I?ve skipped out on this movie for a very long time simply because it looked like just another corny and formulaic sports movie. Now that I?ve finally seen it I?m willing to say that this is even more of a corny and formulaic movie than I expected. In most sports movies the final… More
I?ve skipped out on this movie for a very long time simply because it looked like just another corny and formulaic sports movie. Now that I?ve finally seen it I?m willing to say that this is even more of a corny and formulaic movie than I expected. In most sports movies the final game comes down to the last shot which narrowly lets the underdogs win in the last seconds, which leads the whole audience to run out on the field and lift up the underdog player. Here not only does the final game end that way, but also every other game in the whole damn movie.
This is a movie that uses every trick in the book to milk every bit of drama out of every moment. The score is ever present and overbearing, slow motion is used whenever the filmmakers want to get more drama out of contrived situation.
I?m willing to admit I?m biased against this kind of movie, I?m not just uninterested in high school basketball, I?m downright opposed to the institution. I?m always annoyed by the type of obsessive zeal that people place on local sport teams. I?m disgusted by the general insanity that?s displayed by people like the parents in this movie. I have almost no patience for the amounts of drama so many filmmakers try to place on these silly games. Of course sports can be good fun, and can be useful to some students, but I?m sick of games being treated like they?re matters of life and death.
I will grant that this formula probably wasn?t as overused when this movie was made as it is now, and that this probably was influential. But I don?t think that the long run of derivative underdog sports films is much of a legacy. In fact, I?d probably slightly prefer the rip-offs of this movie, at least some those movies had some insights into social issues (Remember the Titans) or at the very least a gimmick (Cool Runnings). And speaking of Remember the Titans, does anyone else notice that this is a basketball about a bunch of white cornbread kids? There isn?t even a single brother in the whole movie until the last game where they?re the bad guys. Now I?m not saying white people can?t be heroes in basket ball, but it makes me wonder?
Gene Hackman is well cast here, he?s the best part of the movie and he elevates the material a lot. I do however object to the love story here between Hackman and Barbara Hershey. I object to this subplot firstly because it is under-developed and needlessly tacked on, and secondly because the idea of Hackman (56) and Hershey (38) having sex really kind of makes me sick to my stomach.
This is corny, formulaic, and repetitive but this never quite put me to sleep. Time did pass by while watching it, but there is nothing special about this film, I do not know why people seem to think this is any different from the millions of other sports movies because there is nothing that sets this apart.