Blue Chips (1994)

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

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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:

At the end both Neon and Butch McRae, played respectively by Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway leave school early to play pro ball. In real life both O'Neal and Hardaway left school early and played pro ball; ironically together early in their careers.

Goofs:

Factual errors: After the losing season at the start of the movie, Coach Bell travels to see Butch play a high school game. The college season outlasts the high school season by weeks to months. There is no chance that Butch's team is playing a home game after the college's regular season is over. There is a small chance that the coach could have gone to a State Tournament game to see Butch play, but even those tournaments are over before the college season ends. In addition, most high school players have signed a letter of intent early in their senior year making a recruiting trip in the early spring unrealistic. It is understandable from a pacing perspective why the film was shot this way. The coach has another losing season and decides not to let it happen again and goes after the Blue Chip players to be better next year. In the real world, he would have been making the recruiting trips (or his assistant coaches would have) much earlier, during the season and not after it.

Quotes:

Pete Bell: You took the purest thing in your life and corrupted it, for what? For what?

Movie Connections:

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

One of Nolte's best!

I think this film is very underrated! Nick Nolte gives a perfect performance as coach Pete Bell who can't decide between the legal and the illegal way to get some excellent players to make his team better. Finally success will be more important than his own honor and he chooses the wrong way when accepts the help of Happy. This movie shows the inner changes of Pete Bell (with his weakness)and problems that coaches have to face when they try to be honest. I liked the play of Penny Hardaway and Shaq O' Neal in spite of that they don't give an unforgettable performance. 'Blue Chips' is a very exciting basketball movie with Nolte's lovable character!