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Basketball at the Movies: these movies are either about basketball or have the game in them. We know there are more out there ("The Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island"...) - if you know of any, send 'em in with whatever info you have or just the title to [email protected]. Note: text, unless otherwise credited, is courtesy ESPN. |
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| Above
the Rim
Directed by Jeff Pollack (1994) Duane Martin, Tupac Shakur, and Damon Wayans High-school hoop star, Kyle-Lee (Martin) alienates teammates trying to impress a university scout. He eventually quits the team, and, seduced by the promise of fame and fortune, ends up running with Wayans and the drug-dealing Birdie (Shakur) in a street hoops tournament. Fine camera work and soundtrack, though the films depiction of the reality of black youth culture in the inner city leaves something to be desired.
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| Air
Bud
Directed by Charles Martin Smith (1998) Kevin Zegers, Michael Jeter As
the new kid in town, Josh (Kevin Zegers) has no friends and is too shy
to try out for the school basketball team. When practicing on an old
abandoned court, Josh befriends a runaway Golden Retriefver called Buddy
and is astounded by the dog's ability to score baskets. |
| Amazing
Grace and Chuck
Directed by Mike Newell (1987) Alex English, Joshua Zeuhlke, Gregory Peck, and Jamie Lee Curtis Movie rests on the idea that a 12 year-old Little Leaguer from Montana can force US and Soviet leaders to give up their silly nuclear weapons. Young Chuck (Zuehlke) goes on a field trip to a missile silo and decides to give up baseball in protest. He convinces Hoop star Amazing Grace Smith (English) to sympathize, and his actions are then followed by the rest of the world's sportsmen, who move into Amazing Grace's barn to coordinate their efforts. |
| BASEketball
Directed by David "Naken Gun" Zucker (1998) Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Dian Bachar, Yasmine Bleeth, Jenny McCarthy, Robert Vaughn, Ernest Borgnine David Zucker's
newest comedy isn't half as funny as Airplane! or The Naked Gun. There
are two ways BASEketball could have gone: 1. A biting, wry satire of the
current state professional sports are in, or 2. A laugh a second,
off-the-wall slapstick farce in classic Zucker style. But the curveball
is thrown when the South Park dudes come out of leftfield and run off
with the movie. Disappointingly, BASEketball doesn't feature the
intricate insanity and carefully choreographed chaos of Zucker's other
spoofs. The pacing is much slower and the humor decidedly lower in taste
than Police Squad, High School High or Brain Donors. Not lower in
quality though. In the proper mood, BASEketball will prompt some deep
belly laughs and satisfying groans. |
| Basketball
Diaries
Directed by Kalvert (1995) Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Lorraine Bracco, Bruno Kirby, and Juliette Lewis Based on autobiographical work by Jim Carroll, Diaries is a troubling and realistic look at four teenagers and how they deal with growing up in New York City. DiCaprio is great as the experiment-friendly, poet-in-the-making Carroll, who along with Walberg and Lewis create an excellent, if bleak, portrait into the street life of a young junkie. |
| Blue
Chips
Written by Ron Shelton, Directed by William Friedkin (1994) Shaquille O'Neal, Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, Ed O'Niell, J.T. Walsh, and Bob Cousy Coach is caught in a Catch-22 -- he needs to offer cash and other inducements to land the top recruits, but knows that if he gets caught in the process he'll lose his job and reputation. Follow coach Pete Bell (Nolte) as he wrestles with the cynacism of modern college hoops and the cost of landing the big one, only to stumble upon big Neon Bodeaux (Shaq), who wants nothing. Really, it could happen. Lots of on court hoops action watching Shaqfoo throw 'em home. |
| Celtic
Pride
Directed by Tom De Cerchio (1996) Dan Aykroyd, Daniel Stern, Damon Wayans A couple of fans risk separation and imprisonment in their vehement support of the Boston Celtics. Satirizing the importance of sport in the life of typical American men, the two fans (Stern and Aykroyd) demonstate their devotion for a Celtic team locked in a heated NBA Finals race by kidnapping the biggest star of the Utah Jazz, Lewis Scott (Wayans). Funny, but dumb. |
| Coach
Rhea Perlman, Fredro Star Guts, determination and five thousand dollars a year drive Phyllis, a sassy PE teacher at Brooklyn Sunset Park High, to take on a reprobate group of intercity basketball players. The last thing the team wants is a woman coach... Especially one who doesn't even know a time-out from the time of day. These Boyz N the Hood already know they can play basketball and have got the moves to proove it but their dream of being the best certainly doesn't include being bossed around by an opinionated female. But when Phyllis' worldly wisdom makes contact with the teams star player, Shorty things finally start to Slam Dunk into place. Finally they are learning to play each others game. Next stop the City Championships, for this dream team the time has come to play! |
| Eddie
Directed by Steve Rash (1996) Whoopie Goldberg, Frank Langella, Dennis Farina, and a host of NBA players including John Salley, Dennis Rodman, Malik Sealy, and Dwayne Schintzius Whoops! Whoopie Goldberg, Eddie, misses the mark as a boistrous cab dispatcher feeding play-by-play of Knick games to her cabbies turned NBA coach. When the real coach of the Knicks (Farrina) up and quits, Eddie takes over as coach and guides the slumping Knicks into the playoffs. While this sounds sensational on paper, it just doesn't wash on film -- the players are more fun to watch in real life and just about anybody can jump up and down and shout at their players to "hit the open man". In hoop terms, this could loosely be termed a brick. |
| Fast
Break
Directed by Jack Smight (1979) Gabe Kaplan, Bernard King, Harold Sylvester, and Mike Warren. Gabe Kaplan, of Welcome Back Kotter fame, plays a New York deli worker who quits his job to coach a college basketball team in Nevada. But there's a catch. In order to get a contract, Kaplan's team must beat out a tough rival. To accomplish this, Kaplan enlists the help of some of his N.Y.C. street players and whips his unpromising team into shape. |
| He
Got Game
Directed by Spike Lee. (1998) Denzel Washington, Ray Allen (Milwaukee Bucks), Jennifer Esposito. Spike Lee directs the hoop dreams of a high school basketball star. Denzel Washington is the parolee father of the "Jesus of Coney Island." His son, played by NBA star Ray Allen, is a number one prospect. Given one week to convince him to attend the governor's alma matter, Washington instead communicates with him soul to soul, one on one. |
| Hoop
Dreams
Directed by Steve James. (1994) William Gates and Arthur Agee. An unforgettable inner-city epic about two 14 year old black youths growing up in a Chicago housing project. While both initially win scholarships to the same suburban high school Isiah Thomas attended, their paths split when Arthur's parents fall behind on school payments returning him to his life in the city. Over the next four years and 250 hours of film footage, the film chronicles the successes and failures of the two young basketball players as they dream of delivering themselves and their families out of the ghetto in the only way they know how: playing basketball. Profoundly moving. |
| Hoosiers
Directed by David Anspaugh (1987) Gene Hackman, Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey, Sheb Wooley, Fera Parsons, and Chelcie Ross. Hoosiers chronicles the story of how a tight-knit rural Indiana town, whose high school could barely field a basketball team, overcomes all odds by making it to the state finals in a state where schools of all sizes compete against each other in the same tournament. From start to finish, it's a story of underdogs. From mysterious coach Norman Dale (Hackman), to the former hoops star turned town drunk (Hopper), to the reluctant-to-even-play prep star, this is a movie about putting past demons aside and finding a rebirth through basketball. Wonderful performances from the lead actors make Hoosiers a rousing success. |
| One
on One
Directed by Lamont Johnson (1977) Robby Benson, Annette O'Toole, GD Spradlin, and Melanie Griffith. Small town phenom Henry Steele (Benson) is wooed with a sports car to accept a scholarship at a big city university. Once there, the poorly educated Henry quickly finds himself within an inch of flunking his classes and having his scholarship revoked by a tyrranical coach. But in Rockyesque fashion, Henry succeeds in making the team, wins the game, gets the girl, passes class with her help, and proceeds to tell the coach what to do with his scholarship. Rebound Directed by Eric De Salle (1997, Home Box Office) Don Cheadle, James Earl Jones, Loretta Devine, Clarence Williams III, Forest Whitaker Based on a true
story. He is probably the greatest basketball player who never made it
to the big time. But Earl Manigault is a living legend on the streets of
New York. REBOUND is his story. Shooting hoops in the playground of
Harlem, young Earl, nicknamed "The Goat," discovers he has a
special talent for the game: a high-speed, high-flying agility that soon
makes him a champion slam-dunker. As a High School star, he reaches the
top by pitting himself against future greats like Kareem Abdul Jabaar,
but staying at the top proves harder. Seduced by his friends into an
easy lifestyle of parties and drug abuse, Earl soon finds himself
slipping from the top--and his battles are just beginning. Confronted by
a team that consists of life's harsher realities--a brutal coach, a
pregnant girlfriend, and a drug habit that won't let go--"The
Goat" is about to discover that it will take all his energy and
talent if he is to break free and REBOUND. |
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(1995) Jim Varney The hapless Ernest P Worrell is back with a dream of joining his local Basketball team, but it seems he's destined to stay on the sidelines forever - until he finds some magic trainers. Puerile comedy starring Jim Varney. |
| Space
Jam
Directed by Joe Pytka (1996) Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Billy West, Danny Devito, and Juanita Jordan. The story opens with young MJ dreaming of his future: University of North Carolina... the NBA... and onto his ultimate dream of Pro Baseball. The story then flashes forward to Mike in the midst of his baseball career, in which he's not as adept as his earlier job. Jordan is then sucked down a golf hole into the land of Looney Tunes, where Bugs and Co. have been taken hostage by an evil amusement park owner (Knight) in outer space. They can only escape by beating the Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing-led Nerdluck Monsters. Enter a reluctant Jordan in a basketball uniform. You'll never guess how the story ends. |
| Teen
Wolf
Directed by Rod Daniel (1985) Michael J. Fox, James Hampton, Jerry Levine, James MacKrell, and Susan Ursitti After bringing his werewolf transformation out of the closet at school, the previously unnoticed teenage hoopster (Fox) not only becomes the talk of the town, but also helps his flailing team turn around their doomed season. Though he gets the girl and the basketball team is on the rise, things are beginning to get hairy and our young Wolf wishes that things would just return to normal. |
| The
Absent Minded Professor
Directed by Robert Stevenson (1961) Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon James, and Elliot Reid. The rollicking story of Professor Brainard, whose life turns to chaos when he accidently invents flying rubber, "flubber", an incredible material that actually gains energy each time it strikes a hard surface. This anti-gravitational invention allows for a pair of shoes that can jump into the stratosphere and enable a modified Model-T to fly. Unfortunately for our Professor, nobody seems to want the material except the dasterdly Alonzo Hawk, a corrupt businessman who wants only to steal the material for himself. The Air Up There Directed by Paul Glaser (1993) Kevin Bacon, Charles Gotonga Maina, and Yolanda Vasquez An American Basketball coach scouting talent among Kenyan tribesmen ends up learning as much from the natives as they learn from him. The players eventually come together as a team and solve a longstanding territorial dispute in the process. A little slice of Hollywood in Kenya. |
| The Fish that
Saved Pittsburgh
Directed by Gilbert Moses (1979) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Marv Albert, Margaret Avery, James Bond III, Stockard Channing, Michael V. Gazzo, Jack Kehoe, Meadowlark Lemon, Norm Nixon, Flip Wilson, and Jonathan Winters. An astrologer named Mona Mondieu (Stockard Channing) leads the struggling Pittsburgh hoops team to the promised land by advising the only remaining player, Dr. J, and the faithful team water boy to bring together a team based on the power of the Zodiac. When the squad consists solely of players born under the Pisces sign, their losing streak becomes a thing of the past. The Sixth Man Directed by Randall Miller (1996 Buena Vista) Marlon Wayans, Kadeem Hardison, Michael Michele Not having
expected much from this film (writes Elyce Strong), I was pleasantly
surprised to discover an entertaining and occasionally tear-jerking
story about a young man letting go of his big brother.When Antoine Tyler
(Kadeem Hardison), the Washington Huskies' star basketball player, dies
mid- game, he leaves his brother and sidekick Kenny (Marlon Wayans)
alone, their dreams of an NCAA championship unfulfilled. But when Kenny
needs help, both on court and off, Antoine returns as an obnoxious ghost
-- the team's "sixth man." The story wavers between being a
rather touching story of personal grief and an over-the-top piece of
physical comedy; its greatest flaw lies in the imperfect balancing of
the two. On the whole, however, it's a cute film with some hilarious
scenes and surprisingly strong performances. |
| White
Men Can't Jump
Written and directed by Ron Shelton (1996) Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and Rosie Perez Simply put,
this is the story of a bunch of hustling playground hoopers, including
the underemployed Snipes, and a goofy white guy (Harrelson) who tries to
con everyone into believing he can't play so he can take their money.
Which he does, when he's not having his money taken. Woody's girlfriend
is wonderfully portrayed by the fiery Brooklynite Rosie Perez, who
spends her days studying for a chance at "Jeopardy" and her
evenings jousting with Woody. The film wonderfully portrays the sights,
sounds, attitudes, and culture of the street game.
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