La gran jugada

Shoreham College football star Richard Barthelmess (as Jack Hamill) specializes in "The Drop Kick". At home, Mr. Barthelmess is admired by pretty hometown girl Barbara Kent (as Cecily Graves). At school, the player is pursued by vamp Dorothy Revier (as Eunice Hathaway). Ms. Revier is a newlywed, but doesn't let it "cramp her style". She used to date Barthelmess, before she married his best friend, and coach, Eugene Strong (as Brad Hathaway). Mr. Strong has a difficult time balancing his budget. Soon, Barthelmess' college career is threatened by an unexpected shooting…

Barthelmess gives it the old college try, but "The Drop Kick" doesn't score. It's odd that this routine, and not very credible, film was released between "The Noose" and "The Patent Leather Kid", two films which brought Barthelmess Academy Award consideration. The football scenes are okay; but, the visual highlight is the "windmill dance" at the gymnasium. Revier, as the coach's wife, is the most interesting player. John Wayne appears inauspiciously, as an extra. "Wild" Bill Elliott is more noteworthy, making a forward play, at the dance.

**** The Drop Kick (9/25/27) Millard Webb ~ Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Revier, Barbara Kent

All of these early silent films that John Wayne appeared in equipped him with the stamina and skills that he would apply in his later films. In this film, he trained as an American football player which put him in good stead as a coach in 'Trouble Along the Way' 24 years later.

The plot for "The Drop Kick" is quite strange...and Richard Barthelmess oddly cast as a football hero. As a result, it's decent and watchable...but absolutely nothing more.

The story is set at Shoreham College where Jack (Barthelmess) is the star kicker and all-around swell guy. What he and the other players on the team do not know is that the coach is married to a hellishly evil woman....and just how evil and manipulative you'll have to see for yourself. I'd say more but don't want to ruin the surprises...and there are many. Suffice to say by the end, Jack AND his mommy save the day!

Richard Barthelmess was in his 30s and was hardly an imposing figure at barely 5'9" and I'm guessing about 150 pounds. Nevertheless, he was a popular silent and early sound film star and he did fine here in this most unusual and occasionally bizarre film.

If you like movies about football then you might give this silent film a try, though most of the football scenes are near the end of the film. The plot of The Drop Kick is predictable but any film with the wonderful actor Richard Barthelmess in it is worth watching. Richard plays a wealthy college age young man and campus football hero named Jack, who is best friend to the school's football coach named Brad. He also used to date Brad's wife Eunice (played vampishly by actress Dorothy Revier) before the two were married, and she still has her eye on Jack. Eunice spends so much money on herself that her husband's bills are mushrooming, so he steals money from the football team to pay them off. Meanwhile Jack's mother introduces Jack to the lovely Cecily, played by Barbara Kent. At first Jack is polite but uninterested, and takes her to a dance just because his mother (played by Hedda Hopper) asks him to. At the dance Cecily sees Eunice throwing herself at Jack, and Jack kisses her briefly on the dance floor. Crying, Cecily runs outside and Jack follows her. Jack reassures Cecily that she is the prettiest girl at the dance and he suddenly realizes he has fallen in love with her. Eunice is still after Jack, however, or rather, his money, and so the plot thickens as we see Eunice maneuver events to her own selfish purposes. The print I have is from Grapevine Video and the quality is acceptable. I give the film an 8 out of 10.