ShareThisWith apologies to "Bull Durham" and the original "The Longest Yard," it's hard to beat basketball movies in the pantheon of sports cinema. There have been great dramas, great documentaries and even a pretty good Fred MacMurray Disney film.
With March Madness college basketball playoffs approaching, here are our choices for the best basketball movies of all time. Any real-life pro players in the movie are noted, along with the presence of University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, who seems to find his way into every other hoops-related film.
We've also devised a rating system for the realism of each movie's basketball scenes, named after "Teen Wolf" star Michael J. Fox -- who is a generous 5 feet 3 and had no visible basketball skills in that movie, but portrayed a starter on a high-school squad. To make things as confusing as possible, the Fox factor is measured by the following scale:
-- Rick Barry (excellent)
-- World B. Free (above average)
-- Joe Barry Carroll (below average)
-- Chris Washburn (abysmal)
"Hoop Dreams"
Easily one of the best nonfiction basketball movies, and maybe the best documentary in any sport. Director Steve James and his crew followed basketball prodigies Arthur Agee and William Gates for nearly five years, showing the ins and outs of recruitment, stoked dreams and failed expectations. It's a cautionary tale, but also inspiring. (1994)
Pitino cameo? Yes
Pro talent: Isiah Thomas, Jalen Rose and Chris Webber
Fox factor: Rick Barry
"Through the Fire"
This documentary about New York high-school phenom Sebastian Telfair's jump straight to the pros is a must for serious basketball fans. Director Jonathan Hock gets a great amount of access and doesn't take sides, showing the complexities of Telfair's situation. (2005)
Pitino cameo? Yes
Pro talent: Dwight Howard and Telfair.
Fox factor: Rick Barry
"Love and Basketball"
Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan are two basketball-loving friends in this underrated romantic drama. The basketball scenes border on ridiculous, but the story is pretty good, following the two ballers through their high-school, college and pro careers. It's the rare basketball movie with a strong female character. (2000)
Pitino cameo? No
Pro talent: Charles O'Bannon and Terry Cummings
Fox factor: Chris Washburn
"Blue Chips"
This was a better Bobby Knight biopic than ESPN's recent "A Season on the Brink." Nick Nolte plays a Knight-esque college coach at fictitious Western University who is tempted by illegal recruiting. It's an uneven but interesting drama. NBA star Shaquille O'Neal is actually decent as a prospect. (1994)
Pitino cameo? Yes
Pro talent: O'Neal, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, Bob Cousy, Bobby Hurley and Marques Johnson. (Larry Bird and others played themselves.)
Fox factor: World B. Free
"White Men Can't Jump"
Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson are Los Angeles street basketball players who team up to hustle the competition. Snipes and Harrelson look like a combined 5-foot-9 next to some of their towering competition, but the script by Ron "Bull Durham" Shelton is strong, capturing the spirit of pickup basketball. (1992)
Pitino cameo? No
Pro talent: Marques Johnson and Freeman Williams
Fox factor: Joe Barry Carroll
"One on One"
Seventies heartthrob Robby Benson plays a high-school basketball phenom whose college career is a rude awakening. Annette O'Toole is his tutor/love interest and G.D. Spradlin is his coach, whose style is more Adolf Hitler than Adolph Rupp. Seals and Croft provides the soundtrack! (1977)
Pitino cameo? No
Pro talent: None
Fox factor: Joe Barry Carroll
"Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault"
This moving film -- directed by "ER" doctor Eriq La Salle, of all people -- about the greatest street-basketball player in history is as good as made-for-TV sports movies get. (Take that, "Quarterback Princess"!) Don Cheadle is Manigault, who squandered his talent on drugs, reformed and then helped his neighborhood. (1996)
Pitino cameo? No
Pro talent: Kevin Garnett and Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Fox factor: World B. Free
"He Got Game"
Spike Lee's father-son drama about a high-school basketball player choosing colleges is one of his better post-"Do the Right Thing" films. The subplot involving a hooker played by Milla Jovovich is random, but the basketball parts are compelling -- and the decision to use both Public Enemy and Aaron Copland in the soundtrack is so crazy that it works. (1998)
Pitino cameo? Yes
Pro talent: Ray Allen, Rick Fox and Travis Best. (Bill Walton, Shaquille O'Neal and others played themselves.)
Fox factor: World B. Free
"Hoosiers"
Who cares if a huge amount of creative license was taken with the real-life story of Indiana's greatest high-school-basketball upset? Who cares if a couple of the scenes are ridiculously choreographed, and that Barbara Hershey's romantic love interest is completely unlikable? You've got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper, that spine-tingling Jerry Goldsmith score, kids dribbling between chairs and "We're going to run the picket fence at them ... Don't get caught watching the paint dry!" One of the best two or three sports movies ever. (1986)
Pitino cameo? No
Pro talent: None
Fox factor: Joe Barry Carroll
Honorable mention: "The Absent-Minded Professor" (1961), "Above the Rim" (1994), "O" (2001) and "Glory Road" (2006).
(E-mail Peter Hartlaub at phartlaub(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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