Fast Break

Fast Break never turned out to be a film that would make Gabe Kaplan a major film star name. Still on its own itsbout a a man from Brooklyn who fulfills a dream of any sports fan.

Kaplan's sport is basketball and he's written hundreds of letters to colleges announcng his availability as a coach. He gets one reply from a ramshackle broken down college un Nevada, They'll pay him and he works cheap and comes with his own players.

Quite a collection too that include Harold Sylvester, Michael Warren and a secret weapon Mavis Washington who oes incognito to all in male drag. Her character provides some gender bending humor along the lines of Victor/Victoria.

The big day is when hs Cadwllader College team beats Nevada State coahced by state celelbrity Bert Remsen. Quite a game too.

Wome in the cast include Randee Heller and Connie Sawyer as Kapllan's wife and mother. Both are well cast in their parts.

As for Kaplan he incorporates a lot of his character and humor from his character in Welcome Back Kotter. I'm sure Kaplan regrets the decision he made to leave Welcome Back Kotter. It killed the series and he didn't obtain movie stardom. But we did get a good sports film from it.

Not great, not bad, this film from the disco era has not aged well but still contains some amusing moments. (Is it me, or does film and TV from the late 70s seems so much older and dated than from any other time period in the post-WWII era?)

But the thought that kept entering my head as I watched Gabe Kaplan smirk and wink-wink through his performance was that 10 years later, Billy Crystal could have done this movie is his sleep... and done it better.

6 out of 10 stars: perfect during a snooze on a lazy rainy afternoon...

Gabe Kaplan, of WELCOME BACK, KOTTER fame, stars as a NY restaurant manager who loves basketball. He plays street ball with the ghetto kids, studies sports journals and high school yearbooks, and dreams of coaching. When a remote Nevada university offers him a coaching position for Room & Board, he jumps at the chance, leaving his frustrated wife behind, but taking 4 talented black kids with him to outfit the team. (One of these is a real NBA player.. check it out).

Unless you have a magic vhs copy that has lasted for decades (if you do, get it transferred to DVD now!), you will be hard-pressed to find this great movie. However, GOOD NEWS! There are a couple of versions on YouTube for which I'd gladly pay $ 5.00 for a viewing, but, as of today, they are free of charge. Enjoy!

This is the perfect role for Gabe Kaplan and he makes the most of it as a wise-guy citified coach coming to an Oral-Roberts-like white-bread evangelical university to bring a winning basketball coach. Every body has a lot of fun all around and things move rather quickly. Bernard King has astonishingly good coming timing and acts well too.

It uses the old plot about a down and out coach whipping into shape a sports team filled with losers. And of course, there's the big game at the end, with a nail biting climax. Yet it works.

Why does this movie work? Because of many reasons. It's obvious the filmmakers took care to try to remove as many cliches as possible, and make it less predictable. More focus is on the characters instead of the old plot. The characters are more believable, and evolve through the course of the movie - they're likable. The "big game" is exciting, even though we know what will happen. Plus, there are a lot of big laughs in this movie.