'He Got Game' at 15: Ray Allen's 'Jesus' moment
OPINION - Fifteen years ago today, He Got Game set a blueprint for how basketball films should be made. The player was Ray Allen. His father was Denzel Washington...
Smith’s scene with Allen midway through the film is undoubtedly one of the movie’s highlights. ‘Big Time’ schools Jesus on the pitfalls and perils other hoop stars have faced while trying to make it out of Brooklyn and to the pros. (Drugs, girls, gangs.)
“Before we even went in the car, we ran the scene many times and we improvised quite frequently,” Smith said. “[Allen] was able to flow with that.”
Smith, who is currently performing a one-man show based on the life of Rodney King at Los Angeles’ Bootleg Theater, credits director Spike Lee and Hollywood acting coach Susan Batson for preparing Allen to “shine.”
Allen agrees.
“[Batson] helped me understand what I was trying to accomplish and inform me when I looked good, if it read well and also told me when I did poorly,” Allen said. “She kept me in line. Spike and Denzel were the ones who told me to just be myself and to stay focused like I do in basketball.”
Not ‘Oscar-worthy,’ but impressive
Film critic and columnist Richard Roeper called Ray Allen’s acting debut “probably the best performance by an athlete in the last 25 years in a mainstream movie.”
Allen recently revealed to Fox Sports he’s interested in more acting gigs after his NBA days are done:
“It’s just something that’s going to keep me busy and something that can challenge you and keep you focused on a daily basis […].”
“I haven’t been able to find the time. That took my whole summer (of 1997 after his Milwaukee Bucks had failed to make the playoffs). Now, I’ve been playing in the playoffs. Mostly, you go into June and that time is so limited.”
Last year, He Got Game landed top billing in Dime Magazine’s countdown of the top basketball movies of all time.
“Honestly, no other hoop flick deserves this spot,” wrote the hoop magazine’s senior editor senior Sean Sweeney. “It perfectly mixes the temptations and accolades of what it means to be the best player in the country.”
The film’s final scene, where Allen plays Denzel one-on-one, is a captivating end to a film as much about father and son struggles as basketball highlights.
Allen was in his comfort zone. Finally, a clear on-screen advantage over Washington.
“What you looking around for?” Jesus asks after pummeling his father to a convincing victory. “That’s game, 11-5…Jake.”
It’s no surprise Allen got the best of Washington in the end — but holding his own in a feature film with no experience?
That’s game.
Follow theGrio’s Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj
