Blue Chips (1994)

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

Director:

William Friedkin

Writer:

Ron Shelton

Stars:

Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, J.T. Walsh

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
Penny Hardaway	...	Butch McRae (as Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway)
Matt Nover	...	Ricky Roe
Cylk Cozart	...	Slick
Anthony C. Hall	...	Tony
Kevin Benton	...	Jack
Bill Cross	...	Freddie
Marques Johnson	...	Mel
Robert Wuhl	...	Marty

Storyline

Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

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Plot Keywords:

college | basketball | athlete | college sports | college basketball | 

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Taglines:

If You're Going To Win At Any Cost, Be Prepared To Pay The Price

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The crew, including Shaquille O'Neal, stayed at the Howard Johnson in Lafayette, Indiana for two weeks during filming.

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Goofs

Algiers, Louisiana was portrayed as being in a rural setting. Algiers is actually an urban neighborhood in the 15th Ward of New Orleans.

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Quotes

Pete Bell: You know, some place in America right now, there's some 10-year-old kid. He's out there on that playground, and he's playing, he's dribbling between his legs, he's going left, he's going right, he's already above the rim, and he's stuffing it home. And you know what's going to happen to this kid? Five minutes from now he's gonna be surrounded by ya. Agents, corporate sponsors, and coaches, I mean, people like me just drooling over this kid because he holds our future employment in his hands. I ...

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Connections

Referenced in Golic and Wingo: Episode #1.66 (2018)

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Soundtracks

Baby, Please Don't Go
by Big Joe Williams (as Joe Williams)
Performed by Them
Courtesy of PolyGram Special Markets

User Reviews

Most Underrated Sports Movie Ever!

I'm not a big sports movie guy, so I went into this not really expecting much other than killing 90 some minutes. I loved it! To see the struggle of a school and coach as they attempt to create a legit winning team in an environment of corruption was interesting. Then when they join that corruption it becomes exciting, you just know it's gonna blowup some time. Nick Nolte carries this film throughout it's entirety, and amazingly the real life players do a great job of acting and the rest of the cast is perfect. I love how they took real players and coaches and brought them into this film, it fits perfectly. The last 35 minutes of this film is brilliant. I've seen many people here talk of how bad this film is, I wonder if they just don't care about sports that much like myself, or have some underlying bias about admitting the corruption exists and always has in much of college sports. I don't care for sports! But I loved this film. The ratings this film gets on here really ticks me off, what is it, a 5.5 star average? I've learned one thing on here and other review sites, if you let others judge for you, you'll miss a lot of good movies.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 February 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blue Chips

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,123,605, 21 February 1994

Gross USA:

$23,070,663

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,070,663

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1