Five Movies about College Basketball

Posted on April 5, 2010 at 8:00 am

Now that most people’s NCAA brackets are blown up and they’re getting ready to enjoy the final game, it might be a good time to take another look at some fictional college basketball teams in the movies.
1. The Absent Minded Professor Fred MacMurray plays a college professor whose accidental invention of “flubber” (“flying rubber”) gives the school’s basketball team some extra bounce.
2. Tall Story Jane Fonda’s first movie has her co-starring with Anthony Perkins (before “Psycho”) in the story of a basketball star thrown off his game by the attentions of a determined young woman.
3. Glory Road This is the true story of coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas), who played the first all-black team in the NCAA in 1965 at Texas Western college (now University of Texas at El Paso). Lucas and Derek Luke as one of his players give beautiful performances in this stirring film.
4. Blue Chips stars Nick Nolte in a story of corruption in college recruiting, written by Ron Shelton of “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Bull Durham.”
5. “The Air Up There” A gentler college recruiting story has Kevin Bacon traveling to Africa to persuade the son of a tribal leader who has “the hang time of a helium balloon” to join his team.

Related Tags:

2 Replies to “Five Movies about College Basketball”

Glory Road is one of my ALL time favorite flicks and a must see for anybody, anywhere. It shows how we, as a people, can come together and overcome the diversity between each other when society is all up in your face telling you, “you can’t do it, give up”.
The most propelling scene (I think anyways:P) is when one of the white players on the team speaks from his heart about how hard it is to be on the team (with the African Americans) feeling the rejection they’ve lived all their lives. His pain was real and the pain of racism is real. Ignorance isn’t bliss, it destroys lives and I love this film for its propelling message AND that it is a true story.
A very inspirational film for anyone of any age.
PS GO LAKERS!!

I think “Glory Road” is a neglected gem, Eli, and I am so glad to hear from another fan of the film. It has a quiet, understated power. And the scene you describe is outstanding. Thanks for a great comment!

Comments are closed.