Basketball
Title | Year | Genre | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
The Basketball Fix | 1951 | Drama | A college player in need of money agrees to shave points for a gambler. |
The Harlem Globetrotters | 1951 | Drama | A new kind of basketball team dazzles audiences with its skills. |
Tall Story | 1960 | Comedy | A co-ed (Jane Fonda) tries to win the heart of a college basketball hero (Anthony Perkins). |
The Absent-Minded Professor | 1961 | Comedy | Miracle substance called "Flubber" invented by a college professor (Fred MacMurray) enables school's basketball players to bounce sky-high. |
Drive, He Said | 1971 | Drama | Directed by Jack Nicholson, story of a college player who becomes a campus activist. |
Maurie | 1973 | Biographical | Life-changing injury's impact on '50s NBA teammates Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman. |
Mixed Company | 1974 | Comedy | A Phoenix Suns coach and his wife adopt children of various ethnic backgrounds. |
Cornbread, Earl and Me | 1975 | Drama | A teenager about to get a basketball scholarship (Jamaal Wilkes) is mistaken for a thief and shot by police. |
One on One | 1977 | Drama | A highly recruited college freshman (Robby Benson) runs afoul of a stern, demanding coach. |
Coach | 1978 | Drama | A basketball coach (Cathy Lee Crosby) hired by mistake is harassed by her superior. |
Fast Break | 1979 | Comedy | Gabe Kaplan as a New Yorker who dreams of coaching basketball and finally gets a shot. |
The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh | 1979 | Comedy | A laughing stock basketball squad transforms itself as the Pittsburgh Pisces. |
The Great Santini | 1979 | Drama | A high school basketball star's life is complicated by his father (Robert Duvall), a mean Marine. |
Inside Moves | 1980 | Drama | When a bartender's injury heals, he becomes a player for the Golden State Warriors. |
That Championship Season | 1982 | Drama | A reunion of a Pennsylvania state championship team turns into an angry confrontation. |
Teen Wolf | 1985 | Comedy | Sci-fi slapstick starring Michael J. Fox. |
Hoosiers | 1986 | Drama | Gene Hackman in story based loosely on the 1953–54 Milan High School basketball team. |
Amazing Grace and Chuck | 1987 | Drama | An NBA superstar (real-life NBA star Alex English) joins the anti-nuclear protest of a Montana Little League pitcher (see also "Baseball" section above). |
The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend | 1991 | Drama | Biographical film based on the early life of Pete Maravich. |
White Men Can't Jump | 1992 | Comedy | Two outdoor court hustlers (Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson) try to con opponents as well as each other. |
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story | 1992 | Drama | television film, biographical film about doomed Loyola Marymount star. |
Blue Chips | 1994 | Drama | Nick Nolte as a successful college coach who violates the rules to recruit new stars. |
Hoop Dreams | 1994 | Documentary | A pair of Chicago high school athletes try to succeed on the court and make it to college. |
Above the Rim | 1994 | Drama | Story about a New York high school player who falls in with a bad crowd. |
The Air Up There | 1994 | Comedy | Kevin Bacon as a college coach who goes to Africa searching for new talent. |
The Basketball Diaries | 1995 | Drama | Harrowing true story of drug addiction starring Leonardo DiCaprio. |
Forget Paris | 1995 | Rom-Com | A temperamental NBA referee (Billy Crystal) tries to make his new marriage work. |
Slam Dunk Ernest | 1995 | Comedy | Featuring the character played in many films by Jim Varney. |
Space Jam | 1996 | Comedy | Combines live action and animation, featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. |
Eddie | 1996 | Comedy | Whoopi Goldberg as a New York Knicks fan who becomes their head coach. |
Celtic Pride | 1996 | Comedy | A couple of Boston basketball fans (Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd) kidnap the opposition's top player (Damon Wayans). |
Sunset Park | 1996 | Drama | A woman (Rhea Perlman) becomes coach of an all-male team. |
Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault | 1996 | Drama | television film, biographical film of the New York playground legend. |
Air Bud | 1997 | Comedy | Family adventure about a basketball-playing dog. |
The 6th Man | 1997 | Comedy | Fictional story of two Washington college athletes. |
My Giant | 1998 | Comedy | A gentle man nearly 8 feet tall (Gheorghe Mureșan) is found by an American (Billy Crystal) with big ideas. |
BASEketball | 1998 | Comedy | A league is formed featuring a new game that combines baseball and basketball. |
Bad as I Wanna Be: The Dennis Rodman Story | 1998 | Drama | television film, biographical film of NBA star. |
He Got Game | 1998 | Drama | Fictional look at a highly recruited high schooler and his imprisoned father (Denzel Washington). |
City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal | 1998 | Documentary | HBO's look at a New York college team's point-shaving disgrace. |
Michael Jordan: An American Hero | 1999 | Drama | Biographical film of former NBA great. |
Passing Glory | 1999 | Drama | A 1960s priest (Andre Braugher) organizes a game between racially segregated teams. |
That Championship Season | 1999 | Drama | Remake of 1982 film, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Jason Miller. |
Love and Basketball | 2000 | Romance | Male and female basketball players attend college together and fall in love. |
Finding Forrester | 2000 | Drama | A reclusive author (Sean Connery) mentors a prep-school student-athlete. |
The Luck of the Irish | 2001 | Comedy | TV family film about a junior high school student. |
O | 2001 | Drama | An adaptation of Othello, updated to a modern American high school and its basketball team. |
Juwanna Mann | 2002 | Rom-Com | A basketball player becomes a female impersonator. |
The Red Sneakers | 2002 | Fantasy | television film about a player with a lucky pair of shoes. |
Like Mike | 2002 | Comedy | Magical shoes turn a 14-year-old (Lil' Bow Wow) into a basketball sensation. |
A Season on the Brink | 2002 | Drama | Television film based on the book of the same title, documenting the 1985–86 season of Indiana University. |
Double Teamed | 2002 | Biographical | Disney Channel biopic of Heather and Heidi Burge, twins from Palos Verdes who both end up in the WNBA. |
Crossing the Line | 2002 | Drama | A coach of a girls' team clashes with angry parents. |
Full-Court Miracle | 2003 | Family | Story of a team from a Hebrew Academy in a big tournament. |
The Year of the Yao | 2004 | Documentary | Chronicles Yao Ming's first season in the NBA. |
Rebound | 2005 | Comedy | A coach banned from college ball (Martin Lawrence) ends up teaching middle-school kids. |
Coach Carter | 2005 | Drama | Based on a true story, starring Samuel L. Jackson as a high school coach. |
Crossover | 2006 | Action | A college student tries to concentrate on both basketball and medical school. |
Like Mike 2 | 2006 | Comedy | Direct-to-DVD sequel to Like Mike. |
Glory Road | 2006 | Drama | Based on true story of the 1965–66 Texas Western College team. |
Believe in Me | 2006 | Drama | Assigned to an Oklahoma girls' team against his will, a coach takes it to the state championship game. |
Home of the Giants | 2007 | Crime drama | A robbery creates complications for an Indiana high school team. |
Quantum Hoops | 2007 | Documentary | Caltech's team tries to end a 21-year losing streak in conference play in the final week of the 2005–06 season. |
Dribbles | 2007 | Drama | |
Semi-Pro | 2008 | Comedy | Silly story with Will Ferrell about an American Basketball Association team. |
Road to Redemption | 2008 | Documentary | Nike-produced film. |
Hurricane Season | 2009 | Drama | Based on true story of a Louisiana coach (Forest Whitaker) rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. |
The Mighty Macs | 2009 | Drama | Based on the 1972 Immaculata College women's team, coached by Cathy Rush, that won the first official women's national championship. |
More Than a Game | 2009 | Documentary | Chronicles the high school careers of LeBron James and four of his hometown friends. |
Sonicsgate | 2009 | Documentary | Explores the controversial relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City. |
Just Wright | 2010 | Romance | A physical therapist (Queen Latifah) falls for a player from NBA's New Jersey Nets. |
Without Bias | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Explores the career of Len Bias, his death from a cocaine overdose shortly after he was selected in the 1986 NBA Draft, and the impact of his death on the sport. |
Guru of Go | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Chronicles the 1985–1990 head coaching tenure of Paul Westhead at Loyola Marymount University, highlighted by his frenzied offensive pace and players such as Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble. |
Once Brothers | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. The story of Croat Dražen Petrović and Serb Vlade Divac, former Yugoslavia national teammates, and how the Yugoslav Wars irretrievably broke their friendship. |
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks | 2010 | Documentary | Made for TV as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Examines the impact of Reggie Miller on the New York Knicks in the 1990s, focusing especially on the 1994 and 1995 playoffs and Miller's interaction with Knicks superfan Spike Lee. |
The Fab Five | 2011 | Documentary | Made for TV as a follow-up to ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Documents the University of Michigan's early-1990s Fab Five and their impact on the sport and culture. |
Off the Rez | 2011 | Documentary | Made for TV. Focuses on the high school career of current University of Louisville women's player Shoni Schimmel, a Native American who grew up on an Oregon reservation. |
Unguarded | 2011 | Documentary | Made for TV as a follow-up to ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Chronicles the life and career of former NBA player Chris Herren, his battle with drug addiction, and his ongoing recovery. |
The Announcement | 2012 | Documentary | Made for TV as a follow-up to ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Examines the impact of Magic Johnson's 1991 announcement that he had tested positive for HIV. |
Benji | 2012 | Documentary | Examines the life and 1984 killing of Ben Wilson, a high school superstar from Chicago's South Side. |
The Other Dream Team | 2012 | Documentary | Focuses on the resurrection of the Lithuania national basketball team after the restoration of the country's independence in 1990 and its journey to the 1992 Olympics. |
Thunderstruck | 2012 | Family | A teenager who idolizes Kevin Durant (who stars as himself) inadvertently switches talents with the NBA star, becoming a high school phenom while Durant is mired in a slump. |
Read more about this topic: Basketball Films
Famous quotes containing the word basketball:
“Perhaps basketball and poetry have just a few things in common, but the most important is the possibility of transcendence. The opposite is labor. In writing, every writer knows when he or she is laboring to achieve an effect. You want to get from here to there, but find yourself willing it, forcing it. The equivalent in basketball is aiming your shot, a kind of strained and usually ineffective purposefulness. What you want is to be in some kind of flow, each next moment a discovery.”
—Stephen Dunn (b. 1939)