Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Team Marketing
EAN: 9786305144151
Feature: Classic DVD
Format: Closed-captioned
Is Autographed: 0
ISBN: 630514415X
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Walt Disney Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 1998-11-10
Running Time: 136
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1998-05-01
MPN: TM2539

• Classic DVD
• Exclusive interviews, highlights, and behind the scenes coverage
• DVD's main menu allow you to jump directly to the action
• Presented in full-screen digital video

Academy Award(R)-winner Denzel Washington (Best Actor, 2001, TRAINING DAY) stars in this must-see story about a convict given one shot at a second chance to be a father! With promises of a reduced sentence, Jake Shuttlesworth (Washington) is granted temporary release from state prison in order to persuade the nation's top basketball recruit ... his estranged son, Jesus (Ray Allen of NBA's Milwaukee Bucks), to play ball for the governor's alma mater! But just as Jesus faces intense pressures and irresistible temptations contemplating his big decision, Jake is also forced to consider not only what's best for himself ... but what's best for his son! With a groundbreaking soundtrack by the legendary Public Enemy -- plus great cameos from John Turturro and basketball personalities Dick Vitale, John Thompson, Dean Smith, and more, HE GOT GAME is a critically acclaimed hit you don't want to miss!

Customer Rating:
Summary: Moving and deep; far more than your average sports film...
Comment: In 2001 Denzel Washington finally won his `Leading Actor' Oscar despite the fact that three of the four remaining nominees put in better performances than he did (those three would be, in descending order, Wilkinson, Crowe and Smith). I'm not saying that Washington's portrayal of Alonzo in `Training Day' was bad or even mediocre. He was a pistol, really electrifying the screen with his commanding presence, and he scores major points for taking himself away from the `dead eye stare' I see him give all too often (watch `American Gangster') and really igniting his face. That said, he still was not the best of the year.

I bring up this point, not because I want to raise my voice in disapproval, but because I want to draw a major comparison in character between Alonzo and Washington's character Jake Shuttlesworth in `He Got Game'. Both characters have that swagger, that jive and that fire, yet Jake is a much deeper and more emotionally complicated character than Alonzo, and Washington plays to his strengths in such a fierce way that I am baffled he wasn't even considered in the running for this performance, yet was handed an Oscar for basically doing the same thing three years later to a less impressive extent. Washington grabs your attention here, not only with his blunt abrasiveness but also with his human and tortured rawness.

`He Got Game' may on the outset look like just another teen sports story. It centers around Jesus (pronounced like the son of God) Shuttlesworth, a brilliant athlete who is being harassed by every state in the area trying to rally him to their basketball team. Jesus is not your typical teenager though. He has been raising his young sister since their father killed their mother and was sent to prison. Their father is Jake. Now, Jake is presented with a strange and inviting opportunity; namely to convince his son to join Big State University and in return he'll receive a lighter sentence. The problem is that since Jake has been locked up Jesus has refused to speak to him, and he has no plans of changing his mind on the matter. Still, Jake decides that it is worth a try.

The underlying story within `He Got Game' is about the path leading to redemption and the sacrifices that we make to get there. As Jake tries to reestablish some grounds with his son we can see that he needs this; more than freedom he needs the forgiveness that only his son can extend. Spike Lee brilliantly continues his moral lessons by exposing the corruption and greed within the striving for fame, but Lee never strays away from the purity and admirableness of those who have a clear head and a strong will.

So, like I mentioned, Washington is Oscar worthy here, but the rest of the cast is more hit or miss for me. Ray Allen comes off a little stiff in areas but for the most part he delivers a strong performance alongside Washington. He has some pristine moments where you can see his internal struggle. Rosario Dawson is breathtaking as Jesus' girlfriend Lala, but even more than breathtaking she is a wonderful actress here. She really understands her character and exploits her weaknesses effortlessly. Milla Jovavich is a little miscast here, and she seems to be `acting' too much, which sadly comes off amateurish in many scenes. Zelda Harris is also a weaker link, but she was young and so I won't lay into her too hard. She wasn't a central character and so her few flaws are not detrimental to the film.

`He Got Game' is not a masterpiece, I won't go that far, but it is an extremely well crafted vehicle for Lee and Washington to shine as brightly as they are able. Lee has done better work (`25th Hour' for one) and Washington has done better work (`Malcolm X') but to say that these two men are at the top of their game here would be an understatement.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Really?
Comment: Good movie if your my generation basketball fan brings me back lol. They actually offered the role first to Allen Iverson who turned it down!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Inner strife and self hatred are the worst enemies
Comment: This film shows the real crossroads where the Blacks are in America, and I say the Blacks because they call themselves Blacks and not Afro-Americans or African Americans. The mother is dead, killed accidentally in a temper but the father. The father is in prison for a very long time. The son hates his father and has to learn how to get over his hatred. The daughter is missing her father but her brother is isolating her. The uncle and aunt only see the money the son represents. He is a high school star in basketball and he can get directly into making a lot of money if he joins the NBA or he can go to some university and have a scholarship. One more tricky element: the governor wants the kid for the team of his university, the one he sponsors and likes. So why not use the father, give him a week of semi freedom and force him thus to negotiate his son's signing the right papers. What's more the basketball star is invited by some schools to come and visit and there he is provided with everything he may desire, including the girls and the useless other entertainments. The NBA is offering a car to the uncle, though in fact it is for the son to run it. And the high school coach is able to put ten thousand dollars on the table for him to join, guess what, the NBA of course. Immoral. The film is saved from this muddy marshlandish country by the son choosing the only moral solution, the one that will help his father to get out faster, the one that is going to cure him from his hatred, even if that is slightly idealistic, frankly utopian.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Lee Got Game
Comment: "He Got Game" is another solid outing for director Spike Lee. He paints a realistic picture of life for a inner city basketball phenom and its many demands and pressures. Ray Allen isn't as proficient an actor as he is a shooting guard, yet his performance works here. Denzel Washington and a supporting cast of Lee film veterans deliver in their roles, making up for any inexperience Allen has. Washington is impressive as Allen's father, a convicted felon who is given a short work release to try to convince his star son to attend the governeor's alma mater. Revisiting this film about 9 years after its release, I still feel entertained and connected with the main characters. I feel it stands as a triumph for Lee and a good tale of basketball, exploitation, wounded family relations, and redemption (in a way).

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Wish I saw it in the theater
Comment: I actually caught this on television when I was flipping channels one day. I didn't even plan on sticking around but this movie kept me watching. The reason why I didn't give it a chance in the theater was because I was growing weary of Spike Lee's style of film making. I thought I'd give it a break and I didn't know anyone else who actually saw this to endorse it. Watching it on tv meant that it was censored so I rented the original version and liked it even more. Denzel is awesome as usual, but the story itself and the trials of the main characters were thought-provoking and interesting. I know a lot of fathers like the one in this film who pushed their child hard. The son ended up living up to his potential so I guess it felt justified. I would've liked this film even if was a sport I didn't like. This is definitely worth a look.

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