Trouble Along the Way

"Winning isn't everything -- it's the only thing." These words were spoken not by Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi but by Steve Williams, the fictional college athletics instructor played by John Wayne in Trouble Along the Way. Recently divorced, Williams has trouble finding a job due to his ...more

"Heart warming" is not an adjective usually applied to John Wayne films, but it fits Trouble Along the Way. For that matter, so does "manipulative" and "predictable," and maybe even "mawkish," but Trouble manages to be a good film in spite of this. A big part of the credit goes to the screenplay, the writers of which seem to have been aware of how treacly and annoying this basic story could be and so have made great pains to leaven the script with fine dialogue throughout (and quite more than ...more