North Dallas Forty

North Dallas Forty is a 1979 film drama starring Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, and G. D. Spradlin set in the world of American professional football. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and based on the bestselling novel by Peter Gent. The screenplay was by Kotcheff, Gent, Frank Yablans and Nancy Dowd uncredited. This was the first film role for Davis, a popular country music recording artist.

Though considered to possess the best hands in the game, the aging Elliott is struggling to stay competitive and relies heavily on painkillers. Elliott and popular quarterback Seth Maxwell Davis are outstanding players, but they also characterize the drug, sex, and alcoholfueled party atmosphere of NFL teams of that era. Elliott wants only to play the game, retire, and own a home with his girlfriend Charlotte Dayle Haddon, who appears to be financially independent, and has no interest whatsoever in football.The Bulls play for an iconic coach Spradlin who turns a blind eye to anything that his players may be doing off the field or anything that his assistant coaches and trainers condone to keep those players in the game. The Coach is focused on player tendencies, a quantitative measurement of their performance, and seems less concerned about the human aspect of the game and the players. As one player John Matuszak finally erupts to a coach Charles Durning Every time I call it a game, you call it a business. And every time I call it a business, you call it a game. ........

Source: Wikipedia