Wildcats

Several great films are made about American football. Even if one is not a football fan, the movies are enjoyable. My next three blog posts discuss unique movies about the sport of football.

 

Goldie Hawn plays Molly McGrath in the comedy WILDCATS (1986). McGrath is a girls’ track coach at the affluent Prescott High School. She desires a position as a football coach because her father was a well-known football coach. It is significant McGrath wants to coach football because no woman had ever done it before, not even at the high school level.

In real life Jen Welter was introduced as the first woman National Football League (NFL) coach in July 2015. Just this year Katie Sowers was the first female to coach in a Super Bowl. So far only 10 women coached professional football and three coached high school football.

WILDCATS is a unique movie about football because Molly McGrath is given the opportunity to coach football at Central High School in Chicago. Unfortunately, the position is given to her as a joke by the male football coach of Prescott High School, Dan Darwell (Bruce McGill). The job offer is solid, but Darwell has no faith McGrath can truly coach football. In addition, it is noted that no one else will take the position at Central High School because of where it is located. McGrath is a white woman who will be coaching football at a school where mostly students of color attend.

At first the boys on the Wildcats team at Central High School give McGrath a difficult time. She firmly tells them no one else will take the job so they are stuck with her. Over time, McGrath grows on the team and the team grows on McGrath; a mutual respect is cultivated.

WILDCATS presents the concept of a female football coach that is 29 years ahead of its time. It is a fun comedy that does not take itself seriously, even though the idea of a woman in McGrath’s position might have inspired many young girls watching the movie. The film may have also inspired videos that were produced by real life professional football teams. The end credits of WILDCATS features the Wildcats team and McGrath performing a rap: “It’s the sport of kings, better than Diamond Rings, That’s why we’re here to sing, football…”

The most popular video was by the Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew performing “The Super Bowl Shuffle.” Other NFL teams that made videos in the 1980’s were the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Raiders (“Silver and Back Attack”), the Seattle Seahawks (“Locker Room Rock”), the Dallas Cowboys (“Livin’ the American Dream”), the Philadelphia Eagles (“Buddy’s Watching You”), the Cleveland Browns (“Masters of the Gridiron”), the Miami Dolphins (“Can’t Touch US”), and the Los Angeles Rams (“Ram It”). WILDCATS probably got the idea from one of these teams. Whether the movie inspired real life or the real teams inspired the movie, the rap during the end credits of WILDCATS is very entertaining and keeps viewers engaged.