The Junction Boys (2002)
Tom Berenger leads an outstanding cast in this bone-crunching dramatization of legendary college football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's debut at Texas A&M in the summer of 1954. The often unnerving story finds Bryant ducking the school's good ol' boy network of rich, influential alumni by spiriting his new team away to a makeshift training base in a tiny town called Junction. There, Bryant runs the equivalent of a POW camp, brutalizing an oversized, underdeveloped bunch of rowdy young men and tormenting those who seek medical attention for cracked spines and deadly heat exhaustion. Berenger delivers a warts-and-all performance as the vulgar, monstrous, yet much-respected Bryant, and the direction by seasoned television vet Mike Robe is brisk and almost explosively charged. Whatever one thinks of Bryant's punishing methods, the film does not flinch from telling its powerful tale. --Tom Keogh
Director: Mike Robe
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Tom Berenger as Paul 'Bear' Bryant |
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Bernard Curry as Johnny Haynes |
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Ryan Kwanten as Claude Gearheart |
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Fletcher Humphrys as Skeet Keeler |
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Nick Tate as Smokey Harper |
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Ryan Johnson as Mike Hess |
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Ewen Leslie as Luke Mason |
| Writing | Mike Robe | Writer |
| Directing | Mike Robe | Director |
| Production | Orly Adelson | Executive Producer |
| Production | Eric M. Bennett | Co-Producer |
| Production | James Dalthorp | Executive Producer |
| Production | Jonathan Eskenas | Co-Producer |
| Production | Michael O. Gallant | Producer |
| Production | Mark Shapiro | Executive Producer |
| Production | Adam J. Sher | Co-Producer |
| Production | John H. Williams | Producer |
| Writing | Jim Dent | Writer |
| Sound | Steve Dorff | Music |
| Crew | Stephen Andrich | Cinematography |
| Editing | Sabrina Plisco | Editor |
