Varsity Blues

Summary

“Football is a way of life.”

In 1999, MTV Films and Paramount Pictures released the teenage football drama Varsity Blues. Living as a fourteen year old in Little Rock, Arkansas and attending a school with one of the best football programs in the state, I can not overemphasize how much this movie spoke to the high school students around me at that time. For example, the speech that Paul Walker gives in the gym at a pep rally before the first game in the movie was given almost verbatim in our gym at a pep rally. To understand how this film struck such a chord, it is important to understand the times as they were. Pre-smart phone, post AIDS epidemic, pre-9/11, Rock the Vote, Clinton-era Nineties. The nation’s economy was strong and we were not in any wars of note. Grunge had basically ended its reign on the radio and Total Request Live was becoming a popular fixture in living rooms of teenagers so that they could phone into Carson Daly and request Korn or Backstreet Boys videos. At the time, MTV still had a stranglehold on the teenage demographic. They could not have realized at the time that their influence would wain so quickly as their network became less and less weird and simultaneously less interesting. As I am writing this, a few months ago MTV News disbanded completely. In the Nineties, it would sound ridiculous that MTV News would fracture to that point by the 2020s. But, in 1999, MTV still spoke directly to the teenagers who tuned in every day after school.

So, MTV promoted the hell out of Varsity Blues. At the same time, the main television series that teenagers turned into was a show on WB called Dawson’s Creek. This was the late Nineties answer to the early Nineties Beverly Hills 90210, and catapulted the careers of the entire cast. It was a massive hit and one of the defining shows of that time. The lead actor of Dawson’s Creek, James Van Der Beek lent his newfound star power to Varsity Blues. MTV’s promotion of the picture definitely worked. Varsity Blues was made for a modest $16 million and grossed $54.6 million at the box office. It was critically fairly well received and the soundtrack for the picture gave Green Day and Foo Fighters some massive hits on the radio. Paramount has given Varsity Blues a 4K UHD release to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and last night I watched it with my wife and my fourteen year old son (with him needing to leave the room for a few scenes.) We all had a great time watching the movie which holds up incredibly well.

In West Canaan, Texas, football is a way of life. Winning is all that matters. Obese offensive lineman Billy Bob (Ron Lester) picks up backup quarterback Jonathon “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek)  in his truck. Billy Bob has his pet pig named Bacon in the truck along with their star wide receiver Wendell (Eliel Swinton.) They grab quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker) and then pick up their sex obsessed running back Tweeter (Scott Caan.) They have all been friends their entire lives and have played football together since peewee league. At West Canaan High School, Coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight) has coached for thirty years. The West Canaan Coyotes have won two state titles and twenty two district championships. The stadium where the students play is named Bud Kilmer stadium and a statue of the coach looms large over the field of play. Kilmer is a dominant force and is willing to do whatever it takes to win games, even at the expense of his players’ futures. Mox is dating Lance’s beautiful sister Juliana (Amy Smart,) who sees a lot more in Mox’s intellect than in his football abilities. Mox has big academic ambitions and wants to go to Brown University when he graduates. He does not plan to stay in West Canaan like so many. At the pep rally, Lance gives an invigorating speech about a dream he had where they beat Bayville. Lance is set to go to Florida State University on a full athletic scholarship, and he is dating Darcy (Ali Larter,) the most beautiful cheerleader in the school. Before the game, Mox sees Lance get an injection in his leg from Kilmer and his medical team before Kilmer slams the door shut. In the game, the Coyotes come out on top. During the game, Mox reads a book by Kurt Vonnegut while pretending to study the playbook. Billy Bob has a serious concussion during the game, but the Coyotes win. That night, the teenagers all party and get drunk. There is a small rivalry at a home barbecue between Mox and Lance’s dads. Mox’s dad thinks that Mox is just as good a quarterback as Lance, but he doesn’t get a shot to show it on the field because Kilmer never starts him. At school, Billy Bob faints in class. This is no doubt because of the hit he took in the game before, but he plays in the game that night. During a crucial play, Billy Bob faints while playing in the game and when Lance is left undefeated, he takes a big hit. Lance’s leg is injured badly. Mox is suddenly the quarterback of the coyotes. At the end of the game, unable to hear Coach Kilmer, Mox chooses his own play. The play wins the game. As Mox’s star rises, he is faced with new temptations. He also begins to square off against the aggressive and unethical Coach Kilmer.

It is probably pretty obvious from my enthusiastic writing about this film, but I really love Varsity Blues. Part of it is nostalgia to be certain. Very few films bring back the feelings of my youth like Varsity Blues, and it at least felt like it was a simpler time, but that could be directly related to my age at the time. The film completely nails the Southern Bible belt’s mixture of Christianity, sexuality, drinking, and love of sports. While it is all a little ramped up, it is not that far off. My high school experience was not like what the film showed, but I think a lot of Southern kids experienced a similar experience in college. The writing of the film by W. Peter Iliff is solid. The film is extremely funny, sometimes vulgar, and the football sequences are thoughtfully constructed. Revisiting the film as a parent of a teenager, I suddenly found every sequence with the parents to be completely hilarious. Those scenes never stood out to me as a teenager. Director Brian Robbins never made another film that worked as well as Varsity Blues, but he did a solid job of bringing the best out of his “teenage” and adult cast for Varsity Blues. While certain moments of the film were easy to parody (“I don’t want your life,”) the high school football game sequences are extremely well done. In particular, the final game still gives me little goosebumps when the Foo Fighters song “Hero” starts playing. How could anyone of my generation watch that sequence and not get pumped up? Speaking of which, the soundtrack is a great reflection of our tastes at that time.

The cast is a really solid ensemble. James Van Der Beek may push the accent so Southern that it feels like a mockery, but he still wins the audience over in the lead role. Paul Walker is charming and enjoyable as the injured quarterback Lance Harbor. Ron Lester is very good as Billy Bob. It is crazy to think that both Paul Walker and Ron Lester are dead less than twenty five years later. Amy Smart is great as Mox’s love interest. Ali Larter was a crush for every adolescent boy in America after her whip cream bikini scene. Thomas F. Duffy and Richard Lineback are both hilarious as fathers of the quarterbacks. Scott Caan is very funny as Tweeter. This was a big role for him and led to some nice smaller roles in the Ocean’s Eleven series. This film would not be what it is without Jon Voight’s absolutely incredible performance. The intensity and venomous anger he brings to the role is incredible. He steals every scene he is in and makes the film. It’s Oscar caliber acting for certain. Jesse Plemons also has a very small cameo at the young age of ten. Keep an eye out for him.

Varsity Blues is just as good as you remember. It is still as funny and irreverent and exciting as it was when it came out twenty five years ago. I am so happy that Paramount brought this film to 4K. Check it out!

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, Varsity Blues receives a substantial boost from Paramount’s new UHD presentation. The prior Blu-ray release of the film always looked a little flat, so Paramount’s decision to do a brand new 4K transfer was a wise one. Like many films from that era, the film stock has a slightly softer look. The cinematography by Chuck Cohen does a wonderful job of presenting the small town Texas life from the late Nineties, and the football sequences still look fantastic. Grain is well resolved and the HDR brings out the most from the film’s color palette. The improvements definitely made me very happy as a long time fan of the film, and I think most fans of the picture will agree.

Audio

Paramount has unfortunately not upgraded Varsity Blues from it’s 2011 Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. A full blown Atmos track would have been amazing, because those football scenes just scream out for that type of treatment. The track is front heavy and does not hit as hard as it should. That said, dialogue is rendered very clearly. The soundtrack still sounds great, but with a little bit of tweaking this track could have been so good.

Supplements:

4K UHD Disc

• There are no supplements on the 4K disc.

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary: Director Brian Robbins and Producers Tova Laiter and Mike Tollin.
• Football is a Way of Life: The Making of Varsity Blues
• Two-A-Days: The Ellis Way
• QB Game Analysis
• Billy Bob with No Bacon
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5 

Audio – 3.75/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Varsity Blues is one of my favorite movies from the latter part of the Nineties. Released by MTV Films and riding the success of James Van Der Beek’s breakthrough role in Dawson’s Creek, Varsity Blues was a big hit on the big screen and the soundtrack dominated the radio waves in the months after its release. The film is an uncommonly intelligent and funny look at Southern small towns and the Friday night lights that in many ways define those small towns. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas at a private school with an excellent football program, this film always hit close to home. The film holds up very well twenty five years later. Jon Voight gives one of the best performances of his career as the ominous Coach Kilmer, and the ensemble cast of “teens” are all very well cast. The soundtrack is iconic and the film’s football sequences are very well done. Teenagers and nostalgists alike will fall in love with Varsity Blues. Paramount’s 4K UHD has a great new transfer which is likely as good as the film will ever look, and the bundled Blu-ray houses the special features from the prior release. The audio is a bit disappointing because it relies on 2011’s TrueHD track which was only “okay” back then. Despite those issues, this release still comes highly recommended based on the strength of the film and the upgraded video.