''Saturday's Hero'' is a 1951 American
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
sports film
A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. D ...
directed by
David Miller. It is also known as ''Idols in the Dust'', and stars
John Derek and
Donna Reed. ''Saturday's Hero'' was the first film for
Aldo Ray
Aldo Ray (born Aldo Da Re; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Pictures before achieving stardom through his roles in '' The Marrying Kind, P ...
, who was still going by Aldo DaRe, but it was released after his second acting job in ''My True Story'' (1951). The film was also the debut score of
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...
.
Plot
Steve Novak, a Polish-American immigrant from a small New Jersey mill town, decides to go to a college in Virginia to play football. He becomes a star player as a freshman, but hears stories of teammates receiving money for their play.
Steve falls for Melissa (
Donna Reed), the daughter of one of the school's rich benefactors, TC McCabe. When he suffers injuries on the field, Steve realizes that a college education will mean more to his future than football will. He also tries to win Melissa's love, over her uncle’s strong objections.
Cast
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John Derek as Steve Novak
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Donna Reed as Melissa
*
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July 13, 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American Broadway theatre, Broadway and film actor active between 1914 and 1971, usually in major supporting roles.
Biography
Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, ...
as TC McCabe
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Alexander Knox as Professor Megroth
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Elliott Lewis as Eddie Adams
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Otto Hulett as Coach "Preacher" Tennant
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Howard St. John as Belfrage
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Aldo Ray
Aldo Ray (born Aldo Da Re; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Pictures before achieving stardom through his roles in '' The Marrying Kind, P ...
as Gene Hausler (as Aldo DaRe)
* Alvin Baldock as Francis 'Clay' Clayborne
* Wilbur Robertson as Bob Whittier
* Charles Mercer Barnes as Moose Wagner
* Bill Martin as Joe Mestrovic
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Mickey Knox as Joey Novak
* Sandro Giglio as Poppa Jan Novak
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Tito Vuolo as Manuel
Production
Columbia bought the novel specifically as a vehicle for John Derek.
The film was known in production as ''The Hero''.The shoot went for 80 days including 35 days of football sequences.
See also
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List of American football films
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
External links
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{{David Miller
1951 films
1951 drama films
American sports drama films
American football films
American black-and-white films
Columbia Pictures films
1950s English-language films
Films scored by Elmer Bernstein
Films based on American novels
Films directed by David Miller
Films set in universities and colleges
Films with screenplays by Sidney Buchman
1950s American films