Semi-Tough

Wide receiver Marvin "Shake" Tiller and running back Billy Clyde Puckett are football buddies who play for a Miami pro team owned by "Big Ed" Bookman. Bookman's daughter Barbara Jane is roommates with both men, and the film depicts a subtle love triangle relationship developing between Barbara Jane and her two friends. Initially the three of them are just good friends, but she begins to have romantic feelings for Shake, who has become more self-confident after taking self-improvement training from seminar leader Friedrich Bismark. When the trainees are encouraged to express their most repressed feelings, he exhibits the strongest, most primal display of them all. Shake is surprised to see Billy Clyde emerge from Barbara Jane's B.E.A.T. training session. Billy Clyde "confesses" to Shake that he took the training so that he'd be able to mock it more effectively afterwards, but says that he actually "got it". For a time, he pretends he underwent a conversion to Bismark's way of thinking, often using B.E.A.T. terminology and clichés in everyday conversation. Shake worries that Barbara Jane hasn't "gotten it", and Billy Clyde tries to reassure Shake that it doesn't matter, but Shake remains dubious. During the wedding, as Big Ed escorts Barbara Jane to the altar, the minister turns to Bismark and gives him some advice on how he can avoid capital gains tax in his business. ==Cast==

• Burt Reynolds as Billy Clyde Puckett • Kris Kristofferson as Marvin "Shake" Tiller • Jill Clayburgh as Barbara Jane Bookman • Robert Preston as Ed "Big Ed" Bookman • Bert Convy as Friedrich Bismark • Roger E. Mosley as "Puddin" Patterson Sr. • Lotte Lenya as Clara Pelf • Richard Masur as Phillip Hooper • Carl Weathers as "Dreamer" Tatum • Brian Dennehy as T.J. Lambert • Mary Jo Catlett as Earlene Emery • Joe Kapp as Hose Manning • Ron Silver as Vlada Kostov • Jim McKrell as Bud McNair • Peter Bromilow as Kostov's Interpreter • Norman Alden as Coach Alvin Parks • Fred Stuthman as Minister • Ed "Too Tall" Jones as Football Player • Jerry Belson as Director • Dick Schaap as Himself • Lindsey Nelson as Himself • Paul Hornung as Himself ==Production==

Adaptation Semi-Tough is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Dan Jenkins, and the screenplay was written by Walter Bernstein. Jenkins later commented that the film adaptation of his book Baja Oklahoma was: "a lot more faithful to the novel than Semi-Tough ever was". Preparation Burt Reynolds began training with Kris Kristofferson to get in shape before film production. Before work began on the film, actor Bert Convy attended one of Werner Erhard's est training sessions to prepare for his role as B.E.A.T. seminar leader Friedrich Bismark. Pro football stars were hired to give realism to the film, including John Matuszak, Paul Hornung, Joe Kapp, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. == Parodies of self-improvement, new religions ==

Bernstein and Ritchie's modified screenplay based on Jenkins' book includes a storyline with "satiric jabs" at new religions, self-improvement, and the Human Potential Movement. A form of Rolfing is also parodied in the film by Lotte Lenya, whose character Clara Pelf is seen as a spoof of "a Rolf-like masseuse". In American Film Now, Friedrich Bismark is simply described as "the Werner Erhard character". After Semi-Tough's release in 1977, Bert Convy was contacted by a number of est followers, as well as by Werner Erhard. During actual filming on Semi-Tough, Convy received a late-night phone call from actress Valerie Harper, known in Hollywood as a devoted student of Werner Erhard. She related to Convy that Erhard was "pleased" with the role, and she wished him success in the film. Convy suspected that her real reason for calling was to subtly pressure him to go easy on his parody of Erhard in the film. Harper is mentioned by name in the completed film. ==Reception==

Box office and releases The film grossed $37,187,139 at the box office. The 1980 series starred Bruce McGill playing Burt Reynolds' original role Billy Clyde Puckett, with co-star David Hasselhoff. The film has since been released in both VHS and DVD formats. Critical reception , 1991: Leonard Maltin wrote that Reynolds' charm made up for deficiencies in the script of Semi-Tough. The Charlotte Observer praised Bert Convy's portrayal of the self-help guru Frederick Bismark, and called Convy: "… a hilariously smug consciousness-raiser with a more than passing resemblance to EST's [sic] Werner Erhard". ''Magill's Survey of Cinema'' described the film as a chiding of American "religious fads and philosophies", The film did not receive a positive review in Variety, where the reviewer commented: "Semi-Tough begins as a bawdy and lively romantic comedy about slap-happy pro football players, then slows down to a too-inside putdown of contemporary self-help programs." Variety noted that stars Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, and Jill Clayburgh were "excellent" within the "zigzag" script and poor direction they were given. In American Film Now, author James Monaco commented on director Michael Ritchie's directing style in Semi-Tough, stating that in the film Ritchie was "speaking in a professional voice". Leonard Maltin criticized parts of the script, stating that Reynolds' charm filled in for the film's other deficiencies. I. Moyer Hunsberger criticized Ritchie's screenplay adaptation in his work The Quintessential Dictionary, complaining that the game of football should have supported the film as a plot device, but was instead left to the side in favor of other stories. ==See also==