BLUE CHIPS
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, J. T. Walsh, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, Shaquille O'Neal, Matt Nover. Screenplay: Ron Shelton. Director: William Friedkin.
There may be only one thing in this world that I know better than movies, and that would be college basketball. For every two hours that I spend in a theater, I probably spend four in a gym or watching hoops on television. I spent a lot of time in BLUE CHIPS picking on the details, but that wasn't only because I felt I knew the details; it was also because there isn't all that much detail to be found. BLUE CHIPS is a morality play drawn in big broad strokes, with a message that can be summarized in two words: "Cheating *bad*."
Set at a fictional California institution called Western University, BLUE CHIPS stars Nick Nolte as Pete Bell, head basketball coach at Western. Two championship banners hang in the rafters from Bell's tenure, but a point shaving scandal three years back has tarnished the program's reputation and resulted in fewer prime recruits. In an effort to turn around a losing team, Bell tries to bring in three potential stars: Chicago guard Butch McRae Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway); Indiana farm kid Ricky Roe (Matt Nover); and untrained physical specimen Neon Bodeaux (Shaquille O'Neal). Standing in the way is Bell's sense of ethics, since it appears that he'll need to break recruiting rules and pay off the athletes to get them to Western, a dilemma which doesn't seem to trouble a wealthy alum (J. T. Walsh).
The problem facing BLUE CHIPS from the outset is a tone bordering on the terminally naive. Screenwriter Ron Shelton (BULL DURHAM, WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP) approaches the subject of big money in collegiate athletics as though he were the one blowing the whistle on it. "Can you believe this?" he seems to be saying. "It's not just a game any more!" The film revels in self-congratulatory outrage, leaving its characters to founder undeveloped. Nolte's Bell is a purist who just loves the game, but he's too shiny a knight, and his final, pedantic speech to a group of sportswriters is just sloppy. J. T. Walsh plays Happy, the fat-cat athletic booster, as an absurd stereotype, and Mary McDonnell plays Bell's ex-wife as a recycled version of her spirited ex from SNEAKERS. There is the potential for an interesting conflict when O'Neal's Bodeaux exhibits a reluctance to buy in to the same ethic as his teammates, but Shelton and director William Friedkin seem reluctant to give any of the novice actor-athletes too much to say. They also seem unwilling to ask any of the hard questions about collegiate athletes, such as whether or not they actually deserve some sort of compensation. Every choice is the obvious one and the wrong one, right down to an awful "conscience" voiceover during the climactic game.
BLUE CHIPS could have saved itself by getting its basketball right, but there are a basket full of problems there as well. The on-court action is fairly bland, and photographed from all the wrong angles. Friedkin makes no particular effort to make the setting seem collegiate, with crowd shots focusing on politely cheering alumni. However, two gaffes particularly irked me. In the first game, with the margin twenty points in the last minute, every seat in the stand was still filled; I suppose it would have been tricky telling half the crowd to leave when rumor has it that tickets for the filming were being scalped for $100. Then, in the final game, the crowd reaction comes far too slowly given the result, and doesn't seem remotely authentic. It's too bad Shelton couldn't have brought the same feel to the hardwood that he brought to BULL DURHAM's dugout.
There are a few things to like about BLUE CHIPS. Nolte is perfectly cast as a coach, and O'Neal and Hardaway are pleasant surprises. I was also amused by the inclusion of ousted coaches Lou Campanelli and Jerry Tarkanian among the gaggle of competitors pursuing Bell's prized recruits. They are, however, small consolation. BLUE CHIPS' puffed-up indignance wears thin quickly.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 blue chip recruits: 3.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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