$1000 a Touchdown

In the early to mid-1930s, Joe E. Brown was a top comic working for Warner Brothers. But by the late 30s and into the 40s, the number of films he made and the quality diminished. I can only assume the public lost interest in his shtick...and I think it's because in so many of these earlier films, he played extremely egotistical characters...an odd way to garner sympathy for the guy and a quick way to get the public to tire of him. "$1000 a Touchdown" is one of his post-Warner films.

I must warn you that the copy I found on YouTube has absolutely horrid sound. It is watchable...but I advise you to turn on the auto-generated captions. They aren't good but they'll help you follow along a bit better.

Marlowe Mansfield Booth (Brown) inherits a college...something that I am pretty sure happens all the time. Like most colleges in movies of the 1930s, no one ever seems to go to class or get degrees...they're really just there to play football or cheer for the team. However, the school is having huge financial problems and unless the team starts to win, the place will close.

Like too many of Brown's films, this one is short on laughs. It even manages to make the least of supporting actor like Eric Blore, who is usually terrific. The only big plus is that it's a very early acting role for Susan Hayward and it's interesting to see her...though not enough to carry the story.