Introduction

The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All is a 1999 action thriller film directed by Robert Radler and starring Treat Williams as a mercenary who goes undercover as a teacher in order to expose a college football team’s steroid-abuse scandal.

It is the second sequel to The Substitute (1996).

Outline

Students at a local college have become unusually antagonistic, and when a teacher is attacked by a gang of steroid-pumped students, Karl Thomasson – having earned a teacher’s degree to facilitate his actions in the previous film – returns to the classroom to uncover the truth.

What he finds is shocking: the college’s football coach is involved in a steroid-doping scandal, and his ‘juiced’ students were responsible for the attack on the teacher. Thomasson recruits his old team, planting surveillance equipment in a jukebox inside a local sports-bar that hosts a number of the coach’s football players.

It turns out that the coach was doping his players, and rigging football games, to pay off his backers—a local crime syndicate. When the audio equipment draws the attention of the syndicate’s thugs, one of Karl’s team is killed in the van, and Karl’s calm and collected mask begins to slip.

When one of Thomasson’s students dies from a steroid overdose, Thomasson finally loses his jovial nature, confronting the coach and telling him that he knows how the student died, that he knows the coach is responsible, and that he has audiotape to prove his allegations.

In one last showdown, Karl defeats the syndicate and reveals the doping scandal – as he leaves, and the credits roll, a radio news report reveals that the football coach committed suicide in disgrace.

The Substitute Series

Three direct-to-DVD sequels were made with Treat Williams replacing Tom Berenger.

• The Substitute 01 (1996).
• The Substitute 02: School’s Out (1998).
• The Substitute 03: Winner Takes All (1999).
• The Substitute 04: Failure Is Not an Option (2001).

Production & Filming Details

• Director: Robert Radler.
• Producers: Terry Spazek.
• Writers: Roy Frumkes and Roco Simonelli.
• Music: Tor Hyams.
• Cinematography: Barry M. Wilson.
• Editor: Florent Retz.
• Distributor: Artisan Entertainment.
• Release Date: 14 August 1999 (US).
• Running Time: 90 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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