The Best of Times This movie came out when I was in my early 20's. Robin Williams and Kurt Russell were great in the this movie. Now that I am in my mid 40's I myself am looking at going back in time one more time on the gridiron. Good story about redemption and getting a second chance. One for your private football movie collection.
Best of Times The movie centers around Robin Williams, who dropped a ball in a football game some years ago, and cannot get over it. He tries to reunite the team to relive the game and finally catch the ball that he missed. I did like Russell's performance but Williams was just out of place. Really, Robin Williams playing football? There was alot of storyline errors that never added up and the ending could be seen from the opening narration. Long, not very funny, and just plain dull.
Redemption "Best of Times" is really less about football, and more about the theme of redemption. Robin Williams plays a manic bank manager traumatized by a dropped pass 13 years previous. He is haunted by this failure, and is made to feel defined by it through himself, his father-in-law, and even the small-town populace who still remark on the 13 year-old loss. After having one of his panic attacks related to "the Game" (as he terms it), a helpful prostitute (yes, that's right) suggested he replay the game. An epiphany, Williams' character, Jack Dundee, sets about a quest; but not to merely replay the game. Rather, his goal is purely to redeem himself as a failure. Unfortunately for Dundee, the high school quarterback phenomenon from that team, Reno Hightower (Russell) is less enthusiastic about replaying the game. Unlike Jack, Reno absolves his dead-end "van specialist" job with the ever-escalating stories about his greatness: "Hell, I'm afraid to throw a beer can in a trash can, because someone will say "hey, Reno, losin' your touch?'" As much as Jack is haunted by this past, Reno subsists on it. In both cases, of course, neither is being served by it. For entirely opposite reasons, both characters must somehow get the game behind them before they can move on. Fortunately, the film subtly exposes the fact that it is only Dundee who is openly aware of it. Jack eventually blackmails Reno into throwing in his support, and convinces both towns to replay the 13 year old game. But, it isn't only Reno who doesn't want the game replayed. Hightower's wife is frustrated by her own efforts to reclaim her youthful greatness in high school and transfer it to a contemporary performance stage, and Jack's wife was mortified at the prospect of having to pick up the pieces from her already tortured husband's psyche if he drops the ball again. A little more examination of both these women's characters would have been interesting - but with four major protagonists and an inherent screen time limit, some trimming was inevitable. Still, the script, directing and acting effectively conveyed these women's internal conflicts. An important subplot involved another Taft, California athletic failure who Jack nor anyone else in the town seems to know about. I won't spoil this small but important plot element, but suffice it to say that you should really pay attention to the seemingly non-sequitor introduction prefatory and the subtle focus given to an old man at the end of the film. This film is extraordinary in its examination of redemption. Each character was in need of making up for something - however, it was only the neurotic Jack Dundee who seemed to be self-conscious about it. Reno Hightower needed to break away from his dramatic, but long-passed legendary gridiron exploits in order to grow as a person in real life. The same could be said for his wife, albeit in a different venue. Even Jack Dundee's wife needed to let go of her husband's self-flagellating retrospective behavior - something she could not do without Jack proving to himself he could accomplish it. Even the town of Taft, California reinvigorated itself from the quiet desperation of a remote industrial town. The setting is sports, but the theme is entirely centered on the human condition of redemption. This is a comedy, and an effective one at that. But, it is really its message that is more memorable. I was inspired by the movie's climatic football game. But, it wasn't the operation of the football spectacle that I found moving. Rather, it was the way the scene nicely tied up a clever commentary on perceived flaws versus the actual state of the human condition. BAKERSFIELD MUST BE DESTROYED! Though not widely known nowadays,this film has become a fall tradition in households around the country.Best of Times is the hilarious tale of one mans quest to correct a highschool football failure that plunges his small town into "lethergy" and haunts him well into adulthood.Robin Williams and Kurt Russel unite to lead the old team to victory and redeem their towns dignity and pride in this football classic that's packed with tons of heart and soul.This is one of those rare comedies that delivers in every department,so suit up and join the tradition by enjoying one of the most treasured and heartwarming comedies that has brought families together since the real best of times. "In conclusion I'd just like to say...Bakersfield must be destroyed!"Funny and hilarious!!!!! Kurt Russell and Robin Williams are dynamite as always. It's about a football reunion (more or less), between two opposing "old school" teams. It's hilarious and worth seeing. You can't go wrong with Kurt Russell or Robin Williams.
