspective. But maybe I'm missing something. So a featurette or two, if not a commentary, would be nice.

The book, which I raved about a year and a half ago, is more about football. Oh, it's about life and love and all that sort of thing, too, but it always feels like a football book. In the film, the sport really is in the background for large chunks, and the screenplay devotes much of its energies and screen time to social commentary on America in the seventies--specifically, a takeoff on trendy self-help movements like Werner Erhard's est (Erhard Seminars Training). Now, I was too young to have been lured into the grasp of est, but I read enough of my dad's "Mad" magazines to get a general idea of what it was about. Still, I wasn't around then, so maybe I'm lacking a certain sense of the day that would elevate "Semi-Tough" for me.

Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson play pro football teammates engaged in a vague love triangle of sorts with Jill Clayburgh, who plays the daughter of the team's owner. The movie takes us on a detour into an organization called B.E.A.T. (Bismark Earthwalk Action Training) as Kristofferson's Shake Tiller joins the movement. Then Burt's Billy Clyde Puckett (a classic name if I've ever heard one, and one that should have translated into a classic movie character) joins up as well...or does he?

Eh, I'm sure the commentary is very cutting, but I'm not as interested in this material as I am in what Jenkins gives us in his hilarious novel. As an example of what Ritchie sacrifices by emphasizing the B.E.A.T. storyline, I give you T.J. Lambert. The novel's Lambert is a brute but also an acclaimed master at the art of flatulence. The movie's Lambert is a hulking figure, and he does get to dangle an innocent woman off a rooftop, but do we see Brian Dennehy lighting up the screen with an array of impressive farts? No, we don't. Talk about a wasted opportunity...

But here is something Ritchie gains by using the Walter Bernstein screenplay: The eternal awesomeness of Bert Convy as the Erhard stand-in, Friedrich Bismark. When Burt and Jill experience the B.E.A.T. training, we see Bert Convy enter the room and tell the attendees they're a bunch of a--holes. At this point, I'm able to cast aside my disappointment with the rest of the film and recognize that here is something to enjoy. Now, here is an example of why it may be better to watch Semi-Tough with a modern, non-1977 perspective.

See, I suspect most moviegoers in 1977 saw Convy merely as the actor, game show host, and amiable showbiz personality he was. But if you grew up on Convy not just on "Tattletales," but on "Super Password" and "Win, Lose, or Draw," you know the man as an authority figure. Sure, he may have flubbed a clue every other episode. Granted he may have given off the aura of someone who never had total control of the games over which he presided. I will concede that by "Win, Lose, or Draw," his status as a proud member of the Burt Pack may have overshadowed his status as respected statesman of television. But those of us who grew up on Bert Convy knew--and we know--better. Bert is The Man, so when we hear him tell people they are a bunch of a--holes, we believe that they really are a--holes. Hell, we might even be tempted to join B.E.A.T. ourselves, even though the movie itself questions it and even though, well, frankly, it doesn't exist. Simply out, Bert wins out over Burt, if not within the story, within the hearts and minds of the viewers.

Yeah, His Burtness is at his cocky best, if you like that Burt, and there are some good scenes. But the plot brings down "Semi-Tough" way more than it should considering what great stuff it had to work with, and as a result the mind wanders and latches onto things like Bert Convy calling people a--holes. I wish there were more info on that DVD that might raise my appreciation of what everyone was going for here, but the sparse disc leaves me thinking "Semi-Tough" is a disappointing adaptation of a superb book.