caught watching the game on TV and gets the men kicked out. The Taft Rockets are losing 0-26 by end of the first half of the Taft-Bakersfield rematch game, so Jack gets Reno enraged by 'accidentally' letting know it was he who incited the town dressed as the other team's mascot. His meanness returns, spurring the team to little by little catch up. Reno puts Jack back in the game in the last minute. In the last play of the game, with five seconds left on the clock, Reno throws the ball long to Jack for the winning touchdown. In the process it revitalizes Taft, as well as his and Reno's marriages. Cast Production Filming Much of the film was shot in and around the actual Taft Union High School. The football scenes took place at Pierce Junior College in the San Fernando Valley. The night game was filmed at Moorpark High School, in Moorpark, CA. Reception Critical response Walter Goodman of the New York Times drew attention to the "constrained" plot and uneven script, but was complimentary of Williams' "amiable performance" and relished the rousing ending which "leaves you with the sort of sappy happy feeling that Frank Capra and Preston Sturges used to provide." In the Los Angeles Times, Michael Wilmington gave special praise to the co-stars, Williams and Russell, whom he described as "maybe the best thing" about the movie and excused the "excesses and flaws" of the script. Calling the film "a lip-smacking tale of all-American wish-fulfillment and a witty satire of its dangers," he commended scenarist Ron Shelton as having "a wickedly tight grip on the absurdities and dynamics of small American cities." Overall, though, the film has received mixed reviews over the decades since its release, with a 31% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F. Pauline Kael called the film "a small town comedy where the whole population is caught up in some glorious foolishness." Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com wrote: "Forgotten by most yet seemingly adored by those who choose to remember it, The Best of Times stands in my book as one of the truly great sports comedies." References External links 1986 films 1980s sports comedy-drama films American football films American sports comedy-drama films Films directed by Roger Spottiswoode Films produced by Gordon Carroll