directed by Jack Smight
David Green gets a cut rate offer to coach the men's basketball team from Cadwallader University. He recruits fours guys to join the team before leaving New York City for Nevada. The deal that Green makes with the president of Cadwallader is that if he wins big then he will get a contract with a large increase in pay. The team hits a few bumps in the road but they are an instant success at Cadwallader.
Thoughts
I keep thinking that I have seen this movie before but watching it now brought back no memories of having seen it before. I think that I get this movie mixed up with Skateboard for some reason.
I wasn't expecting this to be a great movie but I also wasn't expecting to hear any racial or homophobic slurs. It is rated PG but I guess the guidelines for that rating have changed over the years. The most surprising to me was the fact that Green encouraged one of the white players on the team (in the second half of the big game) to use a racial slur against a black player on the opposing team. It has a predictable result which is exactly what Green wanted but it also makes him considerably less sympathetic in my eyes.
Swish, one of the players on the team is actually a woman. She hides it from the others. This leads to lots of joking about Swish who the others assume must be gay. The word they use to describe Swish isn't "gay". Green is the only one who knows the truth.
Homophobia and the casual use of ethnic slurs were considerably more acceptable in the late 1970s. Regardless, the inclusion of both leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can't in good faith recommend this movie as anything other than a museum piece.
No comments:
Post a Comment