Pick Your Favorite Basketball Movie | The Boneyard

Pick Your Favorite Basketball Movie

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Being originally from Indiana it has to be Hoosiers. There was nothing like the ISHAA basketball tournament. The High School that I attended still holds the record for consecutive Sectional Championships. Twenty-nine years in a row, lost in the Championship game in 1973 to Central Catholic High School.
 
MSGRET said:
Being originally from Indiana it has to be Hoosiers. There was nothing like the ISHAA basketball tournament. The High School that I attended still holds the record for consecutive Sectional Championships. Twenty-nine years in a row, lost in the Championship game in 1973 to Central Catholic High School.
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Great movie!!!!!
 
I graduated from South Bend Central High School. In 'Hoosiers', Hickory defeats South Bend Central for the state championship. In real life 1954, tiny Milan High School actually defeated Muncie Central High School. South Bend Central won the state championship in 1953 and 1957.

John Wooden coached at South Bend Central from 1934-43, basketball and baseball. One of my classmates, Mike Warren played for John Wooden at UCLA; he was a teammate of Lew Alcindor. Mike won two national championships. He is also Jessica Alba's father-in-law.
 
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When I was a kid I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters movie with Dane Clark and sat through it three times. This was before computer generated movements and I sat thee in awe. To this day I say that team could have beaten any NBA team in existence at that time.
 
I didn't grow up in the 50's but for me, by far, "Hoosiers."

No "he shoots - cut - closeup as the ball goes in." No mini-court to facilitate cinematography. No small section audience in digital multiples.

Just REAL basketball.

Maris Valainis as "Jimmy Chitwood" is as close to Larry Bird as we'll ever see in a fictional film. Gene Hackman is remarkable, the best coach character since G.D. Spradlin (more on that later) and Craig T. Nelson in "All The Right Moves." There's the "this really happened" aspect. And finally - that score! A masterwork by icon Jerry Goldsmith.

As someone who's done work in both, that opening scene, the car mowing through the leaf-strewn rural fall streets, with "Main Title - Welcome To Hickory" underneath, defines perfect film-making. Pity the original score was done almost exclusively on synths - the drum programming is putrid (it has been redone with orchestra). Every time I happen on that opening scene while cruising for content, I'm stopped in my tracks, goosebumps.

Second for me, for personal reasons, is 1977's "One On One," Robby Benson's tour-de-force, co-written with his father, Jerry Segal. I've read the book, multiple early versions of the screenplay (entitled, "Catch A Rising Star."), and purchased both the vinyl, and digital versions of the OST.

The story around the perils of men's basketball recruiting was ahead of its time. Benson's brings the perfect wide-eyed "wow - look at all this" note to the character. He also offers a quite realistic point guard / "hot dog" (if unrealistically short). The soundtrack's a critical component, featuring superb music by Charles Fox, Paul Williams's lyrics, brilliantly executed by Seals and Crofts. Annette O'Toole's turn as his counter-culture girlfriend is spot-on. And then there's G.D. Spradlin, absolutely bang-on, as the coach of Megalith U. Unlike "Hoosiers," plenty of groaners here, but for me, #2. My friends and I still run quotes from this one. :)
 
Mine has a Sweathog who becomes a coach of a small college in Nevada and brings along some talented from New York. Players like Swish, who is actually a young lady. Preacher, who has some questionable habits, Hustler..well known NBA Great...B.K.
 
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Ralph said:
Hoosiers. If the one hour special on the 1995 season counts as a movie, however.....
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Why aren't there any movies about a high school girls team or a college women's team other than UCONN 95- Birth of a Dynasty? I guarantee that there are some incredible stories out there.
 
nwhoopfan said:
No surprise "Hoosiers" is the most often mentioned. "Glory Road" about the Texas Western national championship team was pretty good, too.
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Glory Road here. Hoosiers second.
 
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BBallF said:
Why aren't there any movies about a high school girls team or a college women's team other than UCONN 95- Birth of a Dynasty? I guarantee that there are some incredible stories out there.
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"Mighty Macs" is a dramatization about Immaculata College and "The Heart of the Game" is a documentary about a high school team in Seattle (Roosevelt HS).

edited--"The Winning Season" is a bit cheesy but decent, about a screw up of a guy trying to redeem himself while coaching a girls HS bball team. Good cast, stars Sam Rockwell as the coach and Emma Roberts and Rooney Mara as a couple of his players, Rob Corddry is the principal who gives him the job out of desperation.


So there you go, there's at least 3 movies about high school or college women's hoops teams.

Wasn't there a documentary about a girls HS team from a reservation? To answer my own question, "Off the Rez" follows Shoni Schimmel. Just a quick peak at google yielded several results for documentaries and dramatizations about this specific subject.
 
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A lot of love for Hoosiers here, but I always thought it was one of the most overrated movies ever. Basketball scenes were decidedly scripted and frankly didn't look like real games. By far the best, not only for story, but for the actual basketball footage was Blue Chips starring Nick Nolte. Chock full of actual All-American players and real basketball talent. Watching the basketball scenes I always felt like they just put 10 skilled players on the floor and told them to go play and we'll edit it to produce the outcome we want and you won't have to miss shots or turn the ball over on purpose. The story had some depth as well...as coach who always played by the rules, but saw his career slipping away because others didn't and finally gave in before redeeming himself .
 
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Documentary a must see!
 
White Men Can't Jump ... and it aint even close.


I watched love and basketball.... dont really remember much of it... but I do remember Sanaa Lathan
 
triaddukefan said:
White Men Can't Jump ... and it aint even close.


I watched love and basketball.... dont really remember much of it... but I do remember Sanaa Lathan
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Watch it again but open your eye and ears next time.
 
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