Hey check out tonights Nightline-"Hoops Dreams" follow up

[AlCzervik]

If you haven't seen Hoop dreams you really should, it was a great documentary.


NIGHTLINE: Hoop Dreams

April 29, 2005



In our business, like any other, when you see somebody do what you do so well -- nearly perfectly -- you are admiring but also a little jealous. That's the way so many of us in the news or documentary businesses felt when we saw the film "Hoop Dreams" just over 10 years ago. A small slice of life, told with precision, integrity and clarity, opening a window on an American story. It is the story of basketball as redemption and the crushing reality of some very slim odds.

"Hoop Dreams" is quite simply a great film -- rent it, if you haven't seen it. Film critic Roger Ebert led a campaign to get the film nominated for an Oscar when it was first released, calling it as good as any of the films up for best picture, even though it was a documentary.

"Hoop Dreams" is the story of two Chicago teenagers, Arthur Agee and William Gates, and their dreams of achieving the highest level of basketball fame, like their idol, the neighborhood boy who turned into an NBA superstar, Isiah Thomas. If they suspected that NBA stardom would be beyond their grasp, they at least dreamed of earning college scholarships.

"Hoop Dreams" begins with young Arthur and William, each recruited to enroll and play basketball at the same private Chicago-area high school that Isiah Thomas attended. Through the years that the filmmakers followed William and Arthur and their families, we see how reality intrudes on those dreams.

In many ways, Arthur and William were the first "reality stars." So we wondered, with reality stars being turned into celebrities and millionaires these days, how have Arthur and William fared? How have their Hoop Dreams turned out?

Tonight, "Nightline's" Dave Marash and producer Artis Waters catch up with Arthur and William, their families, and the "Hoop Dreams" filmmakers. Basketball is still a huge part of their lives. And they still have dreams -- but NBA superstardom isn't one of them.

We hope you'll join us.

Sara Just and the "Nightline" Staff
ABC News' "Nightline"
Washington Bureau

[Marnieworld]

1. I LOVED that movie

I bet I still have the tape somewhere. It was so excellent and it really made you fall in love with these kids. I never ever looked at basketball or professional sports the same way again. How many of these people are out there that put so much hope into those "dreams" not to have them fufilled. It's also such a commentary on how sports and entertainment is still the prime way out of AA poverty or at least in some minds it is. Thanks for the heads-up. I've always wondered about what happened to them. I thought at least one of them would make it to the NBA.

[AlCzervik]

2. me too, the filmmaker did a follow up a year or 2 after

Hoop dreams came out but nothing since then.

[stanwyck]

3. Thanks! Wonderful movie

and enlightening. Very. The images I remember most are: Arthur getting up at the crack of dawn to get on a bus that would take him miles away to a suburban Catholic school so he could play basketball...and his completely profane coach who would suddenly shift gears and hustle the boys into a huddle to pray.
And William's mother tearing up when her son was getting ready to leave home for college.
I really appreciate the tip on tonight's Nightline Hoop Dreams redux.

[AlCzervik]

4. kick for the night shift.