The game of basketball has often been the focal point of a movie. For some reason, the sport of basketball often seems to lend itself to light-hearted movies like Space Jam, but there are also some great rags to riches stories and dramas set around basketball.
If you’re interested in the sport itself, and follow the NBA season, now’s the time to get a bet on the NBA Championship Winner at an online betting exchange like Betfair. At the time of writing Betfair odds have Miami Heat down as favourites at 15/8, with Indian Pacers in second place at 4/1 and Oklahoma City Thunder at 6/1.
On the other hand, if you just like baseball in the movies, here are three great ones to watch.
The 1998 film He Got Game starred Denzel Washington and was directed by Spike Lee. It’s got a documentary-style to it and the story is about Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) who is a high school basketball star. His father is in prison and given a week out of prison to convince his son to attend the alma mater of the state governor – if he succeeds in persuading his son, he’ll received a reduced prison sentence. However, there’s a hitch – Jake and his son are estranged as Jake is doing time for killing his son’s mother. It all comes down to a game of one on one to decide what will happen to both father and son, and the footage that was shot was not doctored at all – so Denzel shows himself to be a pretty good ball player.
If you want your basketball movie served up with laughs then White Men Can’t Jump (1992) is just the ticket. Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) and Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) work in tandem to win cash ‘hustling’ unsuspecting victims in pick-up games all over LA. None of the competitors that they take on think Hoyle and Deane have a chance of winning because Hoyle’s a white man, but he’s actually a former college basketball player. The film’s as much about the friendship between the unlikely pair that builds as they’re trying to make their living as it is about basketball.
Finally, Hoop Dreams is a 1994 documentary film about two inner city teenagers who are picked out by a basketball scout from St Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois. Both William Gates and Arthur Agee are from poor neighbourhoods in south Chicago and dream of turning professional. In the documentary, the two commute 90 minutes to go to school, put in long hours on training and practices and have to acclimatise to being in an alien social environment. We’re also allowed into their family lives, seeing how the two young players are supported (or not) during the tough times due to their absolute focus on basketball.
