blue chips

Director: william friedkin

Actor: nick nolte,mary mcdonnell,j.t. walsh,ed o'neill

Data Published: Fri Feb 18 1994

Genres: Drama,Sport

Key Words: college,basketball,athlete,college sports,college basketball

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109305/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Chips

Description: Blue Chips is a movie starring Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, and J.T. Walsh. A college basketball coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive.

Plot: Pete Bell, a college basketball coach for the Western University Dolphins in Los Angeles, is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning as often as it once did and his successful program needs to attract new star players and fast. But the brightest stars of the future—the so-called "blue-chip" prospects—are secretly being paid by other schools. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate after a losing season. A school booster, greedy "friend of the program" Happy, will stop at nothing to land these star high school players for Western's next season and gets the okay from the coach to do so. This includes giving a new car to the gigantic Neon Boudeaux, a house and job to the mother of Butch McRae and a tractor to the father of farmboy Ricky Roe, as well as a bag filled with cash. With sportswriter Ed suspecting a scandal, Pete continues to be contaminated by selfish demands from the players and a dirty association with the booster. His estranged wife, a former guidance counselor, agrees to tutor Neon, who has below average grades, but she feels betrayed when Pete lies to her about the new athletes receiving illegal inducements to attend the school. Pete comes to realize that one of his senior players, Tony, a personal favorite, had "shaved points" in a game his freshman season, conspiring to beat a gambling point spread. Pete is disgusted at what he and his program have become. Western University has a big nationally televised game coming up versus Indiana, the #1 team in the country, coached by Bob Knight. After winning the game, Pete cannot bear the guilt of having cheated. At a press conference, he confesses to the entire scandal and resigns as head coach. Leaving the press conference and the arena, Pete walks past a small playground with kids playing basketball—he approaches, then helps coaching them. An epilogue later reveals that the university would be suspended from tournament play for three years. Pete did continue to coach, but at the high school level; Tony graduated and played pro ball in Europe; Ricky Roe got injured and returned home to run the family farm, and Neon and Butch dropped out of college, but both now play in the NBA.