The Basketball Diaries (1995)

• Year: 1995
• Released: 21 Apr 1995
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112461/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/The_Basketball_Diaries
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-basketball-diaries
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
• Runtime: 102 min
• Writer: Jim Carroll, Bryan Goluboff
• Director: Scott Kalvert
• Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Marilyn Sokol
• Keywords: new york city, sports, drugs, 1960s, friends,

	7.3/10
	46/100

The Basketball Diaries Storyline

Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll’s epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim’s life centers around the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach (“Swifty”) who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an unhealthy appetite for heroin — all of these begin to encroach on young Jim’s dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother’s mounting concern for her son. He can’t go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim “picked up a game” now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity.

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The Basketball Diaries Movie Reviews

Very Good Biography/Film

I like the casting. DiCaprio is brilliant, and Mark Wahlberg as well. Juliette Lewis is perfect, as well as Ernie Hudson. Bruno Kirby is terrific as the sexually deviant (child molester) basketball coach.

On the downside, the screenplay is far from what Jim Carroll wrote. As a reformed hard core opiate addict myself, I truly know exactly what Carroll felt. For me, the best scene is when Jim (DiCaprio) is dope-sick outside his mother’s door; what he immediately realizes is his former home. The worst? The first time he shoots heroin. Except for the “warm feeling” (an oral description), it so much more than what is shown on the screen.

For me, especially very strong pharmaceutical opiates (and heroin), were like a warm blanket settling all over me. Plus having sex, shooting a machine gun, and screaming through all the gears to red line in a Ferrari; the mid-engine roaring right behind your head: all at the same time! That is what it feels like; the first few times. Eventually it gets worse; worse than anyone can possibly imagine; who has not lived (or died) through withdrawals, as I have.

Jim Carroll, who wrote the autobiography this film is based upon, got clean and became very famous as a writer (for a while); he is cast in the film, too. Andy Warhol took him under his wing, which is what helped his career; enormously. Unfortunately, Carroll died at age 60. All things considered, not bad. I am almost 65, and should have died over 35 years ago. I am grateful.

Basketball and Dope

The Basketball Diaries is the story of the true experiences of Jim Carroll, underground poet and entertainer, and how he overcame drug addiction to become what he is today. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of Carroll. The film is not for the squeamish and it has the best drug withdrawal scenes since Frank Sinatra did Man With The Golden Arm.

We first meet Leo with his friends Mark Wahlberg, Patrick McGaw, and James Maddio as a group of delinquent Catholic school kids. They all play basketball and they all are constantly in trouble. DiCaprio is your kid with all the teen angst and self conscious about his lower class status. His mother, Lorraine Bracco, works as a chambermaid in some swank Manhattan hotel and I’m sure she parts with some big bucks to see her kid gets a Catholic school education. There’s no father in the picture.

But drugs of all kinds are available and the whole group of them get hooked with the exception of McGaw who breaks with his friends. The title is based on the notebook diary writings that DiCaprio keeps. Eventually they’re published and Carroll is acclaimed and still today as a writer who speaks to young people today.

Leo and the rest of the cast give some terrific performances. It’s easy to see why he and Mark Wahlberg became the stars they have with this film. Also Bruno Kirby as the closeted gay basketball coach who misreads DiCaprio’s mind and comes on to him is also a standout.

The Basketball Diaries hopefully if seen by some of the young will serve as a ‘scared straight’ guide to saying no to drugs. This film really does show the horrible consequences of a destructive drug habit and the fact it can be beaten and one can live a most useful life.

lacks tension

Catholic schoolboy Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives with his mother (Lorraine Bracco). He’s the brash leader of his friends Pedro (James Madio), Neutron (Patrick McGaw) and Mickey (Mark Wahlberg) sniffing glue and causing trouble. They play winning basketball for their lecherous coach Swifty (Bruno Kirby). His best friend Bobby (Michael Imperioli) is dying of leukemia. He plays neighborhood ball with Reggie (Ernie Hudson). He starts to do cocaine and then heroin which sends him down a very dark road.

The movie seems to take place in both the present day and somewhere in the 60s. That conflicted feel along with the poetic diary entries create a surreal dreamlike vibe. It takes the tension out of the movie and limits the immediacy. Leo and everybody do a good job. Leo’s star power shines and keeps the movie interesting. However, I just don’t feel a sense of danger from this dark coming-of-age movie.