User reviews

This one acts as a satire during the women's rights movement era. Of course, that doesn't mean COACH (the movie) is a wonderful experience to behold. It runs into the same vein as FASTBREAK (which was better, but still tame), and is basically standard fare fluff. What I mean for this movie being uninteresting is simple to recognize. Anybody who serves time away from a normal job by training a bunch of lunatics earning their way to sudden victory makes waste. It's the same feeling you may get after watching this. A nice attempt at casting the opposite sex for a man's duty, but I expected better things.

Desperate to improve the performance of their boys basketball team, Granger High School hires two time Olympic medallist Randy Rawlings as coach without checking the gender of their new employee. When the school's sexist principal Fenton Granger (Keenan Wynn) discovers that he has unwittingly hired a woman (Cathy Lee Crosby), he is keen to get rid of her, but finds that he is legally bound to let her have the job—at least until she messes up, something that he tries to ensure will happen sooner rather than later.

An attractive 'fish out of water' teacher slowly earning the respect of both her stuffy peers and her unruly students: not exactly the most original idea for a film, but I still found Coach an interesting watch if only for the fact that Crosby's character acts in a seriously inappropriate and unprofessional manner, first by striking up a sexual relationship one of her underage players (played a young Michael Biehn), and then by throwing all of her sporting principles out of the window by allowing her team to win their final match using underhanded means. And all with zero consequences for the naughty woman!!!

A supposedly responsible adult with such dubious moral standards is so unusual in a movie like this that I find it hard not to enjoy just a bit, despite a bland script and lifeless direction doing their utmost to convince me otherwise.

A high school principal (Keenan Wynn) with a losing basketball team unwittingly hires a coach who turns out not only to be a gorgeous blond woman (Cathy Lee Crosby) but a catalyst for their new winning ways. Are you really surprised? Along the way a romance grows between the coach and the team's star player Jack (Michael Biehn). The police are never notified.

Packaged along with other Crown International Pictures as a grindhouse movie really does this film no service. This can easily be edited into a television movie of the week. Cathy Lee Crosby looks great as coach Randy Rawlings especially in her skimpy outfits but I expected more than mere titillation from an R-rated film. A side plot involving a dorky center who is hypnotized by his teammates into thinking he is former NBA player Sydney Wicks is the actual reason for the team's new success rather than Cathy Lee's coaching. Too much tease and not enough sleaze makes this a major disappointment.

I like to think of this film as the one that started it all; the great Teenage Sexploitation film. Truth be told that's not true. With all the bikini films made in the 60s Coach merely heralds in the 80's version of the genre (even though it was made in 77/78).

The topless scenes are pointless, and the gags are substandard. But there is heart and chemistry between Cathy Lee Crosby and Michael Biehn. And Crosby's character does find a good mesh with the team she's supposed to be coaching. The acting on the part of the team members is fair enough, but the film itself is horribly shot.

Technically the film is OK. That is it gets a passing grade. However it's looks like it was shot by film students rejected from USC's program. The lighting is horrible, the cinematography is bland as can be, and all the sound in the film was stuff recorded on the set (no looping or other effects).

The only shot worth anything in the film is Cathy Lee Crosby's opening Olympic sequence. If you see that, then you've seen the best part of the movie.

I won't give this film a complete thumbs-down, as both leads try to do their best with the material at hand (and make it work after a fashion), and the film does have a kind of raw energy that shows some modicum of talent among the film makers, but it's largely a dissapointment.

There's of course the "sex" aspect of it. If you bought or rented the film for that alone then you're in for a huge let down as the sex in the film is romantic (as it should be), and appropiately does not placate to the baser aspects of the genre. Back then, as a preadolescent boy with raging hormones, I admittedly found it a cheap thrill. But as an adult I can appreciate the scenes for what they are; tender moments between the characters.

A reshoot would be an interesting undertaking. With a reworked script to subtract the T&A and revamp the "comedy" the story could be properly told, and enjoyed. As it is now it's worth a night's rental, but not much else.

I watched this movie when I was a young lad full of raging hormones and it was about as sexy a movie as I had ever seen-or ever was to see. It may not have been a great movie. My guess is it wasn't. I don't really remember much about it, to tell you the truth. I only remember the sexual chemistry between Crosby and Biehn. No woman in ANY movie has ever done it for me as the unbelievably sexy Cathy did in this movie. I haven't seen it since that first time I caught it on TV in the 70s and I don't think I'd want to see it again since I'm sure it would be a disappointment-my hormones aren't as raging and I've become more jaded over the years. Still, when I think back on the shower scene I can still remember how great it felt way back when.

Added later: After watching the movie again, I discovered that it's dangerous to go home again. What was once erotic is now pretty tame. The older woman-younger man thing still works for me, just not as much as it once did, probably because I'm no longer eleven or twelve. That older woman is now younger than I am (although still quite sexy-Cathy was always the one doing the dangerous things on "That's Incredible"-beautiful, strong woman *sigh*). Also, the amateurishness of the whole thing wasn't perceived by my young mind.

Moral: Sometimes it's better not to revisit the past.

In this offering, BCI paired COACH with "The Beach Girls" as a "Welcome to the Grindhouse double feature." This film hardly belongs in this category.

A losing basketball team, a curmudgeon school administrator (brilliantly played by Keenan Wynn); and, an illicit affair between the coach and a student about sums up this movie.

In addition, while the main characters, played by Cathy Lee Crosby and Michael Biehn, work hard to make the film work, the filmmakers really created something of a disappointment with COACH.

Cathy Lee Crosby's character works well with the team. First, she shows them who's the boss after her first practice. Then, she brings in outside talent, pro basketball player Sidney Wicks. Finally; and, perhaps fate-fully, she participates in their ribald sing-a-long on the bus.

By the way, how many times did Crown International Pictures use that Woody Guthrie "Hey Lolly Lolly" tune anyway? In any case, the acting on the part of the team members is capable as well as their basketball playing.

The score is heavy on the easy listening, romance ballads, which makes COACH seem syrupy. The only exception is the funky "Go Stallions GO," which played during the montage of their winning games. The music really served to heighten the intensity of the game play.

But in the end, it's "Jabberwocky, Jabberwocky, Jabberwocky" that saves the day.

Overall, the movie is pretty light-hearted; and, hard to hate. I give it a 5 out of 10 just for the e. e. cummings reference.

This movie is about a very sexy Olympic track star who is hired to coach a high school boys' basketball team. Similar to Goldie Hawn's WILDCATS, it stars Cathy Lee Crosby in the title role, and she does as about as well as the script allows. I think Racquel Welch would have been a better choice, but considering the film's apparent TV movie budget, they probably couldn't afford her. Cathy Lee does look great in every shot, but we never get to see her completely nude. The story is pretty predictable, to say the least, offering no surprises. A young and lucky Michael Biehn has the male lead role. He is the star on the team and also the love interest for Cathy Lee. Keenan Wynn has a few amusing scenes as the rich old man who runs the athletic program and doesn't think a woman should coach sports. This point is brought up throughout the film, and, needless to say, is dated. Ironically, Cathy Lee doesn't put her team through any unorthodox practice sessions; she doesn't do anything a male coach wouldn't do. There is a funny subplot involving a tall and not-so-bright player who undergoes hypnosis in order to pass his classes and play like pro basketball player Sydney Wicks. It looks like everyone had a good time making this film, but the only real reason to see it is for Cathy Lee Crosby. She's not that great an actress, but she has a dazzling smile, beautiful hair, and a very tan body.

A high-school boys' basketball team keeps losing games, resulting in the firing of their coach. The school head hires a renowned athlete called Randy Rawlings as a replacement. The only trouble is, it turns out the new coach is a woman and the sexist school head expected a man. Needless to say, the female coach mixes things up somewhat and even begins a relationship with one of her students.

Coach is another film from those arbiters of good taste, Crown International Pictures. Unlike quite a few of the films from these guys, however, this one isn't very salacious or schlocky. It has, at best, some throwaway, half-hearted nude scenes. In fact, I thought that this was one of the more thoughtful teen-oriented movies from its time. The main reason for this is that the central relationship is played out in a quite realistic and unsensational manner. It works pretty well and is pretty engaging due in no small part to the fine chemistry between leads Cathy Lee Crosby and a young Michael Biehn. Both actors both do very good work here and really go some way to elevating the material overall.

It was quite interesting to see the whole storyline about the coach having an affair with one of her students be played out in such an underplayed manner though, like this was the most normal turn of events imaginable. After all, this behaviour would nowadays generally result with a swift prison sentence! But I think most of us truthfully find it kind of difficult getting too upset when it's a hot female teacher taking a young male student under her wing – I reckon most of us guys would have been up for a bit of that when we were younger to be perfectly honest! And in any case, it's a scenario that is genuinely played out in a pretty mature manner here by the leads and is much more cute than ever salacious. By contrast, on a completely different tone, there is a silly sub-plot about a gangly boy who is unwittingly put under hypnosis in order to turn him into a superstar basketball player. This nonsense offsets the relationship stuff and ensures that this movie has at least one foot in the comedy genre. On the whole, I found this a kind of likable affair. It's predictable fluff in many ways, yet it is also well acted and has a definite fun factor to it. I say, yes.

If you are looking for an academy award winner, this movie is not for you. It's just a fun romp back to the late '70s, when movies like this were geared to the teen/drive-in "party crowd" audience. Cathy Lee Crosby as the "hottie" coach that has an affair with one of her students is what made the movies at the drive-ins stand out from whatever was playing at the indoor theatres & even on TV! The fact that Crown International released this movie is also a testament that you know you're going to be in for something special. If you are a fan of B movies/classic drive-in movies, this one would be a valued addition to your video library.

Coach (1978), was a fun film to watch. Cathy Lee Crosby, did well on her performance as a coach. Especially, I even liked the segment when two students hypnotize Ned, to improve on his exams. This film, is not that bad but, forget the critics!!!

This was not a bad basketball film, it seemed fun.

Cathy Lee Crosby plays the title role in Coach and she's a former Olympic gold medal track star who takes a job as a high school basketball coach over the strong objections of Principal Keenan Wynn. Wynn is a man with fixed beliefs about gender roles and he wants to break her.

Wynn channeled his performance in that Disney classic The Absent Minded Professor into this much inferior picture. As for Crosby she finds some romance with one of her star players Michael Biehn. He's quite the hunk in this film and set my gay mojo going. Of course Crosby would be canned if anyone discovered them.

Biehn also fancies himself an amateur hypnotist and transforms a kid with some potential to another Magic Johnson. The same gambit was used by Abbott and Costello in Here Com The Coeds also a much better picture.

This a good film for the drive-in trade. And you'll have to see Coach to understand the significance of jabberwocky.

I found the DVD version of this movie at a rummage sale. The basic premise is an affair between a teacher/coach a student. The acting is weak and the plot razor thin.

This movie had all the depth and plot development of an adult film.

I saw this as an early teen and I was certainly, let's say, interested in the very attractive Cathy Lee Crosby (known for TV's "That's Incredible" with football star Fran Tarkington and some other guy), and the story strikes a chord with hormonal teen boys, attractive female teacher with buff student-athlete, nevertheless, this is a statutory crime, the locker-room, shower scene (made for TV) was probably intended to be romantic, but let's not forget the statutory crime part. High profile cases of teachers getting sexually involved with high school age students are making news in 2005 and 2006. The 1970's got away with quite a bit of humor on criminal-sexual taboos: for example, Buck Henry's skit on Saturday Night Live where he baby sat for free, but took pictures of the girls. Comedians joked about rape routinely in the 70's. Getting back to the film, Coach, I don't recall how it ends but you can expect a break up - what was he going to do, take his coach to prom? Too bad Cathy Lee Crosby had her career include depravity. Kind of like Jacqueline Bisset and Andrew McCarthy in "Class". Rob Lowe was in that film too; maybe it's coincidental, a few years later Rob Lowe engaged in statutory crime at the Democratic National Convention in 1998 in Atlanta. This film might be worth comparing to Point Break because I imagine a striking resemblance between Cathy Lee Crosby and Patrick Swayze - note their hair and their grins.