Everybody's All-American

It is implicit in the title that Everybody's All-American is a very American film. In fact it is so American in its focus that it has less to say to a European audience. So it is no wonder that the film never got a Danish release.

Everybody's All-American is about the football player Gavin Gray, who becomes a star player under the nickname "the Ghost". Gavin's girlfriend is the local beauty queen Babs. The third wheel is Gavin's cousin Donnie, who has been secretly in love with Babs for years. The film describes the couple's success-crowned start to adult life. The American dreams are fulfilled to the full, but when Gavin has to say goodbye to the sport because of his age, the decline begins. The film is probably representative in that it shows the fate of many sports stars once they have retired. Many of them cannot move on. Were it not for Gavin's resolute and level-headed wife, this would be Gavin's fate too. But luck is not on the Gray family's side either.

What the Donnie character is supposed to contribute to the story never becomes clear from the film. His character seems utterly superfluous. The two other main characters are more interesting. Not surprisingly, Dennis Quaid has done violence to his body to come to resemble the washed-up, paunchy Gavin. Unfortunately, the story never becomes gripping enough to make the thoroughly American dreams go down.