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Well, this is the last column of before the end of March Madness/Mayhem/Mental Illness, and I thought I'd end it by looking back at two of the greatest sports movies of all time that just happen to be about basketball: Blue Chips and Hoosiers. First up is Blue Chips, starring Nick Nolte, Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. Nolte plays a college basketball, facing possibly his last season unless he can field a contending team. The school boosters offer to give the top prospects, giant Neon (O'Neal) and wily guard Butch (Hardaway), money, cars, and houses to get them to play for the school. What really makes this film so great is the completely different roads the two basketball players went. When Blue Chips came out, Shaq wasn't "The Big" anything. He was barely Shaq. He had not yet become a parody of himself, and seemed genuinely interested in being a great basketball player. Make no mistake, he was still goofy as all get out, but he was likeable, and maybe even a little humble. Hardaway was just coming into the league, and he was the big deal, the next big thing, the air apparent. He was also a terrible actor, and I'd imagine he still is. Next to Penny, Shaq looks like Denzel Washington. Think about how bad an actor someone needs to be to make Shaq look like a good actor. We're talking about Kazaam, Steel, and that stupid ass Burger King commercial. Nick Nolte is playing pre-meltdown Bobby Knight, whether he admits it or not, and eats the role alive. Nolte fans need not worry: the "Aw hell!" rule (This is the theory that Nolte has his own script doctor come in on every film he does and add the line "Aw hell!" at regular intervals) is in full effect, and we actually get multiple occurrences. The real stars are the basketball scenes, where Penny and Shaq make a mockery of the game. I doubt there's one shot that isn't either an Alley-oop, a dunk, a swinging elbows rebound, or a combination of all three. The rumor is that director William Friedkin just had everyone play a pickup game, and Shaq and Penny naturally rose to the top. Hoosiers tells the story of coach Norman Dale, (Gene Hackman, in one of his best roles) who comes to Hickory, Indiana to coach the high school team. Dale is an outside to the town, and they treat him accordingly. Dale doesn't help his case by teaching the boys very differently than they've been taught before, like making them pass five times before taking a shot, and practicing without any actual basketballs. Only when star player Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis, who dropped off the face of the earth after this role) decides to return does Dale turn the team around, leading them to the state championship game. Hackman is great as Dale, the coach with a mysterious past, who wants to win, but on his terms, doing it his way. This movie is one of those films that are just amazingly uplifting, and you believe, even if Hickory loses the big game, that they are still winners for their accomplishment. The journey is what's important here, not wins and loses. Coach Dale isn't just teaching them basketball, he's teaching them how to be winners, on the court and off. Perhaps the greatest moment in the film is in the locker room before the state championship game. All the boys are saying whom they want to win for. One wants to win for Hickory, and all the small towns who never got this far. Everett Flatch wants to win for his dad (Dennis Hopper, crazier than usual as an alcoholic father and part time assistant coach), and one of the boys, who Dale threw out of practice the first day and later returned with his tail between his legs, says "let's win it for coach." There's nothing like this moment in any sports movie, no matter how many times it's been duplicated. After Dale gives them his own pep-talk, saying "I love you guys," the team's preacher (need I remind you small town Indiana in the 1950's) comes in and delivers the line that we've been thinking about, but couldn't quite remember: "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen." Had there been a movie since that had the balls to do that? I ask you, would Eddie or Celtic Pride have the brass ones to stand up and yell to the audience "Yeah, we know, and you know, and now we're showing you that we know you know. And here it is. Amen." The whole theme of the upcoming game is summed up right there. The film-makers tipped their hand and showed us all their cards right there. We know what's going to happen, but we still just want to see it. Damn, I love this movie. It was one of the first DVDs I bought, when I was still under the delusion that I would only own good movies on DVD (From Dusk Till Dawn changed that for good). If you haven't seen it, see it now. Even if you don't like basketball, it doesn't matter. It could be about squash or bocce ball, it's just a great film. Tuesday, I'll unveil my mystery column.
(Yes, that is correct, I don't know what I'm going to write about
yet.) Talk about this in the Forums. Go on, I dare you. |
Past Columns: It's Time to Turn in My Geek Card Academy Awards Diary A Sure-Fire Way to Pick Best Actor Future Oscar Death March Clips |