Family-Friendly Friedkin: 'Blue Chips'
Director William Friedkin made a basketball movie! And it's pretty good!
Now Streaming: Known for terrorizing a family with demon possession, William Friedkin, who recently passed away at the age of 87, never directed a movie that was targeted at the younger demographic.
To be fair, I've never seen The Brinks Job (1978), nor Deal of the Century (1983), the latter of which I actively avoided upon its initial theatrical release, owing to its goofy reputation. Later, I rented Blue Chips (1994), rated PG-13, on videocassette, though it washed over me as an unexceptional movie at the time. Of those three films, Blue Chips was the only one available for me to watch on a streaming service to which I subscribe, so I started watching it over the weekend, not expecting much more than 'a basketball movie,' and immediately recognized that my memories were not correct.
Nick Nolte kicks it off with an incendiary speech, as his college basketball team is trailing badly near the end of the season, starting small and then building in fury. It's like stories we've all heard about fiery basketball coaches who yell and scream at their team, times 10. It's fabulous.
His character, Pete Bell, has coached two previous teams to championships, built around his strong ethics, with a high graduation rate for his players. His current team, however, is badly in need of fresh blood, high-quality 'blue chip' players who can make an impact on the program.
Having identified two such prospects, he sets out to recruit them, yet soon realizes that in order to compete at the highest level, he will need to compromise his morals and seduce them with money and other material gifts through an intermediary, Happy (J.T. Walsh), the leader of an alumni group, who promises that he can provide funding whose source can never be traced.
Written by Ron Shelton, whose other basketball movie, White Men Can't Jump, released in 1992, launched the careers of its stars, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, Blue Chips is filled with Shelton's trademark snappy one-liners and colorful characters, but with the profanity tamped down to PG-13 levels. (It's still quite 'salty,' so beware; this is not a movie for children.)
Shelton tends to write big, flashy characters who are larger than life and whose actions are dictated by their own internal logic, which helps make Blue Chips an entertaining movie that doesn't stick to expectations about 'sports movies,' either in its structure, nor in its resolution. The script gives Nolte a nuanced character to play; his internal fires and drive to compete engage in open warfare with his sense of right and wrong, which we can see in his face and in his overall body language.
Mary McDonnell plays Jenny, the coach's ex-wife, who still tapes the games on television for Pete and provides occasional comfort, but she too has her own sense of morality. It's easy to see why each was attracted to the other, which is seldom communicated clearly in movies; they each have qualities that the other person desires. Their differences, however, have clearly driven them apart.
As the aptly-named Happy, J.T. Walsh is a slick, oily salesman, which he plays so well that he becomes the personification of evil, which may be the only (possible) misstep in the movie. He is an incredibly 'hissable' villain, though, so that's fun to watch. It's also a pleasure to see early performances by Alfre Woodward as the money-hungry mother of one of the recruits, and Ed O'Neill as a dogged investigative reporter.
On the basketball side, Hall of Famer Bob Cousy portrays the school's Athletic Director; his most memorable scene comes when he's talking with the coach on an empty basketball court and shooting free throws … and … never … misses. (Never! How awesome!) Two of the rookie recruits are Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway, who after this movie teamed up and starred on the Orlando Magic in the NBA; college basketball coaches George Raveling, who served as a consultant, Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, and, yes, Bobby Knight, also make appearances, along with Larry Bird and Dick Vitale.
Nestled between William Friedkin's horror fantasy The Guardian (1990) and police thriller Jade (1995), and bookended by two television episodes (Tales From the Crypt, Rebel Highway), it's hard to see Blue Chips as anything but an outlier in his career. It's a good picture, I think, that is tied to the necessary basketball scenes, which tend to weigh it down in the same way that all movies tied to fictionalized sports sequences are weighed down.
The essence of a sporting contest is its unpredictability; you can guess, but you can't accurately predict what will happen. For much of its running time, however, Blue Chips transcends cliches and dramatizes a college sports scene that has changed fundamentally in the past couple of years, with athletes now able to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness.
It also features an absolutely terrific performance by Nick Nolte, and provides evidence that William Friedkin's abilities as a director could make movies that were compelling, lively, exciting, and thoroughly entertaining, no matter their subject matter. [Paramount Plus with Showtime]