They Lead The League In Scoring ... After The Game!

It's The World's Greatest Game (And It Sure Ain't Football)

Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson star as two pro-football pals who both fall for the team-owner's very rich daughter. Kind of goofy, kind of funny, and somewhat endearing--those are the qualities that surface in this light-hearted comedy built upon an extremely predictable scenario.

Semi-Tough is a 1977 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Lotte Lenya, Bert Convy, and Brian Dennehy, set in the world of American professional football.

The plot involves a love triangle between the characters portrayed by Reynolds, Kristofferson and Clayburgh. Semi-Tough also includes a parody of Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training (est), depicted in the film as an organization called "B.E.A.T."[2]

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Dan Jenkins. It was adapted for the screen by writer Walter Bernstein and director Ritchie, who added a new storyline that included a satire of the self-help movement and new religions.

Semi-Tough follows the story of pro-football friends Billy Clyde Puckett and Marvin "Shake'" Tiller, who have a third roommate, Barbara Jane Bookman. A romance develops with Shake until he becomes self-confident after completing a self awareness course called "B.E.A.T." led by Friedrich Bismark that he insists Barbara Jane try, at which point Billy Clyde slyly makes a play to win her for himself.

The film received mixed reception. Some reviewers praised its parodies of the est training, Erhard and other new age movements such as Rolfing. Others criticized the script and direction, noting that some of director Ritchie's previous films had more of a personal tone. Still other reviews lamented the film's departure from the novel Semi-Tough, which dealt more with football and less with the new age movement.

The press disagreed on the satire of Erhard in the film, some praising it, some not. The Wall Street Journal criticized the film, save for its satirical nature: "The movie isn't much - an erratic ramble - but it has some pleasant moments, and a delicious send-up of the self-improvement guru Werner Erhard."[25] The Charlotte Observer praised Bert Convy's portrayal of the self-help guru Frederick Bismark, and called Convy: ".. a hilariously smug consciousness-raiser with a more than passing resemblance to EST's Werner Erhard".[26] Magill's Survey of Cinema described the film as a chiding of American "religious fads and philosophies",[18] and The Grove Book of Hollywood called it a "cheeky film" that poked fun at the "est" craze and other human potential fads.[8] TIME Magazine called the film one of 1977's best comedies, and also noted that it was: "without a doubt the year's most socially useful film".[9]

The film did not receive a positive review in Variety, where the reviewer commented: "Semi-Tough begins as a bawdy and lively romantic comedy about slap happy pro football players, then slows down to a too-inside putdown of contemporary self-help programs."[7] Variety noted that stars Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson and Jill Clayburgh were "excellent" within the "zigzag" script and poor direction they were given.[7] Michael Costello of Allmovie also criticized the script, and wrote: "While much of this is quite predictable, a number of the jokes score, Burt Reynolds works his charm overtime, and Jill Clayburgh and Kris Kristofferson are effective as comic foils."[16] In American Film Now, author James Monaco commented on director Michael Ritchie's directing style in Semi-Tough, stating that in the film Ritchie was "speaking in a professional voice".[11] Monaco noted that Ritchie's prior films evoked a more personal tone, and had more of a sense of wonder than Semi-Tough.[11]

Chapman's In Search of Stupidity characterized the film as: "Possibly one of the best movies ever made by Burt Reynolds", and described the film's parody of est as accurate and amusing.[27] Leonard Maltin criticized parts of the script, stating that Reynolds' charm filled in for the film's other deficiencies.[24] Hunsberger criticized Ritchie's screenplay adaptation in his work The Quintessential Dictionary, complaining that the game of football should have supported the film as a plot device, but was instead left to the side in favor of other stories

The film grossed $37,187,139 at the box office.[1] Semi-Tough was later developed as a pilot episode for a potential television series on a similar theme, and was a candidate to be picked up in the fall of 1980.[22] The 1980 Semi-Tough pilot episode starred Bruce McGill playing Burt Reynolds' original role, with co-star David Hasselhoff.[23] The film has since been released in both VHS and DVD format

Release Date: November 11, 1977


Distrib: United Artists


Boxoffice: $37,187,139 2014: $132,739,700