The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Pythons is a bad professional basketball team. Moses Guthrie (Julius Erving) is the highly paid star. The team does not get along and some openly want to be traded. Ballboy Tyrone Millman turns to astrologer Mona Mondieu (Stockard Channing). H. S. And Harvey Tilson (Jonathan Winters) are fighting brothers battling over the team. The situation is dire and they have an open tryout.

The lead acting comes from Julius Erving and a kid. The kid is a kid. Dr. J never won an acting award to the surprise of nobody. The astrology premise is mildly humorous for a second. Then it's a lot of new age gibberish. Whatever. The idea is open to the Major League storyline, but the movie does not spend any time on the other players. There isn't anything here other than basketball. It's a lot of basketball and none of it matters. Honestly, I'm only watching this for Dr. J and now I've seen it. This is most interesting for actual players playing the games.

The movie is goofy and campy with a bad script but I liked it. When I first saw this on TV I was picking out all the NBA stars from the various teams. This was filmed the year before Magic joined the Lakers who still had a few of their old castoffs like Hudson and Ford. A young Mychal Thompson knocks "Set Shot" into the scorers table.

Another commented on the short shorts players wore. Yes, this is how they wore them in those days. Unlike these ugly long skirts Michael Jordan brought into the league that players now wear.

The thing that bugs me most about this and other movies where a sport is being played is why the hell is the play-by-play guy heard throughout the arena????? I HATE when they do this. The sports stadium announcer only announces lineups, fouls, and substitutions - HE DOES NOT ANNOUNCE PLAYER ANALYSIS, STRATEGIES OR PERSONAL POINTS OF VIEW TO THE CROWD OVER THE LOUDSPEAKERS!!!!

I haven't seen this movie in almost 2 decades. I saw it as a young adolescent growing up in Pennsylvania. Nonetheless its still one of my favorites. I can't tell ya why....its simply a story of magic and a boy who has smartz and more importantly a belief in others and all. I'll wait for the DVD to see it again....even if i have to wait a couple more decades.

I was actually an extra in this movie, one of the worst sports movies ever made. I only did one day's worth of work and it was one of the most boring things I've ever experienced. I'm in the scene where someone supposedly puts helium in the basketballs and they float to the top of the Civic Arena. A crane (out of camera range) had thin wires attached to the balls. The director took about 10 takes of the scene. I thought I would lose my mind, trying to act surprised every time the balls "floated." When I saw the film I was shocked at how little screen time the shot got, but not as shocked at how bad the whole movie was. With a cast as good as it has you'd think they could save it, but the script was so bad even the great Stockard Channing couldn't help!

I was also a teenage extra when this film was shooting. However, at 14 I was memorized by all the star fested personalities. I along with two other teens lucked up and got a speaking part that ran two days. My part is right after the scene where the Pisces win the game, Dr. J comes out of the arena, three female fans are waiting, and two ask for his autograph, I say I will settle for a kiss. How lame. Wow, And yes the director took many takes to choose from before the scene ended.

However, I remember having lunch on the set, I had choice between roast duck or swordfish, I choose the duck. That's when I meet Debbie Allen (Ola) who was very nice and helpful she had such a beautiful spirit about her. Jack Kehoe (Set shot) was also kind to me on the set. I say that because as a 14-year-old impressionable girl these two people showed sincere genuine kindness. Now, not all the people on the set were nice, so I want to acknowledge those that were, it meant so much to me at the time. I never will forget you or the director. I appreciated his vision, which went far past the movie. I believe by including the extras, he exposed young people to something that would have only remained a dream.

In addition, the scenery of our fair city shot both during the day and the night was just beautiful. Even now watching the movie, someone yell's that's our city bridge, or I've been on that basketball court. The city looked beautiful on the big screen.

YES, the movie was a FLOP but my experience was not! My kids still get a kick out of seeing their mom as a teenager on National TV.

Sam