Basta vincere

Nick Nolte plays a college University basketball coach forced to break the rules in order to stay competitive. He deals with guilt and struggles internally with something he has always been against.

What a surprise Blue Chips was, expecting a below par sports movie (based on reviews) but found a thought provoking and entertaining 110 minutes. To begin with it hits the normal sports movie beats but just when you think the drama is going one way, suddenly it doesn't and that only adds realism to the action.

William Friedkin does an excellent job in creating a tense and real life atmosphere, almost documentary style at least during the game-play scenes that makes you feel fully immersed. It's clear Friedkin and co have thoroughly researched this area and you get a sense of that while watching. The use of real life Basketball players and coaches adds to the authenticity.

During the drama the film deals with the shady dealings that no doubt goes on in American sports at college level (It's a massive deal, where careers and futures are made). A story of greed, cheating and pressure to win. Nolte is great in the role and gets to show off his soft side while also providing his well known manic style. Blue Chips really is an under-rated film although not perfect it deserves to be more well known.

I am not a basketball fan. Instead, I am an oddball..a bad movie buff. While I do NOT watch a steady diet of lousy pictures, every so often I watch some god-awful movies. I have seen all 50 bad films from Harry Medved's great book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" as well as 96 of the current Bottom 100 on IMDB. And, while "Blue Chips" is not on any of these bad films list it has something which does interest me....Shaquille O'Neal. While he seems like a nice guy in real life, Shaquille has a long, sorry track record of incredibly bad films....such as "Kazaam", "Steel" , "Jack and Jill", "Scary Movie IV" and "Freddy Got FIngered". In fact, while I don't blame him completely, as he's first and foremost a basketball star, few, if any, can match his sad record in films.

In this basketball flick, in addition to O'Neal, you've got some other huge stars...Penny Hardaway, Marques Johnson and an older basketball great, Bob Cousy (who STILL is a great shot even at his age). In small roles are Jerry Tarkanian, Larry Bird, Bobby Knight and a few others. This is reason enough to see this movie....as well as to watch Nick Nolte play an interesting role as a college basketball coach...and it's one of Nolte's best performances.

So why, in particular, is Coach Bell (Nolte) so angry and upset this particular season? Well, for the first time ever he's in danger of coaching a team with a losing record. Sick of seeing the best recruits going to other college programs, Bell is intent on bringing in some new and very talented blood into the program. Much of the film consists of him traveling the country, interviewing prospects and doing everything he can to hook them for his team. The problem is that there is a LOT of pressure for him to cheat and bend the rules....as it seems like everybody is doing it to get the best recruits.

The film is an excellent case study of the ugly side of college sports. And, as the film seems to say, 'everybody's doing it'....which seems likely. I appreciated this plot very much...and Nick Nolte really blew me away with his acting. He was clearly at his best here. Also, it was nice to see Shaquille O'Neal...his acting seemed natural and likable. Overall, a surprisingly good film that exceeded my expectations....and I am not sure why it only has an overall score of 6.2 at this time.

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"Blue Chips" is a vastly under-rated sports film which deals with the shady dealings of colleges and their players. Nick Nolte plays a college basketball coach who is so desperate to return to his glory days that he breaks the rules by giving his newest recruits (Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Matt Nover) basically anything they and their families want. School alumnus J.T. Walsh is the catalyst to these shady dealings and now the college has a winning team again, but at what price? "Blue Chips" is another one of William Friedkin's films that is much deeper than it first appears on the surface. With the exception of "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist", this is his finest film as a director. His documentary-style makes you feel as if you are in on all the action. Numerous parts are played by real basketball players and coaches, adding a great bit of realism to the story. "The French Connection" benefited from this style by having real cops in key roles and "The Exorcist" did the same having priests play themselves. Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Matt Nover do surprisingly well with the material. They are all three-dimensional characters and shine throughout the film. However with that said, it is Nick Nolte who is the primary factor that makes the film well worth while. Far from perfect, but still a very good movie. 4 out of 5 stars.

This movie is very underrated, it hasn't gotten nearly the credit it deserves. I thought it was very well done, although it wasn't perfect, it was still very good. It is the first movie to talk about a problem that is very prominent in todays colleges and their methods of recruiting. The film is very well written and Nick Nolte does a great, great job playing the conflicted coach.

Pete Bell is a college basketball coach. He's under pressure to win and is under pressure to get the players by any means necessary. How will he stand up to the pressure or will he give in to pressure?

Basketball movies are often the `weak team overcomes' type and are not exactly great. Some are good (Hoosiers) but most are mildly distracting at best (The air up there), few reach the heights of Hoop Dreams. However Blue Chips is good because it manages to cast a critical eye over the real world of college ball – there are no small town winners, there are no `kids with hearts of gold' etc – instead it is as much a business as the NBA and the stakes are high to get the best players.

Bell shows us how he must juggle doing what's right but also doing what the players want in order to get a winning team. This is refreshing – rather than yet another sports movie with the same old cliches. The down side is that it doesn't go far enough in my mind and it doesn't offer solutions.

Nolte is good and is really convincing as a coach – even if he's a bit OTT at times on the sidelines. His support is great in the form of McDonnell, Walsh, Woodard and the real players of Shaq and Penny do OK. The cast is also filled out with plenty of coaches, commentators and such from real life – so there's plenty to see.

Overall this is one of my favourite basketball movies simply because it tells it like it is – even if it does have it's weaknesses.