The end of the documentary Hoops Dreams shows William Gates, one of the protagonists of the film, saying of his friends and family, "People always told me to remember them when I make the NBA. I shoulda replied, I dont want you forgettin me if I don't." For any sports fan whose seen the movie, you haven't forgotten William Gates, or Arthur Agee, the other young man whose struggles are depicted in this film. What makes this movie fascinating is that due to its 100% authenticity, the viewer is truly unsure of what will unfold next after the boys receive scholarships to play basketball at a prep school in Illinois. This differentiates it from the "Hollywood Happy Endings" on the list. More on that later.
For those unfamilar, the movie follows five years of the struggles of the aforementioned Gates and Agee, two outstanding basketball players who are recruited to play basketball at a prep school in Illinois. While they were more then adequately prepared to succeed athletically, there were many barriers standing in their way of overall success. Gates could only read at a 4th grade level as he entered high school, and Agee had little interest in his academics. Three hour commutes in all to and from school every day, as well as adjustments to being around students from a different racial and socioeconomical status, created extra stress on the boys. Both come from complicated backgrounds, with Agee's being particularly harsh. As a result of him being on a patial scholarship, and his family unable to pay the remainder of the tuition, he is kicked out of school.
When Arthur is kicked out of school, it is easy to paint the school just as a place that toys with the lives of students, supporting them when it's in their best interest, and discarding them when they're not. In this case, the family from a poorer area could no longer pay for his tuition, so the bottom line took precendence. But as we learn later in the movie, his well-spoken, supportive father is unable to make said payments because he has a drug problem. Its this casual way in which the film unfolds that adds great layers of depth, with multiple meanings unfolding in the process. The school's only worry was the bottom line, not the student's academic or athletic potential. But due to Agee's unremarkable play, whether or not Agee's father had worked 3 jobs and was clean, stone soberb and couldn't afford the payment, he was gone. But the reason the payments cannot be made is due to his durg-addicted father. There are layers of meanings that shatter normal stereotypes and assumptions, both in movies and the real world.
The dramatic scenes in the movie add to what make this movie better then any other. There's no Hollywood spin, and no based on a true story in the tagline. This isn't about a ragtag group of hockey players who go on to become state champs. No boy goes from unable to defend himself to become a black belt. Instead of rushing the viewer from failure to success in two hours, Hoop Dreams unfolds in real time. The dramatic scenes are set up both beautifully and in the same vein, with heartbreak. One scene shows Gates opening his ACT results, learning he passed on the first try, granting him a full scholarship to Marquette. But we also see Agee's family glumly walking around their apartment after the lights have been turned off because they couldn't afford to pay the electric bill. We see Gates, just a junior, playing with his new baby daughter, and later telling his mostly-absent father that he had already become a better one. Agee was on his way to leading his team to a state championship when
But perhaps the most moving scene of the movie is that of Agee's father, showing up suddenly after being missing for months, to the basketball court on the playground on which his son is playing. Shirtless and glassy eyes, he casually says hello to the son he hasn't seen for months, shoots a few jump shots, then walks to the far corner of the court, flashing cash at a drug dealer. It's this gritty realism that serves as another reason for this movie being the greatest ever.
Neither boy got their "Hollywood ending", with their hard work paying off in fame and fortune. While William went to Marshall, he was little more then a bit player. Agee went to Arkansas State and bounced around the minor leagues for a few years. But this movie isn't about giving the viewer a "feel good" moment, like most of the other movies on the list do. The harsh reality of growing up in a poor neighborhood, and the pitfalls. How the support, or lack of, can change the course of one's life. Of how things appear on the surface aren't always what they are in reality. And how some people will stop at nothing to achieve their dreams, and how sometimes, their dreams become their parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters, and the added pressure it puts on. But with all the layers of meaning, shatterring of stereotypes and assumptions, and gritty realism, the focus of the movie is squarely on basketball. Because of this, not only does Hoop Dreams belong in the conversation of greatest movies ever, it is without a doubt the greatest sports movie ever made. I implore of you, if you haven't seen it, do so. Forget the feel good, watered down, Hollywood re-writes. Do so by voting Hoop Dreams as the greatest sports movie of all-time.
