Varsity Blues
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Varsity Blues is a 1999 film that follows a small-town high school football team and their focused coach, Jon Voight, through a tumultuous season. The players must deal with the pressures of adolescence and their football obsessed community. In the small town of West Canaan, Texas, football is a way of life, and losing is not an option.
Varsity Blues drew a domestic box office gross of $53 million. Its budget was estimated at $16 million.
The story revolves around Jonathan "Mox" Moxon (James Van Der Beek), the academically gifted back-up quarterback for The West Canaan High School football team. Despite his relative popularity at school, easy friendships with several other players, and a smart and sassy girlfriend, Mox is dissatisfied with his life. He wants to leave Texas to go to school at Brown University. He also dislikes his football obsessed father and dreads playing football under legendary coach Bud Kilmer(Jon Voight). Bud Kilmer is a verbally abusive control freak whose philosophy can be summed up as "win at all costs." Kilmer's philosophy finally takes its toll on Coyotes' quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker); It is revealed that Lance, who is Mox's best friend, had been manipulated into taking cortisone shots into an injured knee that finally gave out after being sacked. Lance is rushed to the hospital, where doctors are appalled at the massive amount of scar tissue found under his knee.
In need of a new quarterback, Kilmer reluctantly names Mox to replace Lance as captain and starting quarterback. The move brings unexpected dividends for Mox, one of them being Darcy Sears (Ali Larter), Lance's girlfriend, who is interested in marrying a football player in order to escape small town life.
Becoming fed up with Kilmer and not feeling a strong need to win, Mox starts calling his own plays on the field without Kilmer's approval. Kilmer, who becomes aware that Mox has won a full scholarship to Brown, warns Mox that if he doesn't fall in line, he will alter his transcripts in order to reverse the decision on his scholarship.
Another friend of Mox's, Wendall Brown, is injured on the field shortly thereafter. Kilmer manipulates Wendall into taking the shot. Wendall, who is desperate to be recruited by a good college, grants his consent. At this moment, Mox tells Kilmer he'll quit the team if the needle enters Wendell's knee. Undaunted, Kilmer orders Charlie Tweeder, a friend of both Mox and Wendall, to take the snaps. Tweeder refuses. Realizing that he will be forced to forfeit the game, Kilmer loses control and attacks Mox. The other players break up the fight and then refuse to take to the field. Mox tells Kilmer that the only way they'll return to the field is without him. Knowing his loss of control has cost him his credibility, Kilmer tries in vain to rally support and spark the team's spirit into trusting him, but not one player follows him out of the locker room. Kilmer continues down the locker room hall, and seeing no one following him, turns the other direction and into his office. In a voice-over epilogue, Mox never played football again. Lance went on to a successful coaching career, Wendell received a scholarship to Grambling, and Kilmer retired, never to coach football again.
