Review of Youngblood (1986) by Brittany D — 06 Feb 2009

Youngblood is a by-the-numbers sports story, of the "underdog youth makes good" variety. Within this framework, the actual sports change from film to film, and sometimes the stories are about a team rather than one individual, but the basic curve of excitement never changes. The newcomer needs to excel because sports are his ticket out of a life of drudgery. The budding star has talent, but is missing some key ingredient which holds him back. After a few initial successes, he is thwarted by an evil entity. Sometimes the obstacle is a player on another team, other times an injury, sometimes the problem lies within himself. In the course of the film the youngster overcomes the problem, defeats the nemesis, gets the girl, and wins the big game in time for the credits to roll over the applause.

In this case, Youngblood is a young American hockey player who sees the sport he loves as his only way out of a lifetime of farming or mill work. His older brother had the same dream, but an injury permanently took him out of the sport, and now the younger brother has been given a chance. He must overcome two obstacles: a thug on the other championship contender, and his own dislike of fighting. To make his challenge even tougher, he meets a girl (Cynthia Gibb) right after joining his first professional team, and she turns out to be the coach's only daughter, which doesn't please the coach.

Well, we all know the formula, so the rest of the film is predictable, but I really enjoyed this film. I basically like this formula to begin with, and it helps when the film is about a sport you kinda enjoy and/or know something about. In the end, however, it is not the familiar story, but the unique execution that makes this kind of picture succeed or fail. In this case, the characters are all likeable, the hockey action is believable, and the film even managed a couple of serious themes. Best of all, the film is liberally sprinkled with humor. An easy watch.