Hoop Dreams Review
By Christopher Null
Hoop Dreams was something different: A three-hour film that documented the lives of two underprivileged black youths, William Gates and Arthur Agee, both trying to make it from high school and street pick-up games to college and eventually professional basketball. Filmmakers Peter Gilbert, Steve James, and Frederick Marx followed these "hoop dreams" for five long years, cutting a mountain of footage into what has become one of cinema's most beloved and enduring documentaries. (At the time, it was the highest grossing doc ever.)
The film is suitably engrossing as a sports film -- assuming you like to watch basketball and lots of it -- but Hoop Dreams is, of course, a commentary on society, the poor, and the difficulty of making it to pro sports. These two kids have nothing going for them -- and in the film's most heartbreaking scene -- Arthur's dad interrupts a game with his son to complete a drug deal, which is all captured coldly on camera.
Today, documentaries almost always follow the Hoop Dreams template, living alongside their subjects rather than putting them on a pedestal. For that alone, Hoop Dreams is a watershed picture. It is, unfortunately, still outrageously long for a film filled with what ends up being simple metaphors, and it's frequently repetitious. Perhaps the bigger problem is that Gates and Agee never seem to understand that they're never going to make it. Agee, for example is still trying to launch a "Hoop Dreams" clothing line, 11 years after the movie. Dreams was breathtaking in its day; today it's starting to look a little tired as it runs into multiple overtimes.
The new Criterion edition features two commentary tracks, including one from a reunited Agee and Gates.
Facts and Figures
Year: 1994
Run time: 170 mins
In Theaters: Friday 14th October 1994
Box Office Worldwide: $7.8M
Budget: $700 thousand
Distributed by: Fine Line Features
Production compaines: Fine Line Features
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 4 / 5
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Fresh: 48 Rotten: 1
IMDB: 8.3 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: Steve James
Producer: Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Frederick Marx
Screenwriter: Steve James, Frederick Marx
Starring: William Gates as Himself, Arthur Agee as Himself, Steve James as Narrator
Also starring: Peter Gilbert, Frederick Marx