White Men Can't Jump (1992)

Black and white basketball hustlers join forces to double their chances.

Director:

Ron Shelton

Writer:

Ron Shelton

Stars:

Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Wesley Snipes	...	Sidney Deane
Woody Harrelson	...	Billy Hoyle
Rosie Perez	...	Gloria Clemente
Tyra Ferrell	...	Rhonda Deane
Cylk Cozart	...	Robert
Kadeem Hardison	...	Junior
Ernest Harden Jr.	...	George
John Marshall Jones	...	Walter
Marques Johnson	...	Raymond
David Roberson	...	T.J.
Kevin Benton	...	Zeke
Nigel Miguel	...	Dwight 'The Flight' McGhee
Duane Martin	...	Willie Lewis
Bill Henderson	...	The Venice Beach Boys
Sonny Craver	...	The Venice Beach Boys

Storyline

Billy and Sydney think they're the best basketball hustlers in town, so when they join forces, nothing can stop them, except each other. To add to their problems, Billy owes money and is being chased by a pair of gangster types.

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Plot Keywords:

Basketball | Color In Title | Buddy | Basketball Movie | Jeopardy | 

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Taglines:

It ain't easy being this good.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 March 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Albii nu pot sari

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$76,253,806 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 118 min (VHS)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film Woody Harrelson's character makes a reference to suspected John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. In real life Harrelson's own father had also been targeted as a possible accomplice in the killing.

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Goofs

On jeopardy when Leonard chooses a subject Gloria has $5100, in the next shot she has $8300 then in the next shot it says $5100 again.

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Quotes

Billy Hoyle: I'll tell you what. Why don't we take all these bricks and build a shelter for the homeless, so maybe your mother will have a place to stay.

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Connections

Referenced in Once Were Warriors (1994)

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Soundtracks

"A TO THE K"
Written by B-Real, Senen Reyes and Larry Muggerud
Performed by Cypress Hill
Courtesy of Ruffhouse / Columbia Records

User Reviews

Can you, or should you hustle a hustler?.

After Billy Hoyle hustles Sidney Deane on the basketball court, Deane offers Billy a proposition about teaming up to hustle the courts of Los Angeles. They are a great team, they are in fact wonderful players, but egos and greed are sure to become a problem, oh and Billy has some rather unsavoury characters after him to return a debt he owes. Can the boys resolve their differences?, can they keep their devoted women happy?, all will be revealed in White Men Can't Jump.

White Men Can't Jump is a fine sports movie, offering up more than just a basic sport heart, it's funny, sly and really a rather effective piece of drama. The basketball scenes are very well handled by director Ron Shelton, with slow motion spins and beady drips of sweat glistening in the heat, and the chemistry between Woody Harrelson {Billy} and Wesley Snipes {Sidney} is first class, but really it's the power of Shelton's writing that makes this a most engaging picture {see also Bull Durham & the similarly undervalued Tin Cup}.

After following these two guys thru their very rocky relationship you get to a point where you feel that we are about to wander down formula road, but Shelton pulls a trick to make the final last quarter an excellent, none conformity piece of film, one that judging by the less than favourable rating on this particular site, has not been wholly appreciated. Shame that, because other than Rosie Perez doing her best to annoy the viewers to death as Billy's suffering girlfriend Gloria Clemente, White Men Can't Jump is one of the better sports movies of the 90s. 7.5/10