White Men Can't Jump
All actors and roles (10)
All team (59)
Short description
Two basketball hustlers who work the outdoor courts of Los Angeles in search of easy money are the focus of this film. Billy Hoyle, a former college player, makes a living by letting opponents underestimate him because he is white, then beating them on the court. Sidney Deane, a gifted street player with a loud mouth, is one of the men who takes the bait. The two clash before recognizing that they can take in more money working as a pair than they ever could alone, though their partnership is complicated by Billy's debts and by Sidney's habit of looking out for himself first.
Ron Shelton directed and wrote the film, which followed his Bull Durham and came three years before the start of the next film in his directing career. Woody Harrelson plays Billy and Wesley Snipes plays Sidney, with Rosie Perez as Gloria, Tyra Ferrell as Rhonda, Cylk Cozart as Robert and former player Marques Johnson as Raymond. Produced by 20th Century Fox, it cost around 31 million dollars and took about 91 million worldwide.
On IMDb, the film sits at 6.8 from roughly 105,000 votes, and on TMDB it has a 6.7 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 6.4 from 107 reviews places it close to, though slightly below, what general audiences gave it.
What's left behind the scenes
- At the beginning of the film, a hip-hop version of the 20th Century Fox studio musical sting plays over the studio's logo.
- A computer game for the Atari Jaguar exists based on the film.
- Future NBA Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton appears in the film as an extra playing basketball.
- Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. appears in the film in the crowd at a game.
- Freeman Williams, who played Duke Johnson in the film, had a successful career in the NBA. He played for the Clippers (LA Clippers), Jazz (Utah Jazz), and Bullets (Washington Bullets) for 8 years (1978-86).
- Mel Brooks’s “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” includes a parody of “Basketball is a Black Man’s Game,” where Robin Hood attempts to jump onto a horse and falls, and the Moor Acho laughs, “Friend, white men can’t jump!”
- The “Foods Beginning with Q” category was used on the quiz show Jeopardy! in October 1997.
- Bob Lanier, a legend of the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, served as a basketball coach during the filming of the movie. He was impressed by the level of play from Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, which he felt was consistent with US college basketball.
- Freeman Williams played in the NBA from 1978 to 1986. He played for the San Diego Clippers, Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks, and Washington Bullets.
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