Product Description

Silver screen legend John Wayne stars as a former top-notch college football coach who tries to maintain custody of his daughter during a tough divorce while earning back self-respect by coaching a small-town Catholic school's football team. A unusually sentimental role for the Duke, in which he proves his amazing gift for comedy and sentiment. Co-starring Donna Reed ("It's a Wonderful Life"), and directed by Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca").

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8520 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-05-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 110 minutes

Features

• Silver screen legend John Wayne stars as a former top-notch college football coach who tries to maintain custody of his daughter during a tough divorce while earning back self-respect by coaching a small-town Catholic school's football team. A unusually sentimental role for the Duke, in which he proves his amazing gift for comedy and sentiment. Co-starring Donna Reed ("It's a Wonderful Life"), and

Amazon.com
Trouble Along the Way, a John Wayne movie even John Wayne fans have tended to skip, is an intriguingly complicated entertainment that gets more interesting from reel to reel. The premise scarcely sounds like prime Duke material: Former big-time football coach with an ugly divorce behind him and a little daughter to look out for takes a job at a venerable Catholic college in danger of being shut down. The title nudgingly recalls the sentimental classic Going My Way, with school administrator Charles Coburn replacing Barry Fitzgerald in the doddering-but-sly priest role and Wayne as a nonclerical (and non-singing) substitute for Bing Crosby. In addition to the diocesan politics dooming the College of St. Anthony's, the plot is complicated by ex-wife Marie Windsor's vicious efforts to regain custody of daughter Sherry Jackson; that sparks a spiky ambivalence between social worker Donna Reed and disreputable papa Wayne, who pretty much lives out of a bar where he runs his latterday business--as a bookie.

The script was the work of future Bob Hope writers Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose, and between them and director Michael Curtiz--nearing the end of his long tenure at Warner Bros.--they scuff up Wayne's heroic image in interesting ways. To turn St. Anthony's into a winning football team overnight, Wayne indulges in some outright larceny and extortion; there's even a sly throwaway joke likening his profit-sharing plan for his co-conspirators to a form of "socialism." Instead of the anticipated big-game climax with the St. Anthony's underdogs victorious, the movie veers toward a finale in which several "happy endings" are put on hold till some point in the future. For his part, Wayne gets to deliver more syncopated dialogue than usual, and seems both refreshed and startled by the experience. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Good and Underrated
This movie features John Wayne not as a cowboy but as a football coach. It is not one of his most famous ones probably because it is not the genre of what most fans think of when they think of John Wayne, comedy. It is a good movie though. When I first watched it I was amazed. Everyone (from Wayne to the actress that plays his daughter) does an excellent job. John Wayne's first role was in a silent in which he played a football player, and he also played football at USC for a couple of years with Ward Bond. So it is a subject he knows well. Overall, it gives light to a new side of the Duke, the comical side (which isn't bad). It isn't one of the best, I grant you, but it is great because it shows Duke's acting talents with a great script and cast.

Where's the DVD?
I won't bore you with story details as this film has already been reviewed. Being in my mid-50's I have seen everything the Duke has done and this wonderful, light romantic comedy has been a favorite of mine for years. A divorced father raising a daughter on his own...it went against the Hollywood stereotypical ideal of family. I continue to watch this film on my off-air copy. I only wish it would come out on DVD. Let's face it, if Wayne's early Lone Star westerns can get the DVD treatment, surely this little gem deserves the same. If you've never seen "Trouble Along the Way", sit and enjoy!

I like this movie
I thought this was a very good movie. It was different having John Wayne as a football coach instead of a cowboy. I reccomend this movie to people who like John Wayne movies, and to people who like older movies.The reason why I watch these movies is because my family likes them so I watch them to.