Welcome back to my blog at we experience the start of 2026. Here’s my recommendation of a movie to check out today and hope you punch your “Ticket to the Movies!” OK, in the spirit of the current college football playoff, let’s take a look at “Necessary Roughness” from 1991 and starring Scott Bakula and Hector Elizondo as the old-man quarterback and the “straight arrow” head coach.
“Necessary Roughness” is the story of a college that basically fires its whole team and coaching staff in the wake of a scandal and they bring in a non-cheating coach. Of course, all the stereotypes follow: the differing personalities of the players; adding “a girl” to the team (although Kathy Ireland would be welcome on just about any football team ever organized); and a professor’s involvement with the older quarterback, who comes back to the gridiron in his 30s!
Actually, “Necessary Roughness” pulls all this off without making you cringe too much. When you add in the wonderful small part of Rob Scheinder as the team’s stadium announcer (they’re banned from tee-vee, too) and the stereotypical anti-football dean, it all comes together in a neat package.
You also get the obligatory practice game with former NFL stars filling out the roster as a prison team. You get Dick Butkus (Bears), Earl Campbell (Oilers), Roger Craig (49ers), Ben Davidson (Raiders), Tony Dorsett (Cowboys), Evander Holyfield (boxer and only non-NFLer), Ed “Too Tall” Jones (Cowboys), Jim Kelly (Bills’ quarterback in their Super Bowl years), Jerry Rice (49ers), Herschel Walker (Cowboys) and Randy White (Cowboys). When Davidson is asked what he’s in for, he replies, “Computer fraud!”
The team doesn’t have a winning season, but comes up winners in everyone’s mind; the quarterback finds love; and the anti-football hopes of the dean are smashed.
BTW … don’t confuse the film “Necessary Roughness” with the pro-football themed television production from 2011. They have the same name, but are not related in storyline or actors.
So, I say punch your “Ticket to the Movies!” and watch “Necessary Roughness.” You’ll definitely thank me later.
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