Blue Chips Review
by Michael J. Legeros (legeros AT unx DOT sas DOT com)February 28th, 1994
BLUE CHIPS
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Directed by William Friedkin
Written by Ron Shelton
Starring Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, J. T. Walsh, Alfre Woodard, Shaquille O'Neal, and Ed O'Neill
MPAA Rating PG-13 (though boasting the highest "god****" count in recent memory. :)
Running Time 108 minutes
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"A foul is not a foul until the referee blows his whistle."
- Alfre Woodard to Nick Nolte, on the subject of rules.
Hurrah! Hurrah! Once-upon-a-time wunderkind Bill Friedkin is back and with a subject that hits, at here in North Carolian, *very* close to home. With an assist from basketballsy writer Ron Shelton, Friedkin's first film in four is a exciting but easy examination of illegal recruiting practices in college basketball.
BLUE CHIPS introduces Pete Bell (Nolte), the dedicated coach of the Western University Dolphins. The team has just wrapped its first losing season and Bell is upset, to the say the least. He knows that his team is doing their best, but he needs better players--boys they can't recruit because *he* won't play "dirty pool." Pressured by everyone from the alumni to his athletic director, Bell confronts this issue to build a strong "starting line" for the upcoming season.
BLUE CHIPS is a frantically charged film. True to Friedkin form, *everything* stays in motion. Bill films basketball like he was born for it and even his off-court scenes have an infectious energy. He also pulls a powerhouse performance from Nolte, who spends the entire film wrestling with his conscious more than with his players. Nolte's best scene comes early, when he punts a basketball into the stands after losing a fight with a ref.
Less successful is Shelton's script and how it oversimplifies illegal recruiting. The characters have depth, but not the story. The ending is unusually good for a sports film, though. BLUE CHIPS favors fair-play instead of feel-good and it's a welcome change. Even *with* a soapbox speech at the end.
The rest of the cast is a scattershot mix.
McDonnell gives a mediocre performance as Bell's basketball-smart ex-wife. And there's barely any chemistry between her and Nolte. The ever-leering J. T. Walsh hangs out the ham, again, as an boorish booster. And seven-foot, four-inch "Shaq" O'Neal makes an appealing freshman recruit.
(Six-foot, one-inch "Ed" O'Neill is wasted as an investigative reporter, though. But his inclusion may be nothing more than a simple joke--if memory serves, O'Neill once played a TV version of "Popeye" Doyle!)
For basketball fans, BLUE CHIPS is a fountain of familiar faces. Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Jerry Tarkanian, and, yes, Dick Vitale, are just some of the good sports who appear in the film.
Bottom line: As a morality play on college recruiting, BLUE CHIPS scores about 3 out of 5 from the free-throw line. But, for fans of both Nick Nolte and William Friedkin, it's a winner.
Grade: B+
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
