Sunset Park (1996)

A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.

Director:

Steve Gomer

Writers:

Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Kathleen McGhee-Anderson

Stars:

Rhea Perlman, Fredro Starr, Carol Kane

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rhea Perlman	...	Phyllis Saroka
Fredro Starr	...	Shorty
Carol Kane	...	Mona
Terrence Howard	...	Spaceman (as Terrence DaShon Howard)
Camille Saviola	...	Barbara
De'aundre Bonds	...	Busy-Bee
Talent Harris	...	Butter (as James Harris)
Anthony C. Hall	...	Andre (as Anthony Hall)
Antwon Tanner	...	Drano
Shawn Michael Howard	...	Kurt
Guy Torry	...	Boo Man
Scott Burkholder	...	Morris Bernstein
John Aprea	...	Dominic
John Vargas	...	Mr. Santiago
Rhonda Stubbins White	...	Carla

Storyline

A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.

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Plot Keywords:

female coach | basketball ball | locker room | basketball player | two word title | 

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Taglines:

You gotta represent.

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and sexual references

Did You Know?

Trivia

De'aundre Bonds, Antwon Tanner, and Malinda Williams would later star together in The Wood (2000).

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Quotes

Shorty, Spaceman, Butter, Drano: Sunset Park, hat time is it?
Shorty, Spaceman, Butter, Drano: It's time to get live! It's time to represent!
Shorty, Spaceman, Butter, Drano: Sunset Park, hat time is it?
Shorty, Spaceman, Butter, Drano: It's time to get live! It's time to represent!
Shorty: I throw the ball to Butter, blam, 360 slam
Shorty: Spaceman, he comes down with the jam
Shorty: Drano, yo, he goes back further
Shorty: With the three, swish, it's all murder!
Shorty: Come on down to the Sunset Park
Shorty: Get busy, we will take you to the dark
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Natasha Lyonne/Donny Deutsch/Drew Tarver/Helene Yorke/Jeff Friedl (2019)

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Soundtracks

Keep On Keepin' On
Written by Jermaine Dupri, MC Lyte, Michael Jackson (as M. Jackson)
Produced by Jermaine Dupri for So So Def Productions
Performed by MC Lyte featuring Xscape
MC Lyte appears courtesy of First Priority Music/Elektra Entertainment Group
Xscape appears courtesy of So So Def Recordings, Inc./Columbia Records

User Reviews

Middlin' basketball picture

OK, so it is not the best basketball pic I have seen. That honor goes to Hoosiers. I can watch Gene Hackman over and over in that film and never get tired. But, having said that, it is not a bad film either.

Rhea Perlman, whom I haven't seen since what, Officer Honey in that Canadian Bacon flick, really didn't ad much to the film. She knows nothing about basketball and just took the job as a stepping stone to another losing career.

The real star of the film is Fredro Starr, who gets the team together. The team is talented so the coach Doesn't have to do much more that get them playing as a team. She is more social worker than coach and it all comes together as the team starts winning.

It also stars Terrance Howard, who went on to do some great work after this (Best Man, Hustle and Flow, Ray, Crach).

Not a great film, but not a complete waste of time.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 April 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cara A Cara

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,705,440, 28 April 1996

Gross USA:

$10,163,782

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,163,782

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Daniel L. Paulson Productions, Jersey Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1