Rewatchables Reference

Cast

Directed by: William Friedkin

Written by: Ron Shelton

Notes

• This was originally a Sports Movie Hall of Fame episode recorded during March Madness, later folded into The Rewatchables.
• Bill's grade: B-. Titus's grade: C/C-. Bill compares the movie's legacy to Penny Hardaway's NBA career: 'an incredible amount of promise, started out great, some bumps, ultimately not that satisfying, and yet kind of tiny bit underrated.'
• The Pete Bell character is an unabashed Bob Knight ripoff. Nick Nolte shadowed Knight for a season to prepare – that season Knight went to the Final Four, and he never made another one after. Nolte 'put a curse on him.'
• Bob Cousy making 10 straight free throws was not scripted. Nolte's reaction ('God, don't you ever miss?') was ad-libbed.
• Roger Ebert liked it.
• The movie used real NCAA uniforms, which Bill thinks would never be allowed again. Real college basketball players in the movie include Rick Fox, Rodney Rogers, Chris Mills, George Lynch, and Travis Ford.
• Mark Titus was the only player at Ohio State who was never allowed to host a recruit in four years. Thad Matta told him: 'We didn't let you host recruits because we wanted the recruits to come here.'
• A coach named Russ Bergman at Coastal Carolina saw the movie and felt so guilty he admitted to NCAA infractions.
• They discuss rebooting 'Blue Chips' as a Netflix series, with Paul Giamatti or Tom Hanks as the coach. Bill says the movie missed its calling as prestige TV – 'it doesn't really have a beginning or an ending.'
• The booster (J.T. Walsh) is set up as the villain, but his argument that the kids deserve the money has aged well in the NIL era. Titus: 'He didn't break any laws.'