Players - (1979)
After the success of “The Longest Yard” and “Rocky”, in the seventies, almost every sport got a Hollywood movie made about it. Basketball – “Fastbreak”, “One On One” and “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh”, hockey – “Slap Shot”, marathon running – “Running”, bowling – “Dreamer”, pinball – “Tilt”, skateboarding – “Skateboard”. Well Anthony Harvey’s “Players” is the Hollywood tennis movie.
It’s the story of a tennis bum/hustler Chris (Dean Paul Martin) who meets the lonely wife (Ali MacGraw) of a tycoon Maxamilian Schell , who inspires him (sort of) to become a real tennis pro (though why she’s lonely isn’t clear since her tycoon husband seems devoted to her). Harvey’s film was ridiculed by critics and dismissed by audiences when it came out back in 1979. But as a Hollywood tennis sports movie it’s pretty good. The movie starts with a terrific sequence of two players waiting for three minutes in the waiting room where players cool their heels before their match at Wimbledon. It’s a great opening scene for a sports movie. And Arnold Schulman’s script has a neat idea of structuring the whole film around Chris’ championship Wimbledon match. We watch the different sets of the match as real life tennis pros of the era (Connors & McEnroe) sit in the stands. In between the sets, we see flashbacks that tell us how Chris got there.
Dean Martin’s son Dean Paul Martin, in his only feature film lead, is pretty good as the tennis bum turned tennis star. His tennis is terrific, and while I didn’t necessarily need to see him star in anything else, as a tennis pro he’s pretty fucking convincing (he looks far more like a Van Patten then a Martin).
The glitzy ritzy jet-setting love story between him and MacGraw isn’t very believable, and by the end doesn’t make much sense. In fact the whole third act of the love story seems left on the cutting room floor, with the film makers hopeful audiences wouldn’t notice. Yet even while the love story collapses by the end, in it’s own “Greek Tycoon”-like soap opera opulence, it’s still kind of fun. But the films best moments are Dean Paul Martin training with his coach, real life tennis giant Poncho Gonzales (playing himself), including a must in a sports movie, a great training montage.
SPECIAL NOTE: Dean Paul Martin (who is now deceased) back when he was fifteen was a pop star as one member of the 60’s teeny bopper trio “Dino, Desi & Billy”, who’s most memorable hit was the catchy “I’m a fool”.