Heaven Is a Playground (1991)

A coach and a lawyer team up to provide incentives for an urban high school basketball team to stay out of trouble.

Director:

Randall Fried

Writers:

Randall Fried (screenplay), Rick Telander (book)

Stars:

La Taunya Bounds, Terry Bradley, Cylk Cozart

Cast

Credited cast:
La Taunya Bounds	...	Adoring Girl
Terry Bradley	...	Herc
Cylk Cozart	...	Andre
Stavon Lovell Davis	...	Gus
Jim Dougherty	...	Loading Dock Worker
Don James	...	Cecil
Razz Jenkins	...	Doctor
Richard Jordan	...	David Racine
Janet Julian	...	Dalton Ellis
Bo Kimble	...	Matthew Lockhart
Victor Love	...	Truth Harrison
Nigel Miguel	...	Casey Caldwell
Jason Negron	...	Stand-in
Hakeem Olajuwon	...	Luther Hakim
Mike Skewes	...	Sgt. O'Brien

Storyline

A coach and a lawyer team up to provide incentives for an urban high school basketball team to stay out of trouble.

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Plot Keywords:

lawyer | basketball movie | african american | independent film

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 October 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mennyei játszótér

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aurora Film Corporation, Heaven Corp.

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Michael Jordan' was originally supposed to play the role that Bo Kimble went on to take. In the fall of 1998, the filmmakers went to courts with a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Jordan seeking at least $16 million in damages, citing the lack of Jordan as the cause of the film's box-office flop and the derailment of director Randall Fried, who in the words of their attorney, "should have been and would have been the next Steven Spielberg" if the film had been successful. Jordan countersued. The jury founded Jordan not liable and awarded him $50,000 in favor of his countersuit.

User Reviews

The move had a lot of good aspects

I understand how this movie probably does come out somewhat corny, and I would agree that the acting is far from superb. Still I think it was a very good reasons for a lot of reasons. First of all, I did not read the book, but whether or not it followed the book closely, I do not give a damn. Bo Kimble in my opinion did a great job in my opinion, and was believable with his skills. The basketball in the movie might not have been great, but was far better then many so called basketball movies out there. One of the major reasons I liked the movie is the fact that it was unpredictable. Most of the movies I watch I seem to know most everything that is going to play out after a few min. into the movie, or after seeing the trailer. I thought I knew how this movie was going to go, but it turned out to be a lot different which I liked, because I don't really see it that often. I am not sure how much money went into this movie, it seems to be more of a low budget picture. Overall I really liked it though, I like how they depicted Bo Kimbles role of Mathew. You really got the filling that he just loved the game, he didn't play for other people, or for money, just for himself. I think if you truly love playing/practicing the game you'll like this movie to some degree. I think it is a players movie. If your more of the spectator type and/or are looking for a good movie, there is probably a good chance you'll be disappointed. Its a movie some are really going to enjoy and others are not, you just got to find out if it is a good movie for you. Peace