GRH Book Club: He Got Game

"Basketball is like poetry in motion, cross the guy to the left, take him back to the right, he's fallin' back, then just J right in his face. Then you look at him and say, 'What?'"
-Jesus Shuttlesworth

Anybody who has been around me for an extended period of time knows that this is my favorite movie of all time. While I could talk for hours about it, I'll try to break down for you, dear reader, as concisely as possible, a few reasons why this movie endears itself to me.

The movie starts with a montage of basketball being played all over America by everybody. Young, old, black, white, in urban playgrounds and Midwestern cornfields. Simply by stating that, one could make a convincing argument that basketball is the most American of sports. It's a simple enough concept, and all you need is a ball and a hoop. You can dribble and shoot by yourself, play one-on-one with a friend or stranger, anything.

The cast is phenomenal. Of course Denzel Washington is something of a living legend these days, and he brings his A game to this movie. Normally pro athletes aren't great actors, regardless of how often they try, but there are several in this movie that are extremely convincing of their roles. Obviously the main character, Jesus Shuttlesworth, is played by Ray Allen (who, at the time, was a heralded UConn product in his second year with the Milwaukee Bucks). His character is of the utmost complexity, and he pulls it off. The whole movie hinges on his doing this, as the central conflict in the movie is Jake (Denzel) reconnecting with his son, Jesus, trying to earn his forgiveness. The real difficulty is that along the way, Jesus must navigate his way through all of the pitfalls that come with living in poverty and being the best high school basketball player in the country.

The list doesn't end there. Travis Best is great as Sip Rogers, Jim Brown plays quite the menacing Parole Officer Spivey, and of course, Rick Fox plays the wackiest guy in the world as Chick Deagan. I would have partied with him every night if I went to Big State.

Not to mention dozens of cameos ranging from announcers, coaches, current and former players, guys that never made it, and Michael Jordan's three words: "He got game."

As far as sports being played in the movie, there is an assortment of the best hoops being played in a fictional movie. It's well-shot, well-edited, and performed by people that are professionals at doing it. No stunt doubles needed. My one gripe is, and always is, that Denzel has no game. I'm not sure why movies about basketball somehow always feature a central character with a broke-ass shot (see: Snipes, Wesley and Harrelson, Woody in White Men Can't Jump).

The soundtrack is mostly an original Public Enemy album. The title track, "He Got Game" is a fantastic song about life in general, set over a sample of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," and belongs in every iTunes library. That said, when the basketball is being played, the London Symphony Orchestra takes over, which works out magnificently. The pick-up game in a housing project playground is set to Aaron Copland's "Hoe-down" (of Beef, It's What's For Dinner fame). It might be the music, it might be the hoops being played, it might be John Wallace proclaiming, "I got hops! I got hops!" while raising the roof, but the scene is among my favorites of all time.

Finally, there's Jesus and Booger's ride in Big Time Willy's Mercedes convertible. Of course, it's one of the most memorable scenes, being three minutes of Spike Lee lunacy. It includes a couple of homicides, heroin injected, crack smoked, craps played, and hardcore pornography. BUT! In my most recent viewing, during Big Time's discussion on 'bloodsucking leeches,' I noticed a younger Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield in The Wire) with one line, asking for money so he can get some new Nikes and a Hilfiger sweater. My mind exploded. I guess I was always laughing so hard at the puertoriqueño sister saying, "I need some pampers for my baby. I need some Dolce and Gabanna for me. I need some Chanel (pronounced, 'Channel')."

Don't put this movie on your Netflix queue, don't rent it. Buy it. Today.

Soul in the Hole

Not to be outdone by Lattimer's excellent post, I have decided to enlighten you, dear reader, on the unsung hero of basketball documentaries.

The movie is called "Soul in the Hole." It follows a basketball team of just-graduated high schoolers through the summer of 1993 in New York City. NYC is the home of playground hoops, and has been for decades (the games were already well-established by the time Kareem Abdul-Jabbar started killing cats as Lew Alcindor). Several tournaments exist across the five boroughs every summer, mostly at famous playgrounds such as Rucker Park, the Cage, etc. The film documents the team, Kenny's Kings, as they hoop while dealing with the urban blight of America's largest city.

The central personality is Ed "Booger" Smith, who, at the time, was a much-lauded point guard standout. While he had the skills, he never quite had the grades, and the life eventually caught up with him. The stories that Kenny's Kings share as they ball their way through the summer of 1993 (set against the impoverished inner city backdrop) are as compelling as any, but what makes this movie truly special is that it captures the best basketball played by Booger Smith, who unfortunately joins the ranks of the myriad of players who were sure-thing phenoms that for one reason or another never made it big.

This last point is what is fabulously interesting, because across the United States, in every major metropolitan city, there are legends and fairytales of failed hoopsters, dating even as far back as the '50s. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was once asked who the best player he ever played against was, to which he replied 'Earl Manigault' to a host of befuddled journalists. Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Drew Gooden and Antonio Davis have each said 'Hook Mitchell' to the same question. While these players never garnered the fame and fortune that several of their less deserving counterparts (looking at you, Drew Gooden) earned, their names still ring out in the parks and playgrounds that they inhabited. To put an exclamation point on this, Spike Lee was good enough to include Booger Smith in the opening credits of He Got Game, dribbling a ball across Brooklyn Bridge.

That is not to say that the movie is all about failure, the film also features a cat named Charlie Jones, who went on from Kenny's Kings to the University of Providence, where he led the NCAA in scoring twice, a feat that has yet to be repeated since.

If you can find it, which is not easy, it's definitely worth a watch, if for nothing else than the soundtrack.

Hoop Dreams

For those of you who loved this movie, the Chicago Tribune wrote a nice article updating us on the lives of William Gates and Arthur Agee. It's worth reading if you have the time.

You haven't seen the Movie?

Watch it.


Hat tip: Deadspin