Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Eriq La Salle

Writers (WGA):

Alan Swyer (written by) and
Larry Golin (written by)

Release Date:

23 November 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

From the mean streets of Harlem come the greatest basketball player the world has never known.

Plot:

A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences...

Plot Keywords:

Harlem | African American | Playground | Orphan | New York City

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Don Cheadle	...	Earl "The Goat" Manigault
James Earl Jones	...	Dr. McDuffie
Michael Beach	...	Legrand
Ronny Cox	...	Coach Scarpelli
Loretta Devine	...	Miss Mary
Glynn Turman	...	Coach Powell
Monica Calhoun	...	Evonne
Colin Cheadle	...	Young Earl
Michael Ralph	...	Dion
Daryl Mitchell	...	Dean Memminger
Nicole Ari Parker	...	Wanda (as Nicole Parker)
Tamara Tunie	...	Miss Marcus
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	...	Himself
Chick Hearn	...	Himself
Cress Williams	...	Kimbrough

Also Known As:

Rebound
Rebound: The Legend of Earl Manigault (Australia)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic drug use, strong language, some sexuality and a scene of violence.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:15 (video premiere) | USA:R | Australia:MA (cable rating)

Filming Locations:

Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Badham Company, The

Quotes:

Earl "The Goat" Manigault: You just keep on being like yourself, all right?

Pretty good, but embarrassing to watch Eriq Le Salle

**this review gives away some of the plot, be careful!**

It was good to see Don Cheadle, he's a fine actor, but don't expect a performance on par with his tough guys in Out of Sight and Devil in a Blue Dress. Cheadle was a good pick, the part of a great basketball player is tough because you can get a real player who has good basketball skills but says every line like he's reading a foreign language (Ray Allen), or you can get a great actor who shoots like he's using the wrong hand (Ed Norton). Cheadle's game (dribbling, shooting) looks pretty good, the only thing that wasn't convincing were the scenes displaying Manigault's amazing leaping. Because Cheadle obviously cannot get that high, we get a shot of him taking off, then another shot of him up by the rim standing on a ladder or something; its just not convincing. Manigault's alleged dunks are so unreal that I would have really liked to actually see the entire dunk just like the real goat, in one shot, whether it took computer graphics or a double that looks nothing like him (Vince Carter), or a springboard disguised as part of the court.

Watching director Eriq Le Salle act in this movie is painfully embarrassing. For example, in his basketball scenes in the beginning (btw I REALLY liked the casual dress of the players) Le Salle adorns a pantyhose style hat, its out of place, but what's so embarrassing is that since he was the director he chose to brandish the hat himself. Similarly embarrassing is that he tries to steal more of the spotlight by having his character go to Vietnam, like the pantyhose hat, this is utterly useless to the story but he includes it to promote himself. And on top of that, Le Salle has his character come back from 'Nam having lost both arms (cheap, cheap, cheap) then overdose on bad heroin. You'll get a huge laugh watching LaSalle shake on the ground with his prosthetic limbs, easily a foot longer then they should be with obvious lumps in the forearms (hands holding the prop arms.) This shows no class on the part of Eriq, who as the director introduces a character who provides no insight and is useless to the story so HE can play it and have a chance to act like a brotha and convulse like he's overdosing, how embarrassing!!

Aside from that, this movie is pretty good and I recommend it to a basketball fan. Clarence Williams III and Forest Whitaker are both very good as always.