The Basketball Diaries (film)

The Basketball Diaries
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Scott Kalvert
Produced by	Liz Heller John Bard Manulis
Written by	Jim Carroll (Novel) Bryan Goluboff (Screenplay)
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Bruno Kirby Lorraine Bracco Ernie Hudson Patrick McGaw James Madio Michael Imperioli Mark Wahlberg
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	David Phillips
Edited by	Dana Congdon
Production company	Island Pictures
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	April 21, 1995 (1995-04-21)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.4 million^[1]

The Basketball Diaries is a 1995 American coming of age crime drama film directed by Scott Kalvert, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, James Madio, and Mark Wahlberg. The film is an adaptation of Jim Carroll's autobiographical work of the same name, telling the story of Carroll's teenage years as a promising high school basketball player and writer who developed an addiction to heroin with his misguided friends.

Jim Carroll's original "Basketball Diaries" was written in the 1960s (and later published in 1978), but the film is set in the 1990s.

Plot

The film is an adaptation of poet and memoirist Jim Carroll's (Leonardo DiCaprio) juvenile diaries chronicling his kaleidoscopic free-fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim's life centers on the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend, Bobby (Michael Imperioli), who is dying of leukemia, a coach ("Swifty") who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an appetite for cocaine and heroin, all of which begin to encroach on young Jim's dream of becoming a basketball star.

Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother's mounting concern for her son. He cannot go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin, for which he steals, robs, and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie (Ernie Hudson), an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim "picked up a game" now and then, he is able to begin the long journey back to sanity, which ultimately ends with Jim's incarceration in Riker's Island for assault, robbery, resistance of arrest, and the possession of narcotics. After months that Jim spent in prison, he leaves and later does a talk show about his drug life, after turning down free drugs from his old friend, Pedro.

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jim Carroll
Lorraine Bracco as Mrs. Carroll
Marilyn Sokol as Chanting Woman
James Madio as Pedro
Patrick McGaw as Neutron
Mark Wahlberg as Mickey
Roy Cooper as Father McNulty
Bruno Kirby as Swifty
Alexander Chaplin as Bobo
Juliette Lewis as Diane Moody
Michael Imperioli as Bobby
Michael Rapaport as Skinhead
Ernie Hudson as Reggie
Manny Alfaro as Manny
Cynthia Daniel as Winkie
Brittany Daniel as Blinkie
Jim Carroll as Frankie Pinewater, Credited as James Dennis Carroll

Reception

The film currently holds a 46% "Rotten" rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.^[2] Roger Ebert gave two stars out of four, concluding, "At the end, Jim is seen going in through a "stage door," and then we hear him telling the story of his descent and recovery. We can't tell if this is supposed to be genuine testimony or a performance. That's the problem with the whole movie."^[3]

Lawsuits

After the 1997 Heath High School shooting, activist Jack Thompson brought this film into a $33 million lawsuit in 1999 claiming that the film's plot (along with two internet pornography sites, several computer game companies, and makers and distributors of the 1994 film Natural Born Killers) caused the 14-year-old Michael Carneal to shoot members of a prayer group. The case was dismissed in 2001.^[4]^[5]

The film became controversial in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre and the Heath High School shooting, when critics noted similarities between these shooting attacks and a dream sequence in the film in which the protagonist wears a black trenchcoat and shoots six classmates in his school classroom. The film has been specifically named in lawsuits brought by the relatives of murder victims.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Soundtrack

The Basketball Diaries soundtrack was released in 1995 by PolyGram to accompany the film, featuring songs from Pearl Jam and PJ Harvey. AllMusic rated it three stars out of five.^[10]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Length
1.	"Catholic Boy"	Jim Carroll	Jim Carroll with Pearl Jam	3:05
2.	"Devil's Toe"	Jim Carroll	Graeme Revell with Jim Carroll	0:56
3.	"Down by the Water"	P J Harvey	P J Harvey	3:14
4.	"What a Life!"	Glyn "Bigga" Bush, Richard "DJ Dick" Whittingham, Rob McKenzie	Rockers Hi-Fi	4:02
5.	"I Am Alone"	Jim Carroll	Graeme Revell with Jim Carroll	1:33
6.	"People Who Died"	Jim Carroll, Brian Linsley, Steve Linsley, Terrell Winn, Wayne Woods	The Jim Carroll Band	5:00
7.	"Riders on the Storm"	Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek	The Doors	6:56
8.	"Dizzy"	Ty Willman, Mari Ann Braeden, Danny K, Bob "Mink" Martin, Steve Ross	Green Apple Quick Step	3:10
9.	"It's Been Hard"	Jim Carroll	Graeme Revell with Jim Carroll	0:53
10.	"Coming Right Along"	Jon Auer, Ken Stringfellow	The Posies	6:17
11.	"Strawberry Wine"	Salvadore Poe, Adam Flax	Massive Internal Complications	3:59
12.	"Star"	Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy	The Cult	5:00
13.	"Dream Massacre"		Graeme Revell	1:23
14.	"I've Been Down"	Flea	Flea	4:38
15.	"Blind Dogs"	Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil	Soundgarden	4:40

Not featured on CD
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Length
1.	"Dancing Barefoot"	Patti Smith, Ivan Kral	Johnette Napolitano
2.	"Watusi Latin Boogaloo"	Joey Altruda	The Joey Altruda Latin Explosion

References

↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=basketballdiaries.htm
↑ "The Basketball Diaries". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
↑ Ebert, Roger. "The Basketball Diaries". Chicago Sun-Times.
↑ Chalk, Andy (2007-07-07). "Legally Insane: A History of Jack Thompson's Antics". The Escapist. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
↑ AP (April 13, 1999), Media Companies Are Sued in Kentucky Shooting, The New York Times
↑ Carter, Nick (1999-05-06). "Linking of 'Basketball Diaries,' Columbine Shootings Upsets Author". CatholicBoy.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
↑ "Moral Panics and Violence in the Media". Mediaknowall.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
↑ "Media Companies Are Sued in Kentucky Shooting". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
↑ Sink, Mandy (2002-03-06). "National Briefing: Rockies; COLORADO: COLUMBINE LAWSUIT DISMISSED". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
↑ The Basketball Diaries at AllMusic

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Basketball Diaries (film)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.