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Jamal Jeffries/Juwanna Mann
Aug 13, 2013
Published in
The Athletes
Sports movies (especially Basketball) often have the common theme of the superstar athlete who has no concept of teamwork, become humbled and learn that being part of a successful group is better than being a successful individual. You know the cliché how there is no “I” in team? Basically Juwanna Mann took this premise and merged it with Tootsie, where star (and selfish of course) player Jamal Jeffries is kicked out of the league, and with no other options (again echoing NBA stars, he squandered his money), he pretended to be a woman and joined the women’s league. Let the hilarity ensue.
Sadly for Miguel A. Nunez, who is not a bad actor, this was his only shot as a leading man. Sure he got to play across from Vivica A. Fox, but most of his scenes were in drag; and with unfunny material throughout the picture, you have a cinematic sports turkey. It should be safe to say we have seen the last of transvestite basketball players in the films….we hope.
Jackie Moon
Aug 13, 2013
Published in
The Athletes
Will Farrell was at his comedic best as Jackie Moon in Semi-Pro as the Owner/Power Forward of the 1976 ABA Flint Tropics. Moon was a bungling owner who was able to purchase the team based on the royalties of his hit single, “Love Me Sexy”, a song he stole from his mother three weeks before she died. Moon worked hard with various gimmicks (all with poor success) to draw crowds with the hope of bringing the team into 4th place, a position that was promised an NBA birth in the impending merge between the two American Professional Basketball Leagues.
On the court, Moon was not a great player, but in a dream he had while unconscious in halftime in the final game, he is given a play by his dead mother (Patti LaBelle), called the “Alley-Oop” which helps them win the game and finish fourth, (although the ABA would not grant small market Flint a merge into the NBA). The character would actually do beer commercials that year, and we wager that this film will remain a sports classic for years to come.
Hustler
Aug 13, 2013
Published in
The Athletes
Bernard King played a character named, “Hustler”, which was exactly what he was. As (we thought) the star player for Gabe Kaplan’s Cadwallader University squad, Hustler was to us the man granted some of the best lines in the film, and with his basketball pedigree (and the fact that he looked good here as an actor), we will go out on our limb and say this is our primary nominee for the 1970’s Basketball film you should have seen. Too bad, you probably did not!
Ed Monix
Aug 13, 2013
Published in
The Athletes
There was something a little strange seeing Woody Harrelson in Semi-Pro. It was not because we didn’t buy him as a Basketball player, as he proved it years before in White Man Can’t Jump, but he was the straight man, which was essentially the “sane” man in the Will Farrell vehicle. As Ed Monix, Harrelson was a washed up physically, though he continued to play at a pro level due to his high Hoops IQ. Monix may not have been the star, but a lot of his role comprised (leading man, de facto team leader) had first billing tendencies. Overall, Harrelson was the balance needed to Farrell’s goofiness, and the film would not have been the same without him.