ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . HONDO for SHANE and RIO BRAVO for HIGH NOON, John Wayne horns in on GOING MY WAY and THE BELLS OF ST. MARY territory with his TROUBLE ALONG THE WAY. Wayne's "Steve" not only runs the risk of being the fall guy for the closing of a Catholic college here, but he's also in danger of losing custody of his only child (11-year-old daughter "Carol") because their home is a pig sty, he enables Carol's chronic truancy, and he regularly exposes his daughter to his second-hand smoke. (SPOILERS ALERT:) The fact that Steve does not have custody of Carol as this flick closes implies that there will be less TROUBLE ALONG THE WAY in his future. Throughout his film career, Wayne seemed more comfortable playing the "funny uncle" than an actual doting dad. His avuncular "Ethan" in THE SEARCHERS would try to shoot niece Natalie Wood several times (and succeeded in scalping her husband). As the title character in DONOVAN'S REEF, he "adopts" a war buddy's three kids--but just for a few days. This sort of "Funsies" ownership of children is taken to a sorry extreme by Wayne's rancher character in THE COWBOYS, who presses about a dozen young boys into virtual slave labor, says they're "ALL MY SONS," and gets one of them killed! Since TROUBLE's Carol already is 11-years-old, her silver lining is that she'll be out of the Child Welfare System in less than seven years.

mark.waltz If so, watch out for this football coach, 'cause he packs a lot of drama in addition to a mean scrimmaging plan. He's got a trampy ex-wife (Marie Windsor, no less), and their devoted daughter (Sherry loves him, hates her mother, and wants no part of the repressed social worker's plan to take her away from Wayne & pass her onto his mom. That social worker is Donna Reed, as far from her "From Here to Eternity" character the very same year. She's instantly antagonistic towards Wayne, but warms up to him somewhat after seeing the loving relationship between father and daughter she can relate to. Unfortunately, that father/daughter relationship Reed had made her repressed around the boys who considered her plain, which here she is anything but. But for some reason, on and off throughout the film, she takes the neglectful mother's side, whose backstory we see in a flashback Wayne has in the middle of the film. This cold-hearted ex is only really interested in getting Wayne's attention and has no idea of how to relate to the little girl. There is one scene where the re-married ex-wife tries to seduce her ex, indicating that there is no physical relationship between her and her second husband (Tom Helmore). At a party for the little girl, it is made apparent that she has no interest in her daughter, which Reed witnesses.In addition to all of this soap opera, there is the head of the Catholic college Wayne has gone to work for, played by the always lovable Charles Coburn. The aging priest hopes to keep his college open by creating a winning football team. Coburn, whose character of the priest complains of being considered obsolete, seems to be anything but; In fact, he would continue to play lovable old codgers for another 7 years, most notably opposite Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and as the American uncle his rich British family wants to kill in "How to Murder a Rich Uncle". One of the other priests is played by "Little House on the Prairie" preacher Dabbs Greer who is instantly recognizable from his first appearance on screen. Chuck Connors and an unbilled James Dean also appear. There are some great affectionate scenes between Sherry Jackson and Charles Coburn, but they are overshadowed by the drama which the film focuses on. Had the script focused more on the football team, the survival of the school, and the loving relationship between father and daughter, it would be less cloying. The trouble is how it is set up in the first 10 minutes, you would never realize that it's going to be more than 75% dramatic. Wayne, likable as always, remains unscathed, but Reed's character is sadly too cold and unfeeling to make her character believable and likable, let alone any possibility of a romance between Wayne and Reed likely. Windsor does what she can to add some humanity to her cold character, but the script is against her. Jackson manages to make the little girl likable. A false promise at the start leads to an unsatisfying film as a whole.

Jay Raskin This movie mixes two genres. First, there's the sports story genre with a has been coach making a come-back with a loser team. Second, there's the single, loving father trying to prove he's a good parent and hold onto his child. In a way, we're getting two movies in one. Both of them are fine and are mildly entertaining.The sports story and the coach character isn't far from the usual John Wayne Cowboy/Military officer role. He is quite effective in this. However as the father, in the family story, he is cool when he should be warm and he hardly registers much emotion when he realizes he might lose her. This is a part that Cary Grant would have been perfect for.Adorable Sherry Jackson as the daughter is a lot of fun and it is easy to see why she got her long running television series with Danny Thomas. Donna Reed gives an extraordinary intelligent performance as the social worker trying to protect Jackson. It is also easy to see why she also starred in a long running television series five years later.The setting of the movie at a small Catholic College is probably a mistake. There is just not that much humor there. Probably because the censorship office was controlled by Catholics, there was a limit on how much you could let the audience laugh at the priests. Director Curtiz does come as close to that limit as any movie of the time.The best scene is when Wayne finds out that the football schedule for the team he has just taken over includes the toughest teams in college football. Here, Wayne lets himself go and actually registers a new emotion for him - fear.The sexual politics in the movie is so frightening and bizarre, I don't even want to analyze it. I'll just say that at one point Wayne suddenly grabs Reed against her will and forcibly kisses her, although she has not shown the slightest interest in him before this point. He tells her that this is what she really wants and finally she admits it. One has to cringe for her and all women who had to live in the 1950's.I think if this film had been more successful, Wayne would have broken away from the cowboy/military stereotypes and done some interesting movies in the last two decades of his life. Unfortunately, the movie wasn't that successful and he went back to the safe stereotypical tough as nails roles.

MartinHafer This is a big departure for John Wayne, as this is a sort of family film. No dead Commies, Indians or Western bandits in the film at all. Instead, Wayne plays a college football coach who has a history of doing ANYTHING he needs to do to win. However, this time a small Catholic college has hired him. The school has almost no money and in fact is on the verge of being closed. So, how does Wayne take their horrible program to champions in practically no time? To make all this more complicated, Wayne is involved in a custody dispute with a a vindictive ex-wife who seems to have no maternal instincts whatsoever. Social Worker, Donna Reed, has been sent to investigate Wayne's parenting of his 11 year-old and the Duke handles this intrusion into his life pretty much like you'd expect--he has complete contempt for the process. So, the film is basically Wayne trying to create a winning team AND keep full custody of his daughter.In an interesting idea, the glue that holds this film together is Charles Coburn's character, a kindly Catholic priest who is in charge of the college. He's perfectly suited to the role and he offers a contrast to Wayne and his "win at all costs" notions.Overall, the film is well worth seeing because it is so different and tough to predict. Also, Wayne, Coburn and Reed all work well together--much of this is due to their talents, but the writers also did a nice job as well. However, one problem some might have with the film is that by the end of the film, everything is NOT all wrapped up neatly. Instead, the ball is rolling towards completion, but there are still many unanswered questions, such as will he keep custody and will Wayne and Reed become romantic. I didn't mind this lack of clarity and thought the film was a nice change of pace. Deep? No, but interesting and a good time-passer.