Jack Nicholson's first venture into direction is very much a film of its time.

Nicholson deftly illustrates the background cynicism of big time sports against the more obvious cynicism of college life.

No way can it be said to work, despite the cast's cultish distinction, but it still knocks most of its quasi-radical contemporaries sideways as an index of doomed '60s/'70s causes and confusions.

The cynical film has its fun poking fun at college life, the system and marriage.