The Winning Point (1926) - It's basically just old-timey football

If you have about an hour and you really like the smell of old libraries, you might enjoy The Winning Point. It is a movie for people who think modern sports are too fast and wish everyone still wore leather hats that look like lightbulbs. If you want a deep plot or explosions, you will probably hate this. It is just a simple story about a guy, a ball, and a girl in a very large hat.

George J. Lewis plays the lead. He has this face that looks like he is constantly trying to remember if he left the oven on. It works for the character, though. He is a college kid who wants to be a football star but everything keeps going wrong because that is how these movies work. 🏈

The football scenes are the best part, mostly because they look so dangerous. There are no pads. No real helmets. Just dudes in thick sweaters slamming into each other on a field that looks like it is mostly dirt and rocks. It makes you realize how tough people were back then, or maybe just how much they didn't care about their knees.

I noticed one guy in the background during the first game scene who just stops running. He just stands there. He looks like he forgot he was in a movie and was just wondering what he was going to have for dinner. It is so funny once you see it. I couldn't stop looking for him in the next shot.

Dorothy Gulliver is the love interest. She does a lot of pouting. In the 1920s, pouting was basically a full-time job for actresses. She is good at it, but her character does not really have anything to do except stand on the sidelines and hold a pennant. 🚩

The villain is Eddie Phillips. He looks like the kind of guy who would steal your lunch money and then tell the teacher you did it. He has this sneaky way of walking that is very predictable. You know he is the bad guy because his hair is just a little too perfect. Nobody with hair that shiny is ever the hero in 1926.

There is a scene in a dorm room that feels very cramped. The furniture looks incredibly uncomfortable. I kept thinking about how itchy those wool blankets must have been. It distracted me from the actual dialogue, which was just text on a screen anyway. Sometimes the title cards stay up for way too long. I finished reading them and then had time to go get a glass of water before the movie started again.

Compared to something like When a Dog Loves, this feels a bit more grounded. It isn't trying to be a tear-jerker. It just wants to be a fun time at the stadium. It is definitely better than The Praise Agent, which I remember being a real slog to get through. This one at least has some energy during the big game at the end.

The pacing gets a bit weird in the middle. There is a lot of walking around and talking about things that don't seem to matter much. I think they were just trying to fill time until the climax. It is a common problem with these silent films. They have about 20 minutes of actual story stretched out over an hour.

The camera work is pretty basic. It just sits there. Occasionally it pans a little bit, but mostly it is like you are sitting in the third row of a play. It makes the football scenes feel very flat. You can't really tell who has the ball half the time. It is just a big pile of sweaters moving left and then moving right. 🧶

I liked the way they used shadows in the locker room scene. It felt a bit more artistic than the rest of the movie. But then it went right back to being a standard sports flick. It didn't want to be fancy. It just wanted to show a guy winning the game and getting the girl. Which is fine! We need movies like that too.

I wonder what happened to the dog in the background of the campus scene. There is a small terrier that runs across the frame and almost gets stepped on by a group of extras. It looked very stressed. I hope it got a treat after the director yelled cut.

If you've seen The Wishing Ring Man, you know how these small-scale dramas usually go. They are sweet but they don't stick in your brain for very long. You watch it, you smile a couple of times, and then you forget it exists by the time you're doing the dishes. This is exactly that kind of movie.

One thing that really bugged me was the makeup. Everyone has these dark circles around their eyes like they haven't slept in three weeks. I know it was because of the film stock they used back then, but it makes everyone look like they are in a horror movie instead of a college comedy. 🧟‍♂️

The ending is exactly what you think it is. I won't spoil it, but let's just say the title of the movie is a very big hint. It is not exactly a plot twist. It is satisfying in a boring way. Like eating a piece of plain toast. It's fine. It does the job.

I'd say watch it if you are a completionist for 1920s cinema. Or if you really like George J. Lewis. He’s got charisma, even if he doesn't have much to work with here. Otherwise, you could probably skip it and watch Fire and Steel instead for something with a bit more bite.

The film quality on the version I saw was pretty grainy. Lots of scratches. It actually added to the vibe, though. It felt like watching a ghost story about football players who have been dead for a hundred years. Which, I guess, they have been. That is a weird thought.

Anyway, it’s a decent little time capsule. Not a masterpiece. Not a disaster. Just a movie about a winning point. 🏈✨