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Released by: VCI Entertainment
Released on: 11/8/2005
Director: Frank C. Schroder
Cast: Adam Guier, Millie Perkins, Nick Benedict, Murrell Garland, Tom Lester
Year: 1991
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The Movie:
For those not familiar with the man behind the story told in this 1991 bio-pic, 'Pistol' Pete Maravich was a five time NBA All Star player through the seventies and early eighties. He played for the Atlanta Hawks, then the New Orleans Jazz, then finally the Boston Celtics. He was one of the best of his day, and he earned his place in the NBA Hall Of Fame to which he was inducted in 1987, a year before he died an early death at the age of forty from a fatal heart attack.
Rather than focus on his NBA career, this film instead makes the interesting decision to follow him through his early years. Adam Guier plays the young Pete Maravich and when we first meet him, in 1959, he's not much to look at. He's a smaller kid, kind of scrawny, who really looks up to his father, Press (soap opera star Nick Benedict), who earns his living as a basketball coach since retiring from the NBA himself a few years prior. Pete's got basketball in his blood and Press couldn't be happier about it. Wasting no time schooling his son in the finer points of shooting hoops, it isn't long before Pete is literally carrying a basketball with him no matter where he goes.
Eventually the school coach (Murrell Garland) sees just how much Pete loves basketball and he decides to give the kid a shot at a place on the team despite the fact that being in the eighth grade makes him considerably younger than the other guys. Pete makes it despite the fact that the odds are a bit against him, but he soon finds out that his protégé status has not only earned him his place but also the jealousy and scorn of his fellow players. The older kids pick on him quite a bit and tend to get nasty with him whenever the coach isn't around and it gets to the point where Pete is starting to doubt if he really wants to follow through with his dreams of going pro or not.
While the performances are mediocre at best, The Pistol - The Birth Of A Legend is an entertaining movie with a good heart and, as completely hokey as it may sound, a nice inspirational message. Guier isn't the most convincing lead but he is pretty damn fancy with a ball and pulls off all kinds of tricks and difficult shots that would make the Harlem Globetrotters blush. On that level, he's convincing enough that the story works. Nick Benedict is decent enough to carry the film in the scenes he appears in, and the relationship that he has on screen with Guier is convincing and heartfelt.
While the movie isn't overly flashy, the basketball scenes are well shot and rather exciting. Director Frank C. Schroder does a good job with the pacing and with building tension during the game scenes, particularly towards the end once Pete has seemingly started to give up on himself. It isn't hard to get behind the little guy and root for him as he goes up against what most would consider fairly insurmountable odds, which makes the movie fun and entertaining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen isn't half bad on this release. Though there is some mild print damage and a few scenes exhibit a hefty bit of edge enhancement, color reproduction is solid and the black levels are reasonably strong. This isn't a reference quality picture but it serves the movie fine.
Check out the film in your choice of a new English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track or a funky Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo dubbed mix. The English track is the way to go for most viewers, and it's a pretty decent choice. The dialogue is clean and clear and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. Rear channels are used nicely to fill up the soundscape during the game scenes and some of the more action intensive moments.
Producers Darrell Campbell and Rodney Stone are on hand for a decent audio commentary that covers the origins of the film. They're both obviously fans of Pistol Pete and know his story inside and out, so it's interesting to hear their take on the movie and how it turned out versus the real life situations that inspired it. This is an enthusiastic track with some good information that fans of the movie will likely enjoy.
Aside from that, there's a trivia feature that gives us some interesting facts about Maravich's life and times, a fifteen minute documentary entitled Maravich Memories that covers the making of the movie and which contains some interesting anecdotes about the movie, and roughly fifteen minutes of outtakes and bloopers from the film. There's also a still gallery, animated menus, and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
I'm really not a fan of sports biography films at all so the fact that I found something of merit in The Pistol - The Birth Of A Legend says something in and of itself. Basketball junkies ought to enjoy the movie more than your average film buff but there's enough that works in the film that it makes for a decent time killer. VCI has done a nice job on the presentation and gone the extra mile in terms of supplements as well.