Just because he is known for driving chariots at full throttle for William Wyler (BEN HUR), parting the Red Sea for Cecil B. DeMille (THE TEN COMMANDMENTS), and painting the Sistine Chapel for Sir Carol Reed (THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY), doesn't mean that Charlton Heston was ever a "limited" actor as such. Truth be told, beyond even those great money-making epics with which he made his reputation, Heston was every inch as great an actor as there has ever been in Hollywood, whether it was in TOUCH OF EVIL, THE BIG COUNTRY, or MAJOR DUNDEE. Three of his best films, in fact, were done with director Tom Gries. Two of them were the much underrated 1968 western WILL PENNY (which, to my mind, is Heston's pinnacle) and the 1970 James Michener-based THE HAWAIIANS. The middle one of the Heston/Gries trilogy was NUMBER ONE, released in the late summer of 1969.
Said to be inspired by a photo that Heston saw of the legendary quarterback Y.A. Tittle at the end of his career, the film stars Heston as Ron "Cat" Catlin, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints who has had numerous good seasons in his lengthy career. But he is now 40 years old, when all those years of hard hits, pain killers, and the like are taking a toll on his body, his mind, and his life. He and his wife (Jessica Walter) are on the outs because he has ignored her for way too long and because she's got a career of her own going. And on the side, he's got a thing for another woman (Diana Muldaur). Meanwhile, his coach (the excellent character actor John Randolph) is watching his slow disintegration; and his former teammates (Bruce Dern, playing of all things a used car salesman, and Roy Jenson) are urging him to get ready for another line of work soon, because football isn't going to last. It's no easy ride to the ignominious bottom, for sure.
Filmed primarily in New Orleans itself, and even utilizing players from the Saints (who were then in only their third year of existence as an NFL team) as extras, NUMBER ONE, though it isn't an absolutely perfect film (in fact, it is not even one of those films that is ever cited by serious studiers of the acting profession as it pertains to Heston), still shows what kind of a hard-life existence football players led in the late 1960s, a time when football in general was nowhere near as popular as it would become in the years and decades to come. There's no question that it is dated in a lot of ways; and a lot of people quite frankly found Heston to be very cold- and unsympathetic here. But quite frankly it is much more difficult to be cold and even unsympathetic because that's precisely not what Hollywood wants or expects most of the time from its acting elite, especially Heston. His performance here is about as credible as anything he ever did, proving that those who lionize Heston on the Right, and vilify him on the Left, for his politics, do so for the wrong reasons. The film also boasts appearances by Bobby Troup (he of "Route 66" song fame), and jazz music legend Al Hirt, as well as a good music score by Dominic Frontiere (HANG EM HIGH), who, ironically enough, would later marry into the NFL via Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams owner Georgia Rosenbloom.
Whatever flaws it might have in its story, and its obviously dated aspects, NUMBER ONE still manages to succeed in ways that overcome its flaws; and Heston, who considered this a very personal project of his and one of his favorites, is to a great deal responsible for it, and rightly so.
Said to be inspired by a photo that Heston saw of the legendary quarterback Y.A. Tittle at the end of his career, the film stars Heston as Ron "Cat" Catlin, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints who has had numerous good seasons in his lengthy career. But he is now 40 years old, when all those years of hard hits, pain killers, and the like are taking a toll on his body, his mind, and his life. He and his wife (Jessica Walter) are on the outs because he has ignored her for way too long and because she's got a career of her own going. And on the side, he's got a thing for another woman (Diana Muldaur). Meanwhile, his coach (the excellent character actor John Randolph) is watching his slow disintegration; and his former teammates (Bruce Dern, playing of all things a used car salesman, and Roy Jenson) are urging him to get ready for another line of work soon, because football isn't going to last. It's no easy ride to the ignominious bottom, for sure.
Filmed primarily in New Orleans itself, and even utilizing players from the Saints (who were then in only their third year of existence as an NFL team) as extras, NUMBER ONE, though it isn't an absolutely perfect film (in fact, it is not even one of those films that is ever cited by serious studiers of the acting profession as it pertains to Heston), still shows what kind of a hard-life existence football players led in the late 1960s, a time when football in general was nowhere near as popular as it would become in the years and decades to come. There's no question that it is dated in a lot of ways; and a lot of people quite frankly found Heston to be very cold- and unsympathetic here. But quite frankly it is much more difficult to be cold and even unsympathetic because that's precisely not what Hollywood wants or expects most of the time from its acting elite, especially Heston. His performance here is about as credible as anything he ever did, proving that those who lionize Heston on the Right, and vilify him on the Left, for his politics, do so for the wrong reasons. The film also boasts appearances by Bobby Troup (he of "Route 66" song fame), and jazz music legend Al Hirt, as well as a good music score by Dominic Frontiere (HANG EM HIGH), who, ironically enough, would later marry into the NFL via Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams owner Georgia Rosenbloom.
Whatever flaws it might have in its story, and its obviously dated aspects, NUMBER ONE still manages to succeed in ways that overcome its flaws; and Heston, who considered this a very personal project of his and one of his favorites, is to a great deal responsible for it, and rightly so.