L'étoile de Harlem

**this review gives away some of the plot, be careful!**

It was good to see Don Cheadle, he's a fine actor, but don't expect a performance on par with his tough guys in Out of Sight and Devil in a Blue Dress. Cheadle was a good pick, the part of a great basketball player is tough because you can get a real player who has good basketball skills but says every line like he's reading a foreign language (Ray Allen), or you can get a great actor who shoots like he's using the wrong hand (Ed Norton). Cheadle's game (dribbling, shooting) looks pretty good, the only thing that wasn't convincing were the scenes displaying Manigault's amazing leaping. Because Cheadle obviously cannot get that high, we get a shot of him taking off, then another shot of him up by the rim standing on a ladder or something; its just not convincing. Manigault's alleged dunks are so unreal that I would have really liked to actually see the entire dunk just like the real goat, in one shot, whether it took computer graphics or a double that looks nothing like him (Vince Carter), or a springboard disguised as part of the court.

Watching director Eriq Le Salle act in this movie is painfully embarrassing. For example, in his basketball scenes in the beginning (btw I REALLY liked the casual dress of the players) Le Salle adorns a pantyhose style hat, its out of place, but what's so embarrassing is that since he was the director he chose to brandish the hat himself. Similarly embarrassing is that he tries to steal more of the spotlight by having his character go to Vietnam, like the pantyhose hat, this is utterly useless to the story but he includes it to promote himself. And on top of that, Le Salle has his character come back from 'Nam having lost both arms (cheap, cheap, cheap) then overdose on bad heroin. You'll get a huge laugh watching LaSalle shake on the ground with his prosthetic limbs, easily a foot longer then they should be with obvious lumps in the forearms (hands holding the prop arms.) This shows no class on the part of Eriq, who as the director introduces a character who provides no insight and is useless to the story so HE can play it and have a chance to act like a brotha and convulse like he's overdosing, how embarrassing!!

Aside from that, this movie is pretty good and I recommend it to a basketball fan. Clarence Williams III and Forest Whitaker are both very good as always.

Don Cheadle is amazing in this movie. His reaction to his friend's overdose is a truly astonishing piece of acting. I don't know if he won any awards for this role, but he should have. If you have not seen this flick, you must.

Have you ever done a slam-dunk? Did you feel this triumph over the gravitation, height and fear? There are or there were persons who do or did it better. People will always remember players like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Irving, Magic Johnson. Will they remember the most celebrated streetball player Earl 'Goat' Manigault who has never played in NBA? This movie shows Earl Manigault not just as an idolized legend, but a person with his weakness, fear and shame. Jumping up and falling down are the opposite sides of the story about complicated Earl's life. This is at least fair that 'Rebound' has been developed when Earl 'Goat' Manigault was alive. Everybody has his bottom line, but there are few persons who can get through it and find the way out. And Earl was the one of them. Perfect movie for those who like basketball and not just it... Rating: 10 of 10.

This movie I saw once but often think about the legend of "The Goat." I don't remember specific scenes particularly but I oft' think about this film. I'm not sure even when or even if I meant to see this. However thinking any film that has "The Goat" in the title had to be good. The absolute brilliant portrayal by Don Cheadle (who was relatively unknown then) and the general true story about this should have been great player is something I often think about. Just how we often think about how much better people were when they are gone is how I think about this film. I'm almost afraid to watch it now as I have seen twice as many movies now then I did then and I have such a reverence for it that there is no way it is as good as I remember. Just as I thought "The Karate Kid" was so great when it came out and having gotten my brown belt in Koden Kan and watching it as an adult and laughing at how absolutely bad the karate is. I don't know if I should watch it having studied film. Granted I'm no Roger Ebert (the only real movie reviewer that counts, Roeper do you know what makes a good film!!! Earl Dittman *cough* a guy that thinks anything on film is the best thing he's ever seen, Shame on you studios for thinking we will see things like "Daddy Day Camp!" Cuba Gooding Jr. you won an Oscar! What happened?) Sorry back to the movie If you want to see a movie no one has ever heard of and is a sad story but wished they could have seen this guy dunk on 12 foot rim (I think that is how high the top of the backboard is) how cool would that have been to see? Anyway kids don't do drugs, and maybe someday we could see some one like this someday. I particularly remember Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when asked after all the players he played against and with saying that "The Goat" was the toughest player he had ever played against. I just remember waiting all basketball season long to see Larry Bird and the Celtics play Magic Johnson & Kareem & the Lakers. Well just see this flick. If it is as good as remember just give this flick a try.

Like many, I had never even heard of Earl Manigault until I saw the movie. I am not even that much of a basketball fan. But after seeing this movie, it created an all new interest in not only basketball, but learning a little more about Earl Manigault.

It also teaches us a valuable lesson that I have always believed in.

No matter how bad you may think you sank, there is always a way to make things better for yourself. Earl found that out with some help and taught it to a whole new generation of kids.

Just like it said in the movie: " He rose on the court and fell, only to rise again".