1969 Saints movie, "Number One"

Some of the older posters on TD may be familiar with an old 1969 movie called Number One, which starred Charlton Heston as an aging New Orleans Saints quarterback debating whether or not to hang up the cleats and call it a career.

In general terms, the movie is nothing to write home about; it is a rather slow-moving melodrama, full of a lot of self-centered characters.

But to me it is a bit of a treat to see, with some really clear footage of the NFL and its unis in 1969, as well of cool footage of New Orleans (particularly old Tulane Stadium).

First, let's look a the absolute BEAUTY of those early Saints unis. With modern materials and design, it would be nigh-impossible to go back to this, but man, what a great look this was, especially that dark rich "brass" shade of gold:



Our second shot, in addition to showing more of that gorgeous early Saints look and style, brings up another interesting thing about this movie. In addition to many Saints players featured as team members in non-speaking roles, Saints OWNER John Mecom was also in the film (portraying the team's 3rd string quarterback), and had a few speaking lines. Mecom was awarded the franchise when he was only 27, and the movie was made only a couple of years later, so he was actually younger than many of his players. He's the one in the Saints jacket throwing the ball in this shot:


Like many old football movies (and like in actual NFL games, as can be seen from old photos) uniformity in uniforms was often lacking. Look at this aerial view of a huddle:

Eight of the players have white-black-white stripes (of varying sizes), while three have black-white-black. This is present throughout the film, not just in the "staged" game shots but even in the actual game footage that was used in the film. If you look closely, you can see the same striping issue present on the pants: some black-white-black, some white-black-white.

Another thing-- look at the field itself in the above shot. Here's another shot showing how the Tulane Stadium playing surface looked:

Very little green to be seen. Almost bare dirt. Nowadays all fields appear rich, thick and green all year long, no matter if they are field turf or natural grass.

Speaking of old Tulane Stadium, the film is great for views of that old edifice. Here is a shot from the field:


And here is one in the area under the stands:

Jerry World or SoFi it ain't. Amazing how far we have come in building our modern-day edifices, and how much we expect out of them today.

Finally, I'll leave you with this shot:

Those kind of T-shirts were very popular with pro teams back in the day; but in today's woke world, with some leagues moving from using the term "team OWNER" because it might sound racist, I doubt you'd ever see players wearing a shirt saying "Property Of".

Anyway, the movie is currently playing (and available on demand) for FREE via the cable channel EPIX, if you want to give it a look.