Wildcats (1986) User Reviews

A Fun 80s comedy

[wchngliu · 7/10 · 7 January 2008]

Think Dangerous Minds and Any Given Sunday mixed with gags and humour and you've got Wildcats: an 80s comedy starring Mrs Kurt Russell herself, Goldie Hawn who plays a high school sports teacher turned American Football coach. At first, the guys take a disliking to her, but soon afterwards, her efforts pay off as they win match after match.

The film also launched the movie careers of ex-Cheers actor, Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and rapper, LL Cool J. Okay, it may not win brownie points on originality alone, but Wildcats is an entertaining and amusing effort, with a somewhat impressive performance by Hawn herself. There are some silly moments, but hey this was the 80s after all! The hair, the fashion, the music, the movies ah the memories! In all, a feel good movie and for a sports flick, not that bad at all. And the rap is somewhat amusing and a tad cheesy too. Worth purchasing on DVD

Here kitty kitty

[JZvezda · 7/10 · 8 March 2003]

The trailer for "Wildcats" showed 3 ghetto-riffic cheerleaders stomping around a pile of dirt and chanting, "U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you UGLY! What-what! Yo' mama says you ugly!"

Okay, you got me. I'm there.

Ha-ha low-brow highlights include--

* Goldie Hawn's purple-headed teenage daughter gets sloshed at a team party. Wesley Snipes comes to the rescue: "We're taking you home. If your mother sees you like this she's gonna' turn your ass the same color as your hair" Funny, rite?

* Goldie's team kidnaps the rival school's mascot, a goat. When principal Nipsey Russell invades the locker room and asks, "You all wouldn't happen to know what happen to the Cougar's goat, would you?" The goat, hidden in a locker, starts to baaaaah, which prompts Goldie to simultaneously reply "Naaaaah!" See? Hysterical!

Fans of Jan Hooks (like me) will love her turn here as the uppitty stick-up-the-butt wife of Goldie's ex. Fans of Woody Harrelson should note that a brief cameo is made here by his bare butt. Fans of Swoosie Kurtz should contemplate bathing with downed powerlines. Just kiddin', she's good too.

TEN! 1 point for the fat guy, 1 point for flatulence, 1 point for LL Cool J's lamest rap ever. The rest of the points go to Goldie. Goldie rocks.

Love, your pussies

Another Funny Goldie Hawn Movie

[LeaBlacks_Balls · 7/10 · 21 February 2010]

In the 1980's there wasn't a bigger female comedy star than Goldie Hawn. She excelled at playing the 'fish out of water' character in films like 'Private Benjamin,' 'Protocol,' and 'Overboard.' 'Wildcats' has the same formula those films had, only instead of the Army, Washington DC, or abject poverty, Goldie finds herself coaching football.

Here Goldie plays Molly, a divorced mother of two who has always dreamed of coaching a football team. But throughout her coaching career all she's been allowed to do was coach female track and field. When Molly gets the opportunity to take a head coaching job in an inner city school, she jumps at the chance. When she arrives at the school she is faced by a disorganized and disrespectful team of players. They don't want her as their coach, but she sticks to her guns, and she fights to gain their respect and obedience.

Of all the comedies that Goldie has starred in, this isn't one of her best. She's still great in this, but the film is overlong, bogged down by a buzz killing custody storyline with her schmuck ex-husband (Keach) and her two kids. There's also a lot of unfunny 'fart humor' on display, but thankfully not from Goldie's character.

But when the film is good, it's good. Besides the custody storyline, things move at a brisk, fun pace. It's fun to watch Goldie work to get the team to see eye to eye with her, or hunt down the truant quarterback in the ghetto and almost get herself caught up in a robbery, or hide a rival teams goat mascot in the locker room.

This isn't really heavy stuff here, but it is a fun 80's comedy with a great star doing what she does best. So if you're a fan of Goldie Hawn and 80's comedies, check this out.

When they were young

[Alex-372 · 25 October 2001]

This is a great little (even, gosh, subtle) football comedy about grabbing life with both hands, featuring Goldie Hawn as a woman coach who wants to make a splash as a high school football coach. One of the joys of watching these movies is the retro experience of 80s 'big hair' hairdos and fashions, and seeing now famous actors. There's Wesley Snipes (as the ladies man with an eye for the 'older woman', Woody Harrelson, a thin LL Cool J, Mikelti Williamson (The Night Hawk), and Stan Foster (Tour Of Duty). And in fact, some of the jokes actually work (Hawn: "we're going beat those Cougars and spit them out like so many furballs". Snipes: "Let's eat some pussy".) Fun for all.

Better than the rating here?

[Zoooma · 7/10 · 1 June 2014]

I'm not sure why anyone would completely dislike this movie. It's fun and probably better than the rating here. Goldie Hawn is very good, she's bubbly (something she's great at,) charming and tough when she needs to be. Features the first ever roles for both Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as well as LL Cool J's first time on screen! One thing that helps me like this a lot is the Chicago locations. The main plot and sub-plots are a bit thin but overall it's a good football comedy. I had probably seen this easily like 5 or 6 times but this was the first time in about 20+ years! Was just as good as ever!!

6.5 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

Predictably entertaining

[jhaggardjr · 7/10 · 3 November 2000]

"Wildcats" is a football movie that is pretty predictable, but nevertheless it's very entertaining. Goldie Hawn gives another one of her many funny film performances here as a girls high school track coach who's always dreaming about coaching football since she grew up on the sport. Well her dream comes true. Actually, not all true. She does get assigned to coach a football team, but its for a rough inner city high school in Chicago. Predictably, the players hate her at first, then they start to like her and at the same time the team starts off losing before they finish up winning. There's not much originality in "Wildcats" but since it's alot of fun so what. Hawn is fun and is surrounded by a good cast which includes Swoosie Kurtz as her best friend; James Keach as her ex-husband; Jan Hooks as Keach's current wife; Nipsey Russell as the principal of the rough high school Hawn's assigned to; and (before becoming famous) Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as football players (these two actors would later team up for "White Men Can't Jump" and "Money Train"). "Wildcats" isn't a great football movie like the current "Remember the Titans"; it isn't as funny as the football themed comedies "The Waterboy" and "The Replacements"; but it has alot of laughs and is alot of fun.

*** (out of four)

Goldie Being Goldie

[statuskuo · 7/10 · 29 July 2013]

I vaguely remember this movie as a kid. So I had to revisit it. And to my surprise, I thought it was a fun movie. It's got some strange dated material. And all the "kids" look like they were 30 years old, but I had a fun time watching Goldie, Wesley and Woody when they were young. It's really great watching them in hindsight and where their career is now.

For those sick of watching comedies today that skate a politically correct agenda, I think Wildcats is a fun watch. Also, if we're in the realm of football...a LOT more honest than a movie like "The Blind Side" which seemed more like a fairy tale.

very good movie

[dirtydee-1 · 6/10 · 28 March 2006]

this movie brings back so many memories goldie hawn was excellent the soundtrack rocks if only i could turn back the clock the year was 1986 Wesley snipes was good so was woody i did not know that those two were acting in the 1980s the rest of the cast was excellent i like the part when they jump in the dumpster and the little boy slams the door on goldies feet i love this movie why cant we still make movies like these anymore r.i.p.nippsey Russel he was the principal of the school and also when Marva and Jerome get caught on the sofa and when the girls dye their red i like when all of the team goes to court with molly and they act like clowns.

Football yuks with jockstrap jokes...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 6 April 2007]

Goldie Hawn is her usual fizzy, feisty self playing a football-crazy coach trying to whip a high school team into shape. The young men are made up of delinquents and goof-offs, but can Goldie work her magic on them before the big game? "The Bad News Bears"'s Michael Ritchie directed, and it's the kind of comedy knock-off you'd expect from any Hollywood hack but Ritchie (hopefully he was well paid). Supporting cast is unusually good, with Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes in early roles, Swoosie Kurtz doing her likable sisterly bit, Nipsey Russell nicely low-keyed as a school official, Jan Hooks wonderful as the new woman in Hawn's ex-husband's life, and handsome Bruce McGill as the enemy coach (although he gets the worst scenes, particularly at end when he's forced to shout "Search his jock!" and then roll around in the mud). Hawn herself has an embarrassing moment nude in the bathtub, and the sub-plot with her boring ex is just time wasted on the clock, but her forthright comic performance just about saves "Wildcats" from the cookie-cutter bargain-bin. ** from ****

Male preserve

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 7 March 2017]

If you folks remember that John Wayne/Donna Reed film Trouble Along The Way, Wayne is a divorced father living with his little daughter Sherry Jackson who has learned all about sports especially football from her dad who was a football coach. Imagine Sherry growing up to be Goldie Hawn and you have an idea of her character in Wildcats.

She wants to invade the male preserve of the boys sports because she knows a lot about the game, it comes naturally from her dad. But it isn't that simple and the only job she can get is in Principal Nipsey Russell's inner city school a really rough place.

Some future big names like Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson are some of Goldie's players. Best however is Tab Thacker one mountain of a kid critical to defense, but Thacker requires special motivation.

She also has custody issues with her most uptight ex-husband James Keach and his extremely prissy wife Jan Hooks. Those kids from her team try to help, but mess things up.

This one is really Goldie's show she has a fine comedy part with a bit of family drama thrown in. Basically because she has invaded that male holy of holys, the boy's locker room.

It's a good comedy, Goldie Hawn really shines.

So where's the comedy?

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 13 September 2016]

So-called sports comedy that's very light on laughs. It's really more of a light drama about a woman who wants to be a football coach but isn't taken seriously by all those male chauvinists out there. So she gets her shot to coach but it's at an inner city school where the kids are mean to her. Not realistically mean, of course. She isn't verbally and physically assaulted as would happen in reality. No they're mean to her by not taking her seriously or calling her 'coach.' The horrors this poor woman has to endure. Also in a tired subplot the ex-husband is trying to take her kids away. Anyway it's likable fluff I guess, notable mainly for being the film debuts of Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes. Goldie is rootable as ever. My main problem with it is that it's not funny in the least. There's not even much of an attempt to be funny, just a few scenes where Goldie Hawn falls down. Lame.

One of the better sports comedies from the 1980's...

[ijonesiii · 8/10 · 4 December 2005]

WILDCATS was a funny and entertaining comedy with Goldie Hawn at the top of her form as a high school track coach, who wants more than anything to coach football (her late father was a football coach). She finally gets the opportunity to coach a high school football team at a tough inner city high school where the majority of the students are Africa American or Latino. Of course, Goldie's Molly McGrath meets the obvious resentments from high school boys that you would expect finding out their new coach is a woman, but she does eventually win them over, even at the risk of losing custody of her two daughters to her uptight ex-husband (James Keach). Nothing new or inventive here but Goldie lights up the screen presenting a smart yet flawed character trying to live her dream. Nipsey Russell has one of the best roles of his career as the principal of the school that hires her and there are some very funny moments provided by the members of the team, especially Woody Harrelson, Nick Corri, and in a star-making turn, a very young Wesley Snipes. Bruce McGill scores as a sexist coach from the opposing school, Prescott and Jan Hooks has some cute moments as GOldie's ex-husband's new girlfriend. I love the scene where Goldie outruns the boys on the team and calls them "pussies" and the rap song over the closing credits is hysterically funny. A terrific feel-good comedy starring a great actress at the zenith of her personal charm.

Above Average Sports Comedy

[tabuno · 7/10 · 18 January 2019]

5 July 2010. While this is close to THE BLINDSIDE (2009), Goldie Hawn is given a decent script that allows her to portray a gritty female football coach in a rough high school using her comic talents as well as allowing for some nice dramatic scenes, extending her performance from the usual stereotypical, two-dimensional character. WILDCATS includes the predictable storyline, but also adds an extra dimension which happens when the star happens to be female. There is the additional screen time that includes the personal family conflict as a mother and there is additional screen time for actual football plays as well as a more developed focus on the number of games presented in this movie. While some of the usual football players are not given the screen time nor development sometimes seen in most sport movies of this genre, they may have been sacrificed for the director's personal decision to balance the movie with Goldie Hawn's character's own personal turmoils often given little attention in most movies like this. The ending of this movie is perhaps too typical, predictable, and over-simplified, but it does resonate in a more humanistic and rounded ending that usual.

Uneven sports comedy from the late Michael Ritchie, usually one of the masters of the genre.

[policy134 · 4/10 · 1 August 2005]

Goldie Hawn, the petite, saucer-eyed actress was ideal casting in this movie. She is Molly McGrath, a divorced mother of two girls who is a girls track coach but longs to be a football coach. Nobody thinks she can pull that off and she is ridiculed by the sexist football coach (played by perennial slime ball Bruce McGill of Animal House fame) of that high school's football team. Therefore when she gets a chance to go to another school to coach football she grabs it, even though the players are less than refined and practically stink at the game.

If you ask if this is a formula, you are right. The underdog movie has been an American staple since the beginning of movie history. First the coach and the players must face humiliating defeat, then gradually get better and then of course win the big game. All of this happens in this movie but there is also a rather unnecessary subplot involving a custody battle. It seems that Molly's ex-husband (James Keach) thinks that she is neglecting the kids, mainly because he stumbled into a party given by Molly to the football players after a victory and to top it off the oldest daughter gets drunk. Then we get a court hearing where all of the players, who have found respect for their coach, show up to defend her and one of them makes a pass at the judge to grease the wheels even further.

All that happens in this movie is rather predictable. The only thing that is worth noticing is that Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and Mykelti Williamson made one of their first appearances here, before Harrelson became famous as Woody Boyd and before he and Snipes were made a team in several films. Mykelti Williamson also became well known, first in Midnight Caller and then as the shrimp connoisseur Bubba in Forrest Gump. There is also a small role for SNL'er and 3rd Rock from the Sun star, Jan Hooks as the uptight new wife of Goldie's ex. This doesn't make Wildcats anything more than it is and Goldie's career has continued in this vein with one bright spot now and again ("Death becomes her" had its moments).

As for the director, Michael Ritchie, he was one of the greats. He made the original "Bad News Bears" and the hilarious "Fletch" but sadly he is no longer with us. This film ranks just below average mainly because he did so much better at other times.

Funny And Winning

[G-Man-25 · 5 October 2000]

It may not score many points for originality, but this comedy is still tremendously entertaining and one of my personal favorites from the 1980s. Plenty of memorably funny moments, some great one-liners and excellent performances by the entire cast, with Goldie doing a stand-out job and Nipsey Russell making the most of his relatively small role as the beleaguered high school principal who desperately wants gridiron glory for his school's team. Veteran director Michael Ritchie definitely knows how to perk up a formula story and make it seem lively and new again, even if we DO see the feel-good finale coming a mile away.

Stay tuned through the end credits for a funny rap song performed by Goldie and her team.

standard white savior movie with a side of sexism

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 9 January 2017]

Molly McGrath (Goldie Hawn) is a divorced mother of two girls and a Chicago high school girls' track coach. Verna (Swoosie Kurtz) is her sister best friend. Molly knows more about football than her male colleagues due to her late famed coach father. She wants to be the JV football coach but head coach Dan Darwell (Bruce McGill) picks the clueless home-ed teacher instead. He offers her the varsity coaching job at the rundown inner-city Central High. Levander 'Bird' Williams (Mykelti Williamson) is the local hustler and Ben Edwards is the principal. First, she has to win over the players.

Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson play two of the players. It's a standard white savior movie with a bit of fun and a healthy side of sexism. It's a bit funny but not too much. It's nothing great. Goldie Hawn is solid. There isn't anything special but it's good enough.

As a football comedy this is not too bad..

[Meredith-7 · 7/10 · 29 May 1999]

This was a mildly entertaining film. Goldie Hawn is likeable as always, and it was good to see early roles of Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson and Mylketi Williamson. The football team is fittingly uncouth, as is to be expected, and Central High Principal Edwards is great. Watching it now, its probably not as good as I remembered it 13 years ago, but its still lots of fun as a time waster. The song during the final credits is probably one of the best parts though.

"Make a path for Coach McGrath!"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 18 November 2021]

The plot for this film is a standard one we often see in high school or college sports stories, with a new coach taking on the difficult task of building a winning team out of a bunch of malcontents and losers. With Goldie Hawn in the role of Coach Molly McGrath, I was surprised and maybe even a little shocked with the amount of locker room humor and foul language thrown her way. In more than one case, I thought she should have been more assertive in her response, but then again, there wasn't anybody around to back her up if any one of the players took a cheap shot at her. Oddly enough, this was the first time I can remember seeing Nipsy Russell in a movie. I recall catching him in any number of variety shows of the era, and he was something of a regular on those old Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. His gig was reciting his own brand of poetry which was clever and witty. I thought he would come up with some rhymes here, but he didn't come across with any.

If nothing else, the film is notable for the first movie appearances of both Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, both quite recognizable, even if they were thirty years younger. A sidebar to the story involving Coach McGrath's impending custody battle for her teenage girls is adequately resolved after causing a bit of consternation to the coach and players. Without a doubt and totally expected, Molly's football team pulls one out for the championship in the last game of the season, beating her rival in a bit of a revenge grudge match after Dan Darwell (Bruce McGill) thought he pulled a fast one by getting Molly hired at Central High. You didn't have to be a football fan to see that coming at the start of the picture.

Wildcat Goldie Hawn & Her Movie About Football

[tbills2 · 7/10 · 15 December 2020]

Goldie Hawn is 1 real wildcat in this empowering, groundbreaking female role on how a woman coaching an inner-city kids' dysfunctional high school football team with a penchant for hijinks overcomes stressors of the job to succeed. I love Wildcats! It's a fun movie to watch for kids whom are being babysat while their mothers are not around, if you get me well. It is not really a family film however it's close. It has a great cast with Swoosie Kurtz and young and cute Robyn Lively supporting Hawn, while Wesley Snipes and also Woody Harrelson both star in each of their own very first movies. Wildcats is a great teaching tool on film for people. This movie is all-time legendary and Goldie is so hot in it the whole time. Especially during her rainy track run with subsequent nude bathtub scene. Hawn's wild hair is exhilarating. Wildcats is 1 of Hawn's best movies and 1 of our best sports films.

Test tube film is a winner

[uscoa · 5/10 · 12 November 2000]

`Wildcats' rallies my admiration as a solid though ordinary film. Between television and the silver screen, I've seen a dozen plots about a coach's hard work in turning a sports team around. `Wildcats' has some personality though, with memorable characters being placed in memorable situations. Goldie Hawn leads the cast with a light but effective performance. Accompanying the difficulties as coach of a football team, her character fights for the custody of her children; a major issue that this formula film is right not to linger on.

Nothing special, but good entertainment. 5/10 stars.

Who was the first woman to coach high school football?

[Rik-19 · 6/10 · 27 November 2006]

This movie was released about January 1986, just a few months after I saw an article reporting that a woman had been hired as the first female high school football coach (that would be for the Fall 1985 football season); it also said that all the other coaches in the same league protested (not that their protests did them any good). But I can't remember her name, nor where she coached, and all the Internet searches I've done on women in sports haven't turned up her name. Also, we are looking for the first woman to coach high school football after World War II, when some women coached high school football due to virtually all men of coaching age being in the military.

The 80's,,,The Cringe years..

[brooksrob1 · 1/10 · 13 May 2017]

I love Goldie Hawn and have liked many of the movies she's been in...This one though; Brutal! Not on her part, mind you...Just the whole premise...Funny to see a young Wesley Snipes and Woody playing high school kids...But not funny haha...

The 80's was one of the worst decades since the early 20th century WW1 and Spanish flu etc...I found myself wincing with the blatant PC garbage...You can see the start of it all back then...

Cliché upon cliché, dialog written by one of those annoying kids from pick an 80's movie...I was hoping this stood the test of time, I didn't see it in the 80's when it came out. It sounded stupid then, when I was in my mid 20's and I feel vindicated in my early judgment...

If you loved the 80's, you'll love this movie. I despised the 80's so, perhaps I'm just taking it out on this movie...Nah; it was horrible!

All love Goldie Hawn

[standardbearer · 9/10 · 9 November 2007]

This film is an all time classic. Everyone's seen it, so I wont bother with the plot. (If you haven't, you lack the very basics!!!) It's light as a feather, yet professionally crafted. The cast is excellent: Woody Harelson and Wesley Snipes are always a winner duo, but the star of the movie is doubtlessly no other than Goldie Hawn. I don't know any other actresses, who could be this funny, lovely and sweet through a whole movie. And It's the young Goldie Hawn you'll watch during the playtime, so she has an additional amount of cuteness enforcing her personal sexual charisma. AND there is a scene where she's totally naked. It has nothing to do with the plot, it only meant for our pleasure. This move represents the happiest segment of the 80's:)

Good Little Fun Film

[mabbott10 · 7/10 · 23 May 2021]

In some ways, you've seen this film before. Following the same basic plot lines as To Sir With Love other High School movies. This time Molly McGrath (Hawn) is a divorced mother of two who has always dreamed of coaching football. She gets her chance to work with a run down school in Chicago, all the while dealing with sexism, racism & an ex from hell. Along the way we get a young Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson & Mykelti Williamson, all showing great potential that would serve them in their careers. We also get Jan Hooks as an obnoxious young wife, Swoosie Kurtz as a supportive sister & Nipsey Russell giving a charming, low-key performance as the principal of the dilapidated high school.

Again, you've seen this before. The comedy bits are funny, the music, hair & costumes are very 80s & you even get a workout montage in the first half as Hawn whips her team into shape. But along the way is a strong message about resilience, self-realization, and even community. You can definitely enjoy this one as a quick afternoon or evening little pleasure.

Missed Wide Left

[view_and_review · 2/10 · 1 November 2019]

This movie was awful in more ways than one but I will mention the two good things.

1.) LL Cool J

2.) Woody and Wesley together

Besides those two things this movie--to use a football term--missed wide left. The idea of a white woman leading a group of Black and Brown men is so totally tone deaf. Not only did she not belong on the field, she didn't even belong in that school. Yet, they made it seem as though she was so committed to her goal of coaching that nothing could stop her. She would even brave the seediest parts of town to get her star quarterback.

This movie wasn't inspiring nor was it funny. The thought that this group of high school minorities were nothing but losers until their golden-haired savior came is nauseating. Whether she knew her X's and O's or not is immaterial. The implication was that these capable but marginalized men couldn't, or wouldn't succeed without this woman.

And to make it crystal clear, they made her a super-coach. She went into inner-city Chicago, to one of the worse schools in the area, and not only coached them, but she got them to obey her, they won several games, and all this without the benefit of even one assistant coach. Bill Belichick couldn't accomplish that. I guess if you're going to make a fictional movie you might as well go for fantasy.

There are inspiring stories out there, even funny ones. This wasn't one of them.