User reviews

This movie is very underrated, it hasn't gotten nearly the credit it deserves. I thought it was very well done, although it wasn't perfect, it was still very good. It is the first movie to talk about a problem that is very prominent in todays colleges and their methods of recruiting. The film is very well written and Nick Nolte does a great, great job playing the conflicted coach.

Nick Nolte plays a college University basketball coach forced to break the rules in order to stay competitive. He deals with guilt and struggles internally with something he has always been against.

What a surprise Blue Chips was, expecting a below par sports movie (based on reviews) but found a thought provoking and entertaining 110 minutes. To begin with it hits the normal sports movie beats but just when you think the drama is going one way, suddenly it doesn't and that only adds realism to the action.

William Friedkin does an excellent job in creating a tense and real life atmosphere, almost documentary style at least during the game-play scenes that makes you feel fully immersed. It's clear Friedkin and co have thoroughly researched this area and you get a sense of that while watching. The use of real life Basketball players and coaches adds to the authenticity.

During the drama the film deals with the shady dealings that no doubt goes on in American sports at college level (It's a massive deal, where careers and futures are made). A story of greed, cheating and pressure to win. Nolte is great in the role and gets to show off his soft side while also providing his well known manic style. Blue Chips really is an under-rated film although not perfect it deserves to be more well known.

Blue Chips was a movie that was at least a decade ahead of its time, and its story is more relevant today than when the movie came out. It presents a question that other sports movies, including amateur sports movies, haven't explored. Namely, why should you bother to follow the rules when cheating is already widespread? Is it wrong to cheat if that's what it takes to compete? Is widespread cheating in amateur athletics the inevitable result of fans' obsession with winning? This movie would seem to suggest that the answers to those last two questions are "no" and "yes". Almost every other sports movie of the past 50 years has had some kind of uplifting ending, but this one ends mostly on a downer.

Nick Nolte plays a college basketball coach, coaching at a major California basketball school (which might as well be UCLA), clearly modeled after Bobby Knight. He's a hot-tempered, aging and increasingly frustrated, old-school guy whose record has slipped in recent years. A shady booster enters the picture, trying to convince him that if he wants to be on top again, he has to start playing "the game" with recruits. He has to start making deals. Coach Nolte is initially hostile to the guy, but after it looks like he's going to get shut out of getting three huge recruits, he reluctantly changes his mind. Nolte gives an excellent performance in this movie. Everything that he does in the movie, whether it's angry tantrums against refs or the occasional dose of humor, he does well. He is convincing as a guy who just wants to mold student-athletes and coach the game that he loves. The speech that he gives at the end is priceless.

The more I read about recruiting, especially basketball recruiting, the more I feel like I need to take a shower. This movie perfectly captures the sleaze of the sport during its recruiting scenes. There's the scum bag "deal maker" mother, who tries to peddle her influence to the highest bidder. There is the superstar white kid, who recognizes his value and demands a huge pile of cash. One kid eventually gets a new car. The movie ultimately presents a pretty revolting picture of college athletics, and if you have followed the scandals at places like Auburn, you know that it is pretty accurate.

This movie could have been a failure, but it has that one important trait that all great sports movies have. It was made with a genuine love and respect for the sport. There is a lot of basketball porn in this movie, perhaps even too much. There are scenes that show Nolte coaching Xs and Os. The coaches yell out a bunch of terminology during practices and games, as opposed to 95% of sports movies, where coaches never sound like actual coaches. Blue Chips tries to be one of the more realistic sports movies ever made, and it largely succeeds. It perhaps goes a little too far though with the basketball porn, showing tons and tons of slam dunks and three pointers. If you watch this movie, you would get the impression that 90% of the scoring in basketball is due to these two plays. It also has a somewhat annoying appearance by Dick Vitale, which serves no purpose except to remind you that you are watching a basketball movie. The movie also shoehorns a few too many current basketball stars into it. That might have made it sell better at the time, but do you really care now whether Penny Hardaway and Bobby Hurley appear in it? (And Hurley plays for Indiana in this movie – LULZ).

The worst part about this movie, ultimately, is the casting of the basketball stars in it. Namely, Shaquille O'Neal, who can't act his way out of a paper bag. To make matters worse, they give his character the most interesting background story, that of a Gulf War veteran with a "Black power, we shall overcome" type attitude. He's awful. He's really awful. It's as if he had a part written for Ice Cube or Denzel Washington, but then the studio decided that they needed a big name star in the case. He doesn't have many lines, but the ones that he has are not good.

Blue Chips is one of those sports movies that you should see at least once. It's unlikely that you will remember it amongst the best that you have seen, but if you follow college athletics, you should at least find it interesting. Blue Chips shows us the hypocrisy of college athletics, and the seemingly futile endeavor of trying to keep money out of the hands of athletes. It is though provoking, albeit a bit preachy. Given the current debates about whether we should be paying players, this movie is now more relevant than it ever has been.

"Blue Chips" is a vastly under-rated sports film which deals with the shady dealings of colleges and their players. Nick Nolte plays a college basketball coach who is so desperate to return to his glory days that he breaks the rules by giving his newest recruits (Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Matt Nover) basically anything they and their families want. School alumnus J.T. Walsh is the catalyst to these shady dealings and now the college has a winning team again, but at what price? "Blue Chips" is another one of William Friedkin's films that is much deeper than it first appears on the surface. With the exception of "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist", this is his finest film as a director. His documentary-style makes you feel as if you are in on all the action. Numerous parts are played by real basketball players and coaches, adding a great bit of realism to the story. "The French Connection" benefited from this style by having real cops in key roles and "The Exorcist" did the same having priests play themselves. Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Matt Nover do surprisingly well with the material. They are all three-dimensional characters and shine throughout the film. However with that said, it is Nick Nolte who is the primary factor that makes the film well worth while. Far from perfect, but still a very good movie. 4 out of 5 stars.

This isn't a bad movie at all. Considering the scandals that have come to light about college athletes receiving cars, houses, money, etc. this film has even more relevance today than it did when it first came out.

To see a Shaquille O'Neal full of potential and natural talent (yet not yet spoiled by his own success) is a thrill - even for a Kings fan. His acting isn't the point; it's the few scenes that show him actually playing basketball that are worth watching for.

Yes, I would admit that this movie is not THE greatest basketball movie of all time. I suppose Hoosiers would get that title. The only real pet-peave I had is that the basketball players such as Penny, Shaq, and Matt are not exactly Shakespearean actors. Of course, their athletic ability is perfect for their parts and the movie covers their acting deficiencies enough with plenty of playing scenes including numerous dunks by Shaq. I'm a huge college b-ball fan and the cameos including Pitino, Knight, Tark, and Dicky V give the movie a better sense of realism. Knight was certainly great at playing himself, which involves yelling-cursing at the players and refs. Nick Nolte makes this movie, however. He comes off thoroughly convincing as a veteran college coach who is facing the twilight of his career and considers illegal recruiting tactics to get a winning team again. The series of the movie with his recruiting visits is the best part. He did a great job at kissing up to the players and parents. Now is this movie realistic? I don't know for sure, but it was still entertaining and fun to watch nonetheless.

Nick Nolte carries the movie and Mary McDonnell is great in a supporting role. It's not just a film for those who follow hoops or hate the inexplicable incompetence of the NCAA, it's also a story about the human condition.

I am not a basketball fan. Instead, I am an oddball..a bad movie buff. While I do NOT watch a steady diet of lousy pictures, every so often I watch some god-awful movies. I have seen all 50 bad films from Harry Medved's great book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" as well as 96 of the current Bottom 100 on IMDB. And, while "Blue Chips" is not on any of these bad films list it has something which does interest me....Shaquille O'Neal. While he seems like a nice guy in real life, Shaquille has a long, sorry track record of incredibly bad films....such as "Kazaam", "Steel" , "Jack and Jill", "Scary Movie IV" and "Freddy Got FIngered". In fact, while I don't blame him completely, as he's first and foremost a basketball star, few, if any, can match his sad record in films.

In this basketball flick, in addition to O'Neal, you've got some other huge stars...Penny Hardaway, Marques Johnson and an older basketball great, Bob Cousy (who STILL is a great shot even at his age). In small roles are Jerry Tarkanian, Larry Bird, Bobby Knight and a few others. This is reason enough to see this movie....as well as to watch Nick Nolte play an interesting role as a college basketball coach...and it's one of Nolte's best performances.

So why, in particular, is Coach Bell (Nolte) so angry and upset this particular season? Well, for the first time ever he's in danger of coaching a team with a losing record. Sick of seeing the best recruits going to other college programs, Bell is intent on bringing in some new and very talented blood into the program. Much of the film consists of him traveling the country, interviewing prospects and doing everything he can to hook them for his team. The problem is that there is a LOT of pressure for him to cheat and bend the rules....as it seems like everybody is doing it to get the best recruits.

The film is an excellent case study of the ugly side of college sports. And, as the film seems to say, 'everybody's doing it'....which seems likely. I appreciated this plot very much...and Nick Nolte really blew me away with his acting. He was clearly at his best here. Also, it was nice to see Shaquille O'Neal...his acting seemed natural and likable. Overall, a surprisingly good film that exceeded my expectations....and I am not sure why it only has an overall score of 6.2 at this time.

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"Blue Chips" was one of at least four basketball movies that came out in 1994:

"Hoop Dreams"

"The Air Up There"

"Above the Rim"

"Blue Chips"

They all approached the game of basketball from different angles. "Hoop Dreams" was a documentary, "The Air Up There" was about a college coach recruiting in Africa, "Above the Rim" was about streetball tournaments, while "Blue Chips" focused on college and the pressures to win in college.

Nick Nolte played Pete, a D1 college basketball coach in the mold of a Bob Knight. He was used to winning and winning the right way. After his first losing season ever he felt pressure to get the top recruits in the country--which meant using money.

It was clear that Pete didn't want to cheat, but I imagine he was like a utility player in baseball struggling to make a roster when all the high paid players around him are taking steroids. Sure, it's the right thing to abstain from cheating, but look at everyone around me doing exceptionally well who are cheating.

I won't pretend to know how backroom deals are done within the college ranks between boosters, coaches, and players, but if they're as open, matter-of-fact, and clumsy as they were depicted in this movie then it's a wonder anyone gets away with it.

I liked "Blue Chips" for the accuracy with coaching, coach behavior, the pressure to win in college, and even the realistic style of play. I grimaced at the open requests for money by the athletes and the sinister bad guy role of the main booster, Happy (J.T. Walsh). So, as for the basketball movies of 1994, "Blue Chips" ranks third for me--below "The Air Up There" and above "Above the Rim."

Blue Chips - starting such wasted talent as Nick Nolte! Not to mention such all star actors as Shaquille O'Neal. From the get-go, it is not the smartest of movies, but it did have its fair share of entertaining value as the movie progressed. I thought Shaq would be a dismal actor, but he came to play, or at least more than Nolte did. I felt Nolte and his character were wildly out of control, not balanced with the movie, and simply not quality. I clearly understand that his character is a wild individual, but the odd mood swings, and multi-persona touch that he added to the character was weird and distracting.

Props to Shaq for dunking nearly continously during the film - once again showing that his shooting range is typically 2-3 inches. A shame too, because the movie highlight this stereotype and runs with it. Penny was alright, but in this day in age, where is his almost a forgotten player, it was more of a nostalgia to watch him in the movie.

Overall, the movie sucked. The moral plot was weak, and there was little else to the content of the film. By far the worst part was the ended which gives rather weak explanations of what happens post-ending.

5/10 stars for some decent basketball footage, and a different type of basketball movie. But it lacks five stars for poor plot, acting, and a sloppy ending which tries to tie together a bunch of moral stuff without much success.

I'm not a big sports movie guy, so I went into this not really expecting much other than killing 90 some minutes. I loved it! To see the struggle of a school and coach as they attempt to create a legit winning team in an environment of corruption was interesting. Then when they join that corruption it becomes exciting, you just know it's gonna blowup some time. Nick Nolte carries this film throughout it's entirety, and amazingly the real life players do a great job of acting and the rest of the cast is perfect. I love how they took real players and coaches and brought them into this film, it fits perfectly. The last 35 minutes of this film is brilliant. I've seen many people here talk of how bad this film is, I wonder if they just don't care about sports that much like myself, or have some underlying bias about admitting the corruption exists and always has in much of college sports. I don't care for sports! But I loved this film. The ratings this film gets on here really ticks me off, what is it, a 5.5 star average? I've learned one thing on here and other review sites, if you let others judge for you, you'll miss a lot of good movies.

Many college basketball coaches find themselves in a seemingly inescapable predicament. If they fail to win, they face dismissal; yet winning often hinges on attracting top talent. To recruit these exceptional players, coaches might feel pressured to offer illegal incentives. But if caught, the consequences are dire. This creates a vicious cycle.

The film largely unfolds from the perspective of Nolte's character, who is crafted as a deeply relatable figure from the outset. He has never cheated the recruitment rules and has no desire to start now, but he finds himself cornered with no viable options.

While the movie features some basketball action, it transcends the typical sports narrative by focusing not just on the outcome of the big game, but on the ethics of how that outcome is achieved. It presents a moral tale, grounded in the harsh realities of modern high-performance college athletics.

If you know the doings of Bobby Knight, then you'll quickly notice that coach Pete Bell is modeled after the IU legend. Even down to the kicking the basketball in the stands. His "teaching" of the games, emphasis on defense, and heretofore clean program could have been lifted from "Season on the Brink" by John Feinstein. And if you enjoy seeing Tark the Shark, Jim Boeheim, Bob Cousy, and even Knight himself, you will like this film. If you are looking for continuity, character development, and basically a reason for filming this monstrosity of a jock movie,then you will be disappointed. True, it was filmed in Indiana, my native state. True, Larry Bird makes a cameo appearance but the rest of it is so clichéd that you'll wonder why the screenwriters didn't inject a bit of originality. This type of story has been done dozens of times previously and it could work again. But when the producers are overly reliant on big name sports stars and lame acting from all, you have a very predictable flick that is good for little more than killing 90 minutes of tube time.

Pete Bell is a college basketball coach. He's under pressure to win and is under pressure to get the players by any means necessary. How will he stand up to the pressure or will he give in to pressure?

Basketball movies are often the `weak team overcomes' type and are not exactly great. Some are good (Hoosiers) but most are mildly distracting at best (The air up there), few reach the heights of Hoop Dreams. However Blue Chips is good because it manages to cast a critical eye over the real world of college ball – there are no small town winners, there are no `kids with hearts of gold' etc – instead it is as much a business as the NBA and the stakes are high to get the best players.

Bell shows us how he must juggle doing what's right but also doing what the players want in order to get a winning team. This is refreshing – rather than yet another sports movie with the same old cliches. The down side is that it doesn't go far enough in my mind and it doesn't offer solutions.

Nolte is good and is really convincing as a coach – even if he's a bit OTT at times on the sidelines. His support is great in the form of McDonnell, Walsh, Woodard and the real players of Shaq and Penny do OK. The cast is also filled out with plenty of coaches, commentators and such from real life – so there's plenty to see.

Overall this is one of my favourite basketball movies simply because it tells it like it is – even if it does have it's weaknesses.

While the story was rather interesting, it seemed like it was too sensationalized for it own good. Unfortunately, in a movie about basketball players, one cannot find 7-foot actors, which meant Shaq O'Neal was one of the few people who could fill the role. This entire film tries to hard, accentuating points too harshly, and showing how corrupt the entire system in a manner that doesn't appear believable. I will say this, Nick Nolte really embodies the uber-Bobby Knight character, and what happened to Matt Nover? He was clearly the only good actor amongst all of the basketball players in the film.

Pete Bell (Nick Nolte) is the hard-pressed college basketball coach of Western University running a seemingly clean program. Reporter Ed (Ed O'Neill) has been hounding him about an alleged point shaving incident four years ago. He has his first losing season after winning a few championships. He pushes his team to recruit harder. Butch McRae (Penny Hardaway)'s mother Lavada (Alfre Woodard) wants to be compensated. Farm boy Ricky Roe is more interested in girls. Neon Boudeaux (Shaq) traveled a winding road under the recruiters' radar and scored horribly with his SAT. Pete uses his ex-wife Jenny (Mary McDonnell) as his tutor. His idealism is constantly being worn away by school booster Happy (J.T. Walsh).

Nick Nolte holds this together as much as possible. There are many cameos. It's overloaded and some of it is unnecessary. There's no point in having Larry Bird. The movie has so much already. It could trim some of the extras. It has to tighten the first act because it is still waiting to introduce the new players. It's not until midpoint when Shaq finally shows up. Shaq doesn't deserve his Razzie. He's got natural charisma. It's also hard to make this team an underdog with Shaq around. The college ball corruption discussion can be overwrought but I'm fine with that.

On this one, I feel like Barney Stinson from "How I Met Your Mother," where a running gag was that Barney considered the baddies in movies to be the good guys--basically the premise for the "Cobra Kai" reworking of "The Karate Kid" series. So, in "Blue Chips," we have a booster named "Happy" played menacingly by perennial-villain J. T. Walsh who encourages Nick Nolte's impersonation of an artless coach Bob Knight type to pay the college basketball team's "blue chip" recruits under the table. Nolte's coach Pete Bell even scoffs at Happy's argument that the players deserve compensation for making them rich, and he inevitably has a crisis of conscience--because heaven forbid a few of the best players be paid a pittance for the billions-of-dollars business they perform in and including making college-sports coaches, such as the fictional one here who throws tantrums in the locker room--screaming in their faces and throwing stuff--the highest paid state employees in parts of the United States. If there's a hero in "Blue Chips," it's not coach Bell; it's Happy.

The NCAA is a racket, and "Blue Chips" is at its best when it seems to explore that corruption, but when it goes all Pollyanna about the supposed purity of a game and weepy over breaking the rules where unpaid young adults entertain and are distracted from doing any actual studying for huge, crowded stadiums--bigger than the high-school one they used for filming here--and for TV and in between commercials to make coaches, executives and, perhaps, even gamblers millionaires, it's nauseating. Recently, the real NCAA has been forced to allow student athletes some compensation, so at least now they may be underpaid above board. Happy vindicated, I suppose.

As for the basketball, my favorite sport by the way, it certainly benefits from featuring actual basketball players, including NBA stars Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway, the latter of whom is said to have been traded for by O'Neal's Orlando Magic based on their relationship working on this film. But, the hoop scenes here do suffer from the appearance of seemingly just being recordings of them playing impromptu scrimmage games in high-school gymnasiums to later be edited into a semblance of stories of supposed games. The rest of the film, however, doesn't benefit at all from, in particular, O'Neal's mugging. This isn't "Inside the NBA" on TNT; someone edit out this cutesy giant schtick for the cutting-room floor. And what's the point of epilogue text for what happened to the coach and players when it's a fictional story? It just looks hackneyed and stupid, as does much of the rest of "Blue Chips."

Nick Nolte is Outstanding in his portrayal of a frustrated, ambitious basketball coach in 'Blue Chips'. The legendary actor, who's had a career full of amazing performances, tops himself, yet again with his portrayal here.

'Blue Chips' Synopsis: A college basketball coach is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive.

'Blue Chips' is an interesting watch. Ron Shelton's Screenplay is grasping and often-confounding. It depicts a human-story, full of human-emotions and it gives Nolte ample score to the anchor the film. William Friedkin's Direction is super .

Performance-Wise: Nolte is the life of the show. He's in complete command and holds the film from start to end. Its amongst his greatest performances, that proves us once again, what a firebrand Nolte is!

On the whole, 'Blue Chips' works and Nolte doesn't miss a single beat.

On its own, William Friedkin's "Blue Chips" has stood the test of time, focusing on a basketball coach who hopes to break his losing streak by cheating in his hiring practices. Nick Nolte's first scene - where he berates his team for their poor performance - makes you feel like you're walking on eggshells.

And then there's Shaquille O'Neal, making his film debut as one of the recruits. Shaq puts on a good performance, but his recent drift into anti-scientific mumbo jumbo (he believes the earth to be flat) makes his presence here less enjoyable.

Aside from that it's a good movie, with some impressive scenes of basketball games. Quite a different turn from the director of "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist".

This movie could have potentially been based on a true story. The plot of the movie was unlike any other basketball or sports movie. Also the casting of actual NBA players like Penny Hardaway and Shaq was brilliant by the director. They both played great parts in this movie as highly recruited blue chip basketball players and fit perfectly within the plot. This movie was also unique in the regards that it featured other universities like Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. Although this movie was a great movie overall , i feel it could have had a better ending. The ending of the movie was pretty weak and was the only downfall of this movie. However I still believe that this is one of the best basketball movies of all time and there will never be a movie like this again.

Blue Chips is a sports drama film, directed by William Friedkin. The film stars Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, Ed O'Neill, J. T. Walsh, Alfre Woodard and Shaquille O'Neal.

A successful coach tries unconventional method to improve his team's line up after his team starts loosing.

The film is not that bad as the reviews suggest infact the film is entertains. The film tells the story of an under pressure coach who adopts unconventional method just to make sure that his team wins and Nick Nolte has been superb in his character.

The plot of the film is good and execution is decent. The screenplay of the film is good but could've been better. Acting by Nick Nolte is tremendous and he does a great job. Climax of the film is also good.

A good sports drama film.

Blue Chips, for a sports movie, was very well done and well put together. Pete Bell, played by Nolte, is a Bob Knight style coach at Western University, a fictitous university in LA (think UCLA). After a few sub-par seasons, he has his first losing season as head coach and to keep up with the other big programs (think Kentucky and Michigan), he needs to recruit some top players, or blue chips, to come to Western. Strictly against under the table recruiting, Bell is forced to make a tough decision. Recruit good but not great players and perhaps lose his job due to losing as head coach, or go after the top 10 recruits to keep his job and start winning again. The movie plays out well and supporting actors, JT Walsh and Shaq, give solid performances. As for the basketball action itself, this movie probably has the best game sequences I have ever seen in a movie, with real college players filling as extras. There is also a load of cameos, including Rick Pitino, Dick Vitale and Larry Bird to name a few. Blue Chips is a solid movie and a very good sports movie.

The vicissitudes of winning or losing a game and doing the best you can to be successful at it whether playing clean or pulling some dirty tricks are what makes of "Blue Chips" an nice film whose main character played by Nick Nolte has to fight against the odds of losing another championship for another consecutive year. Here's a full-mouthed Basketball coach with lots of anger, high intelligence, knows how to conduct a team but he doesn't have much of a good team, and to built the team of his dream, he's gonna have to select new players but not in the traditional and right way by giving extra things to his players in order to get them on his team and also in college. He can't follow the rules by the book, the ones he created to himself in order to be successful at what he does but will he manage to play the game regardless of ethics?

So, "Blue Chips" nicely builds its discourse of the importance of winning things in a fair way and shows how much someone can lose by breaking the rules. However, for a sport themed film this isn't so great as it could be, where's the director's energy to conduct the games scenes? It's not much involving when we have to watch the games but the dramatic and funny scenes compensates the trouble. Lacks energy, some thrills and at times even the dramatic sequences are monotonous and uninteresting.

Nolte confuses extreme passion for a game with some overacting but he gives a decent performance here (but can you imagine Bob De Niro in this role? It would be excellent!). And along with him we have good supportive acting by Mary McDonnell, J.T. Walsh, Ed O'Neill and basketball legends Bob Cousy, Shaquille O'Neal among others.

Right at the beginning Nolte gives this speech to the players about the impossibility of winning a game by being half-assed. You can do whatever half assed except winning. Wiser words were never spoken before and this film proves this when you have a great director like William Friedkin behind all this when it's quite visible he's not much suitable for this (and what's strange is Ron Shelton wrote this film and he's a specialist in making sport themed flicks, so why he didn't directed it in the first place?). So, in the end you can do things half-assed but just don't expect to win much sympathy, awards and recognition with it. Good film but it could've been better considering the talents involved. 6/10