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!
This may seem disrespectful to Anfarnee “Penny” Hardaway, but while compiling our ballot we forgot about his role in “Blue Chips”. It was not that he did a bad job, as he was perfectly effective as Butch McRae, the Point Guard recruited by Nick Nolte whose mother received help from Western University boosters. However, when you think of the basketball performances in the film, McRae is a distant second to Shaquille O’Neal’s “Neon Boudeaux”, which coincidentally would foreshadow Hardaway being in the shadow of Shaq as a pro in Orlando. Come to think of it, when you think of Penny Hardaway’s career, often the first thing that comes to mind is “Lil Penny” the loud talking puppet in the shoe commercials. If he is overshadowed (and he was) by a puppet, is this a viable Hall of Fame candidate?
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