The Spirit Of West Point Review

During the eighteen-year tenure of Earl "Red" Blaik as its head coach, the Army football teams were among the strongest college teams in the land. The years 1944-46 brought Colonel Blaik three of his most dominating squads. These squads did not lose a single one of their contests, and they played to a tie just once. Two of his players, Felix "Doc" Blanchard and Glenn "Junior" Davis, won Heisman Trophies in consecutive seasons for their play (Blanchard won the Heisman in 1945, while Davis won that award the following season). Both were high on the NFL's draft list, but military commitment also awaited. The story of their lives, their college football careers, and their desire to someday take their game to the pro level is chronicled in the 1947 docudrama, "The Spirit Of West Point."

The star running backs play themselves in a movie that focuses primarily on their four years at the Academy in New York. Each found their way to path to the West Point gridiron in different ways. Blanchard sought enlistment after Pearl Harbor. He was rejected by the Navy, but was accepted by the Army, serving on a Texas base until he was accepted for college. He received his appointment to West Point with a bit of help from his father, Dr. Felix Blanchard (William Forrest), a South Carolina physician and West Point graduate. Meanwhile, Glenn struggled with his grades as a freshman and was "found" (i.e., he had some unsatisfactory marks). However, he continued with athletics and college back in his native California. They came into the Cadets football program together, coached by Blaik (Robert Shayne). Before long, Davis was the starting halfback, and Blanchard was the starting fullback. Blanchard would become known as "Mr. Inside," while Davis became known as "Mr. Outside."

Along the way, they make friends with a speedy end named Roger "Mileaway" McCarty (Michael Browne) and the team's top lineman, known as Oklahoma Cutter (Alan Hale, Jr.). As the wins keep coming, the teammates face obstacles that are bigger than not gaining an ivitation to participate in a post-season bowl. One of them is found, another wants to marry his girlfriend, and pro agents want the top Army players to seek furloughs and spend their autumns in the National Football League, should they be selected in the draft. Davis and Blanchard are offered $25,000 signing bonuses, and encouraged to pursue permission with West Point to play in the pros. Before they make any decisions on what they're going to do after college, they seek advice from former Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon (as himself). Each wants to play professionally to help themselves and their families financially, but each has a commitment to the service as well. Harmon tells the pair what to expect when agents come calling.

Getting the opportunity to view the highlights of Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside is fun, as these runners and defenders (Blanchard was also a linebacker, while Davis played defensive back) made their marks on college football. They proved that they could score on defense as well as on offense. The rest of the film, however, is problematic for two reasons. First, the drama part of this docudrama is not very convincing. Over the years, a number of Army players have been drafted by NFL teams, including Davis and Blanchard. However, they are required to serve full time active duty after graduation. In 2008, for example, the Detroit Lions drafted Army defensive back Caleb Campbell. He looked forward to practicing with his NFL team, and was even on the verge of signing a three-year contract with Detroit. However, his superiors gave him different marching orders which will not allow him to try out for any NFL team until at least 2010 (He is a free agent, as he never signed his deal). He could still have a pro future, just as Davis, who played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1950 and 1951, did (Injury, though, cut Davis's pro career short). Also, I doubt that cadets such as Mileaway McCarty and Oklahoma Cutter could simply leave West Point and not owe some commitment to the service. I'm not sure what the policy was back in those days (I know the furlough part is accurate), but I know that most military players who were good enough to go pro had to stay in the service for awhile before pro sports got their shot (Blanchard, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, opted to stay in the military for a quarter century, eventually serving a tour of duty in Vietnam).

The other problem is that Davis and Blanchard can't act their way out of a huddle. They first meet on a practice field where Blanchard punts a ball with a hang time long enough for Davis to have a conversation with a teammate. Later in that practice, Davis stops Blanchard for short gains on two consecutive plays. After the second tackle, Davis and Blanchard deliver their scripted introduction with all of the conviction of young men who are completely unfamiliar with the concept of scripts or acting. They always have a smile on their faces during the movie's lighter moments, giving away the staged nature of the movie. The dog who was cast to play Rusty, the Davis family pet, delivers barks and tail wagging better than his master can emote. Blanchard and Davis would like for viewers to hope their smiles and charm can cover for their deficiencies, but to no avail.

The actresses who were cast as members of the Blanchard family all sound as though they are trying to channel Scarlett O'Hara. Also, viewers would be hard-pressed these days to understand why these ladies call Doc by his middle name, Anthony, as the film never explains how they came to call him Anthony. Another actress who has a thankless job is Tanis Chandler, who plays Mildred, a young British woman who meets Blanchard after experiencing her first American college football game. Mildred asks questions that make her sound as if she were naive as a little girl. The biggest blunder, however, comes at the 1946 Army-Navy game, where the play-by-play announcer declares he'd like to see a play in slow motion - and it happens. Director Ralph Murphy couldn't bring cohesion to the intercutting of game action and story, and the story from Margaret Mary Howard and Tom Reed never rises above the level of cliche.

There are some things of positive interest in the movie, though. Shayne and Hale rise above the material to deliver the film's best performances. Shayne shows both toughness and concern as Blaik, a disciplinarian who always has the best interest of his players in mind. Hale, who would later play the Skipper on "Gilligan's Island," does well as the affable, but academically struggling, Oklahoma. Another good performance comes from George O'Hanlon as Joe Wilson, a sports reporter whose beat is Army football. He would later become best known as the voice of George Jetson on "The Jetsons." In addition to Harmon, announcers Bill Stern and Harry Wismer appear as themselves. Wismer would later become the founding owner of the pro football franchise known today as the New York Jets (In Wismer's time, they were known as the New York Titans).

"The Spirit Of West Point" is a well-intentioned film, but ultimately it is a misguided one. Much of the acting is laughable, and none of the recreations have the same one-two punch those backfield stars had when they played together for real. Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard served their country well, and created gridiron memories for generations of football fans. This is a memorable film for some, but not for the reasons intended by the filmmakers, or the greats of the college game themselves. This is one of the worst college football films I have ever seen, and is definitely number one in terms of camp value. If "The Spirit Of West Point" was supposed to be a tribute to two of Army's greatest football stars, it was a very undistinguished effort. This film, in military parlance, deserves a dishonorable discharge.

This review also appears on Amazon.com. A shorter version of this piece first appeared on Epinions in August 2009.