Blue Chips (1994)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

William Friedkin

Writer (WGA):

Ron Shelton (written by)

Release Date:

18 February 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Plot:

A college basketball coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive.

Plot Keywords:

College | Basketball | Rural | Single Parent | Gratuities

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Nick Nolte	...	Pete Bell
Mary McDonnell	...	Jenny Bell
J.T. Walsh	...	Happy
Ed O'Neill	...	Ed
Alfre Woodard	...	Lavada McRae
Bob Cousy	...	Vic
Shaquille O'Neal	...	Neon
Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway	...	Butch McRae
Matt Nover	...	Ricky Roe
Cylk Cozart	...	Slick
Anthony C. Hall	...	Tony
Kevin Benton	...	Jack
Bill Cross	...	Freddie
Marques Johnson	...	Mel
Robert Wuhl	...	Marty

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Spain:T | UK:15 (video premiere) | USA:PG-13 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Frankfort Senior High School - 1 S. Maish Road, Frankfort, Indiana, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Nick Nolte shadowed coach Bobby Knight during Indiana's 1992 season to prepare for this roll. He was in attendance for Indiana's '92 senior night.

Goofs:

Continuity: During Western's season finale against the Coast, about midway through the game a Coast player goes up for a dunk and in the background a side scoreboard clearly reads 00 as the score for Western.

Quotes:

Pete Bell: Dwayne, you can get through college half-assed. Richard, you can get through LIFE half-assed. But I'll guarantee you boys one thing: sure as hell, I'll guarantee you this: you cannot *win* half-assed!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of William Friedkin (#2.13)" (????)

Not close to being a A+ movie

This basketball movie was far from being a complete work. There were errors that were glaring. Everyone should look at it in realistic terms. Could there ever be a college called Coast, State, OR Texas Western. How could Pete Bell not get suspended for kicking or punting the basketball into the crowd during a game????? There is no way a college coach could escape without being punished. Another thing about Pete Bell is that not wearing a tie made it look like the character had no identity of his own and was created only to be a replica of Bobby Knight.

My take on the content of Blue Chips is that it should have been extensively spent on the extremely competitive recruiting aspects of NCAA basketball. Wasn't Pete Bell's problem that Western University had not recruited any blue chip athletes like they once did.

The ending that briefly explained what happened after Coach Bell quit was indeed sloppy. This would have been avoided by the producers and the director of Blue Chips by deciding to make Blue Chips on the premise that there would be a sequel. The exposing of recruiting violations alone, made room for a sequel. That was a better idea than being left in the dark as to what really happened to the Western Basketball team for the remainder of the season since Pete Bell abruptly resigns after the very first game of the new college basketball season.

With all the big name actors, coaches, and athletes in Blue Chips, this should have turned out to be the very best sports movie of the 90's.