After they are caught stealing an automobile, young Tony Ferrara, Clarence “Stuffy” Wilson, Mike O’Brien and Julius “Rosy” Rosenberg are sent by a judge to Howard “Howdy” Hardy, the Pacific University football coach who also instructs and counsels troubled youth. Although at first cocky and independent, the boys are humbled on the football field and learn the importance of team work from the devoted Howdy. Under Howdy’s tutelage, the boys become high school stars, earning the nickname “Hardy’s Bombers,” and then enroll at Pacific. There, the Bombers lead the university’s football team to repeated victories while also working hard to earn their college degrees. In spite of a long-lived, gentle romantic rivalry between Tony and Stuffy over Mike’s pretty sister Kitty, who hopes to marry Tony after graduation, the Bombers room together and remain the closest of friends. Consequently, when Mike flunks his physics class and is threatened with suspension from the team, his fellow Bombers, as well as Kitty and Angelo, a football-crazy tailor, help him to retake the final exam and pass the course. Kitty also helps the Bombers to resist the financial temptations of her older brother Joe, an unscrupulous promoter who wants the boys to leave college and join professional football. Although aware of Kitty’s disapproval, the egotistical Tony dines with Joe one night and is seen by Howdy. After the next football practice, Howdy announces that another player will start in Tony’s position, and furious at being benched, Tony decides to sign up with Joe. Just before the start of the game, however, the other Bombers and Angelo learn of Tony’s move and rush to stop him from signing Joe’s contract. On the way, Stuffy and Angelo are involved in an automobile accident in which Stuffy is seriously injured. Unaware of Stuffy’s accident, Howdy reprimands Mike and Rosy for being late for the game, causing them to quit the team in disgust. After Kitty upbraids him for his selfish immaturity, a guilt-ridden Tony encourages Stuffy, who is in traction with a severely fractured leg, to pursue Kitty, while at the same time, discouraging her from resuming their romance. Without the Bombers, Pacific loses its remaining games, and Howdy is pressured by the college to bring his proteges back to the team. Determined to teach the Bombers a lesson in sportsmanship, however, Howdy refuses to ask them back, but lies to Stuffy that all is well. When Stuffy, who has been told that he will never play football again, finally is released from the hospital, he learns about the riff with Howdy and denounces his friends as ungrateful. Shamed when they hear that Howdy paid all of Stuffy’s medical bills, Mike, Tony and Rosy decide to return to the team in the fall and get in shape by working in a lumber camp. After a tough but rewarding summer, the three Bombers make Howdy’s team but are kept on the bench during the games. Toward the end of a big game, which Pacific is losing by seven points, Tony begs Howdy to put the Bombers in, and convinced that their motives are unselfish, Howdy relents. Although the Bombers are unable to score the tying point, Howdy is satisfied that they have matured and that Tony finally understands the importance of team work. Seeing Kitty’s ecstatic reactions to Tony’s play, Stuffy then sacrifices his own feelings and encourages Tony to reunite with his childhood sweetheart. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch The Band Plays On (1934)
