Harlem Globetrotters

The struggling 28 year old Dorothy Dandridge continued to pad out her c.v. and pay her bills by acting in this dull film. In the past, I would have said that she was lucky to be offered a role in films at her age, but now I can see that she suffered for her art.

The story constructed around the basketball play of the legendary Globetrotters is pretty simple, but they sure are fun to watch. Just seeing them standing around in a circle and throw the ball around with their assortment of trick passes, Sweet Georgia Brown playing in the background, was very entertaining (and man, I love that tune). It's a nice snapshot of the 1951 team, led by Marques Haynes and his silky slick handle, as well as big man Goose Tatum, who clowns around and palms the ball without even using all of his fingers. When a white reporter holds his hand up for comparison, it looks like a child's. The Globetrotters had lots of antics up their sleeves, but also a ton of skill - in 1948 and in 1949, they beat the Minneapolis Lakers, a powerhouse, champion team in the leagues that preceded the NBA (the NBL and BAA) - and this is essentially the team that did that.

The love interest (Dorothy Dandridge) is unfortunately not well developed, and if you're watching for Dandridge you'll be disappointed, because her role is so small. The subplots involving gamblers and the star young player considering other options are also pretty weak. The real interest, not surprisingly, is in seeing these players on the court. Even if the game footage is often not all that mind-blowing, it does show just how much the game has changed in 70 years, and we get the playful clowning around.

The Globetrotters play against all-white teams and in front of an all-white audience, so there is undeniably a racial element here, especially when you consider that the first black man to break the color barrier in the NBA did so only a year earlier (Earl Lloyd, 1950, soon followed by others, including several Globetrotters). The film doesn't broach the taboo subjects of the racism they encountered which is unfortunate, but I loved how the players are treated as real people. They have families, don't speak in stereotypical dialect, and their new star player (Billy Brown) was an honors student in college, having made a measured financial decision to play basketball. What a dramatic and welcome change from the depiction of African-Americans in films in the preceding decades.

The famous Globetrotters with their coach/manager Abe Saperstein travel across the country to play against all white basketball teams. They are actually playing against the pro teams as well as college teams. Billy Townsend is a cocky college player who quits school and joins the Globetrotters despite advise from Abe. Ann Carpenter (Dorothy Dandridge) is his sweetheart.

This faux biopic of the Globetrotters uses the real thing and marries them with a constructed story with actors. The best parts are the Globetrotters playing in front of those all white audiences. They do their performances and the crowds are truly amazed. It's interesting to watch the old style basketball. The game against the Wildcats is old fashion Globetrotting fun. It's interesting that it's a response to dirty play from the white side. It digs a little into the racial issues The movie paints the Globetrotters as a credit to their race and Abe as the one looking out for everyone. I grew up with the Globetrotters in Scooby Doo cartoons. There is more realism to this than cartoons but it does leave out some of the more hard hitting racism.

Think of a mediocre late 50s or early 60s tv show...like say "Donna Reed" or "Texas John Slaughter"...and then think of a poor episode on that show and you'll have some idea of what the first half hour of this movie is like. Didn't stick around for the rest. Give it a D.

The Harlem Globetrotters (1951)

** (out of 4)

Fun but poorly made feature about an All-American college player (Billy Brown) who decides to leave school and join the Globetrotters, although their head coach Abe Saperstein (Thomas Gomez) is against the idea. Soon the new player is starting to rub the other members the wrong way. THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS was apparently a huge hit when it was first released and I'm going to guess that this was due to how popular the basketball group was and it had zero to do with the quality of the film. I will admit that the film kept me entertained but there's no question that it was poorly made in just about every aspect. What we've basically got are a couple actual Globetrotter games that were filmed and then the "story" was added around them. We basically have a smart kid quitting college to play ball but then he starts to think about what direction he should take going forward. This includes several scenes with the coach, getting into it with his teammates and trying to please his new wife (Dorothy Dandridge) who is worried about his future. The entire film has an incredibly cheap look to it as the basketball footage at times looks worse that stock footage. It also doesn't help that most of the performances are fairly bad. This includes many of the actual Globetrotters but I don't blame them any since none of them were professional actors. They're actually what keeps the movie working so well because as a sports fan it was just interesting to see how they were playing the game back then and especially compared to today. I thought getting to watch the basketball footage was the most interesting thing and I think it's what will keep most people glued to the movie.