The Program The Rewatchables
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The Program

What’s Aged the Worst?

Latimer's sexual assault scene; James Caan's performance; opening-game rainstorm; Joe Kane's age; cut road-lying scene; Kristy Swanson's tennis jorts; Ray the tailback's casting; Joe Kane's body double; no college overtime; Chris Berman's shtick; Ray Griffen's party sweater; Darnell licking his hands; quickly dropped assault charges; missed 1993 music

In the discussion (21)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:56Read transcript
  • Latimer's sexual assault scene was rougher and more terrifying than remembered, deplorable for a liked character, yet realistic for late-80s and early-90s campuses.
  • A 2020 film would handle it differently; it recalled the Gandolfini and Alabama Worley scene.
  • The scene is accurate and terrifying, and the small cast heightens how scary it is.
  • The scene is important because it shows Latimer as the worst character, which makes him conflicting and great; a comparison is drawn to a Vision Quest scene, and films have become more careful in the last 15 years.
  • James Kahn is not great here, like a coach who had a mild stroke; the "keep that index finger on the ball" line and the halftime speech lose the speaker.
  • Caan's best scenes are kicking a player off the team and the academic board hearing where he sells his soul to football.
  • A research claim that Popovich adopted James Kahn's coaching personality is admitted to be made up, and another participant flags the habit of throwing in fake information.
  • No NBA arena has ever hyped a crowd with the James Kahn scene.
  • The opening-game rainstorm looks like a monsoon.
  • A prediction game on the next item is won by the guess that Joe Kane is 32 years old; the deleted scene was next on the list.
  • The actor was actually 33, with a receding hairline, and Halle Berry at 27 with hair extensions seems like a teacher rather than a junior.
  • Craig Sheffer is the biggest flaw: not big enough to be a quarterback, never a big star, and too old, like an assistant coach.
  • Joe Kane is only a junior; Tim Weyman looks mid-40s; Halle Berry was making Boomerang at the same time.
  • The deleted scene of Joe lying in the road as cars swerve was cut after two young men were reportedly killed imitating it; it is missing from the VHS, later airings and Amazon but is on YouTube.
  • Sheffer's quote that he refused to do the scene until his agents were called is met with skepticism.
  • The cut leaves a hole: pre-internet it was unobtainable, and without it Joe jumps from party quarterback to borderline suicidal, like cutting Maverick's MIG encounter.
  • Cutting it while keeping the assault scene and the train-tracks stunt is inconsistent; the Cliffhanger comparison argues imitation risk does not justify it.
  • Further items: Christy Swanson playing tennis in jorts, Ray the tailback needing a better actor, Joe Kane's obvious heavier body double, the lack of college overtime, and Chris Berman doing the same shtick 27 years later, though that is countered as having come back around to respect.
  • Ray Griffin's party sweater (but not his khakis) has aged badly, as has Darnell licking his hands before the last kickoff; Newman gloves are fondly recalled.
  • The assault being resolved in seconds because the victim's booster father drops charges is not any real dad's reaction.
  • The film missed several chances to feel musically like 1993.