Charlton Heston played Saints' QB Cat Catlin in "Number One" (Photo by Mike Moore/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Film study is an important part of the game of football. The following 10 players had a better shot of winning an Oscar as opposed to a championship.
There have been some legendary films as well as television series that have focused on the game of football. From motion pictures such as North Dallas Forty and The Program to TV shows such as Coach and Friday Night Lights. Of course, there are many more and those will be addressed in this piece, with the onus on some great characters.
Remember, it's the greatest "fictional" players. So, if you are looking for Michael Oher, George Plimpton and Rudy Ruettiger, they all existed. Just not in this tribute.
The 10 greatest fictional football players of all time:
10. QB Ron Catlin (New Orleans Saints)
Fiction or foresight? The film is titled Number One. Legendary figure Charlton Heston plays Ron "Cat" Catlin, a talented quarterback who has already led the New Orleans Saints to a championship and then begins to age – and not so gracefully. The film was released in 1969, just two years after the Saints began their debut season in the National Football League.
The movie ends on an ominous note as Catlin is sacked hard by numerous Dallas Cowboys and lies on the ground somewhat motionless and with a little blood near his ear. Did it really end for the Catlin? It makes you wonder.
9. DB Stefen Djordjevic (Ampipe High School)
Imagine a high school football coach blackballing a player, citing attitude problems? The movie All the Right Moves deals with high school football in Western Pennsylvania. Heady defensive back Stefen Djordjevic of Ampipe High School was a talented performer for Coach Nickerson (played by Craig T. Nelson).
He could also be a little outspoken. After Ampipe fell to Walnut Heights on a last-second fumble (after Nickerson made the decision to run a play instead in the pouring rain), Djordjevic barked back at his coach after listening to him play the blame game with everyone but himself.
The outburst the young defensive back in the dog house and Nickerson started spreading the word that Stefen was a discipline case. When it's all said and done, a humbled Nickerson gets a college job and gives Djordjevic a scholarship. That was certainly the right move.
8. LB Bobby Boucher Jr. (South-Central Louisiana State University)
Talk about a Cinderella story? Bobby Boucher Jr. (played by Adam Sandler) went from The Waterboy with a speech impediment to a pass-rushing demon for South-Central Louisiana State University.
In a game in which the team was not given a "shot," Boucher was back with the team after intermission and was the catalyst for the Mud Dogs' comeback victory in the Bourbon Bowl. He threw the game-winning touchdown pass as the team rallied from a 27-0 deficit (sound familiar, Jaguars fans?)
It's safe to say that Sandler has made his share of appearances in sports movies. He went from hockey prospect to PGA golfer in "Happy Gilmore." He also played the lead role of quarterback Paul Crewe in the 2005 remake of "The Longest Yard."
7. QB Joe Pendleton (Los Angeles Rams)
In 1978's Heaven Can Wait, Warren Beatty plays quarterback Joe Pendleton. He's on course to be the starter for the Los Angeles Rams but supposedly dies in a bicycle accident. He is mistakenly whisked off to heaven and is cremated, so the powers that be must find him another body (billionaire Leo Farnsworth).
Farnsworth contacts coach Max Corkle, convinces him that he is actually Pendleton and in order to full fill his dream of playing quarterback buys the Rams.
The Rams are facing the Steelers in the Super Bowl and their quarterback is Tom Jarrett. That's because Farnsworth/Pendleton was murdered by his wife and her lover. Once again, Pendleton is on the move because Jarrett is hit hard by the Steelers and would pass away on the field.
Pendleton takes over, the game reaches overtime, the Rams fumble but Pendleton is in the right position and scoops up his own team's fumble and returns it for the game-winning touchdown.
6. RB Gavin Grey (LSU)
He was not only Everybody's All-American but a Heisman Trophy winner. LSU running back Gavin Grey (played by Dennis Quaid) had a tremendous career with the Tigers, supported by his college sweetheart and eventual wife "Babs" (Jessica Lange) and best friends "Cake" (Timothy Hutton) and Lawrence (John Goodman). His pro career begins in Washington but he's not nearly the pro success that he was in school.
Post-football has its issues, including a failed restaurant business (thanks to Lawrence's gambling debts). Grey struggles to deal with his latter years and let go of his college success. It's a sad reminder of living in the past, but Babs is his rock. Quaid gives a tremendous performance as "The Grey Ghost."
5. QB Levander 'Bird' Williams (Central High School)
Good comedy provided by Goldie Hawn, who plays Molly McGrath in Wildcats. She goes from a track coach at Prescott High to head football coach at Central High School. The team has talent but is raw and McGrath goes to great lengths to win over their trust and respect. The key is securing the services of extremely talented quarterback Levander 'Bird' Williams (played by Mykelti Williamson), who has various other interests (legal and illegal) outside high school.
Young actors Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson are members of the team who with Williams at the controls learn how to win. Conveniently, McGrath's club faces Prescott for the championship. Tied and with time running out in the fourth quarter, massive Phillip Finch blocks a game-winning field goal attempt, Williams scoops up the ball and returns it for a touchdown.
4. QB Shane Falco (Washington Sentinels)
It was a tribute of sorts to the players who crossed the picket lines during the National Football League's players' strike in 1987. That NFL season kicked off with two games for each of the league's 28 teams. There was no football in Week 3, and then three weeks of "replacement games" featuring players (and eventually some veterans) looking to fulfill their dreams.
The Washington Sentinels, led by replacement quarterback Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves) and guided by head coach Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman)
The Replacements was released in 2000, more than a decade after the players' strike. It's interesting to note that the then-Washington Redskins won all three of their replacement games in 1987, finished with an 11-4 record and eventually routed the Denver Broncos, 42-10, in Super Bowl XXII.
3. LB Charles Jefferson (Ridgemont High School)
When Jeff Spicoli wasn't busy learning about Cuba and having some food in history class and in the process tormenting teacher Mr. Hand, he was busy borrowing Charles Jefferson's Trans Am.
One evening he and Charles' little brother were out cruising and would end up trashing Jefferson's car. Jeff claimed he could fix it. He had the mangled car (spray painted with Die Ridgemont and Lincoln Rules) taken to the school for all to see.
That included Jefferson, the Ridgemont Wolves' star linebacker. He would make Lincoln pay in a big way. He tackled and hit everything in sight. He even gave one of the officials a smack with his shoulder. What a defensive display.
Final score: Ridgemont 42, Lincoln 0.
2. WR Rod Tidwell (Arizona Cardinals)
The motion picture Jerry McGuire has its share of memorable lines and a few of them were produced by Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell. Cuba Cooding Jr. earned an Academy Award for his performance of the confident performer looking for a big payday.
He is represented by McGuire, played by Tom Cruise, who would eventually make "all the right moves" in getting Tidwell some serious "quan."
There is a little drama when late in a Monday night home game against the Dallas Cowboys, Tidwell appears to be injured. He eventually gets up and entertains the crowd with a little end zone dancing. It's after that game that the Cardinals show him the money.
1. QB Paul Crewe (Mean Machine)
The original remains the standard.
After stealing his girlfriend's car and eventually giving it a "bath," former star quarterback Paul "Wrecking" Crewe (who once took money to throw a game) is arrested and sent to Citrus State Prison.
Crewe (played by Burt Reynolds) is approached by Warden Hazen about his own semi-pro football team made up of prison guards. When it's all said and done, there will be a game between the guards (loaded with former real NFL stars such as Ray Nitschke and Joe Kapp) and inmates.
Of course, Crewe must put a team together and he finds some talent. Eventually, there's a game and the inmates are holding their own against Hazen's club. The warden approaches Crewe at halftime and attempts to blackmail him into being blamed for a murder.
Crewe obliges but after spotting the guards a 35-13 lead, has a change of heart. He rallies the club via 23 unanswered points and a 36-35 victory.
It's not quite 28-3 (Super Bowl LI) but it made for a helluva game.
