That Championship Season (1999) (TV)

Director:

Paul Sorvino

Writers (WGA):

Jason Miller (play)
Jason Miller (teleplay)

Release Date:

6 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Four former high school basketball champions and their coach come together annually to celebrate the...

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Based On Play

Cast

Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Phil Romano
Terry Kinney	...	James Daly
Tony Shalhoub	...	George Sitkowski
Gary Sinise	...	Tom Daley
Paul Sorvino	...	Coach
Joe Bays	...	Cop
Susan M. Carr	...	Helen
Denise Kaye	...	Marion
Carol Lawrence	...	Claire's Mother
Jerri Manthey	...	Claire (as Jerri Lynn London)
Nicolas Risher	...	James, Jr.
Jeff Rogers	...	Hammond Basketball Player
Bill Sorvino	...	Clerk
Frank Lozano	...	Game Announcer (as Frank Rodriguez)
Louis L. Weiss	...	Old Violin Player

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language including some sex-related dialogue.

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:R

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "That Championship Season" by Jason Miller opened at the Booth Theater in New York on September 14, 1972, ran for 700 performances and won the 1973 Tony Award for the Bes Play and the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1973.

Movie Connections:

Version of That Championship Season (1982)

better

To someone who was born and/or spent any time in Scranton, Pa., "That Championship Season" is sort of what "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is to someone from Savannah, Ga. -- even though it isn't literally based on fact, as the latter is, it is sort of the "hometown" play, in that we all know characters like those in Jason Miller's play. I don't live in Scranton anymore, but I was there when the 1982 movie was made, and there was an incredible amount of hoopla surrounding it. Again, everybody either was at one of the film sites, or was actually in the film, or knows somebody in it. Some of my relatives actually befriended one of the cast members to the extent that they still keep in touch. The 1982 film's first half-hour or so are eerie to me in that they amazingly captured the look and feel of Scranton at that time, which were depressing, to say the least. A lot has changed -- for the better; it couldn't have gotten much worse -- since that movie was filmed, so they did capture a slice of history. All things considered, though, I give a slight nod to the newer, TV version. Sorvino -- a link to the original Broadway production -- is a little bit below Mitchum as the coach. But the 4 members of the TV cast have it over the 4 in the film. In fact, I thought Sorvino was the only one in the film to nail his part. In the TV version, Gary Sinese blows away Martin Sheen in the part of the drunk, Tom Daley. By the end of the film, Sheen was so obviously acting it was pathetic ... Sinese, who never gives a bad performance, clicked with the role much better and longer, I thought. The rest of the TV cast did a little bit better as an ensemble and with theatrical material than did Dern, Keach, etc. Dern's performance deteriorated as the film went on, too. Shahoub held it together better.