Knights of the South Bronx (2005)

The movie is based on the life & times of David MacEnulty who taught schoolchildren of the Bronx Community Elementary School 70 to play at competition level, eventually winning New York ... See full summary »

Director:

Allen Hughes

Writers:

Jamal Joseph (teleplay), Dianne Houston (teleplay)

Stars:

Ted Danson, Malcolm David Kelley, Keke Palmer

3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ted Danson	...	Richard
Malcolm David Kelley	...	Jimmy
Keke Palmer	...	Kenya Russell
Clifton Powell	...	Cokey
Devon Bostick	...	Darren
Brian Markinson	...	Arnie
Kate Vernon	...	Richard's wife
Alex Karzis	...	Kasparov
Karen LeBlanc	...	Dolly
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Akin	...	Asst. Princpal Hill
Cameron Ansell	...	Jimmy's Opponent
Brandon Bally	...	Peach Thug #2
Yves Beneche	...	MD (as Yves Michel-Beneche)
Gabe Bettio	...	Parent #1
Brad Borbridge	...	Player #3

Storyline

The movie is based on the life & times of David MacEnulty who taught schoolchildren of the Bronx Community Elementary School 70 to play at competition level, eventually winning New York City and the New York State Chess Championships. The screenplay portrays whistle-blowing and a mid-life crisis that combine to remove Richard Mason (played by Ted Danson) from his old job & current lifestyle. He becomes a substitute teacher and is assigned to a fourth-grade class in a South Bronx school. In the class are students with parents who are drug addicts or in jail or just scrambling to pay the bills. Few of them see a purpose in school other than meeting society's requirements, and he struggles, mostly in vain, to reach them. Then a student whose father is in jail sees Mason in the park playing a simultaneous exhibition, and beating fourteen opponents at once. He asks to learn the game. One thing leads to another, and soon the entire class is interested in the game. Mason convinces them that ...

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 December 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Spiel des Lebens

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

A&E Television Networks,Tiara Blu Films,Fox Television Studios

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

It took producer Diane Nabatoff 5 years to get this movie made.

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Goofs

During Dawson's first tournament game, two different chess clocks are used: a tan BHB and a dark brown USCF

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Quotes

Richard: It's a war. The rules are simple. As to what you're fighting over, that's all up here.

User Reviews

Somewhat unbelievable chess fable . I loved it.

The director of this melodrama displays the customary tenuous grasp on how chess is played, and the mawkish sentimentality found in many an old school film. The actors do well to deliver the corny lines and represent the saintly kids of the Bronx.

Unfortunately I teach chess to kids in a school, voluntarily and not as part of any job, as do many chess teachers: and know that chess is the great underdog of the educational world. Hey, I'd be over the moon if some individual ever bunged in a quid or fiver to support the chess, never mind a few thousand dollars. So this film had me weeping uncontrollably all the way through, and I'd watch it again just to get in touch my emotions.

Kids, don't bang down on those clocks you'll break them, and Ted, don't swish the pieces at the and of the games, that would be the chess equivalent of spiking the football at the end of the game. OK, its only a film...sob, sob.