Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot, 2008.
Directed by Adam Yauch.
SYNOPSIS:
Eight of the U.S.’s top high school basketball players compete in the first “Elite 24” tournament at Rucker Park.
When I was young and I had just started Senior school (so that’s Senior 1, or Year 7 in new money), I took an interest in basketball. I was tall and had springy legs. Unfortunately my games teacher was a huge Welsh rugby player who had played for St. Helens and Wales. His attempt to instil the mechanics of basketball was him bellowing as loud as he could at us, “You move your hand up and down like this. Like a bloody poofta!” I didn’t return for the second lesson, nor have I entertained basketball for the last twenty-five years or so.
Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot is surprisingly watchable for this 38 year old, working-middle class fellow living in a post-industrial leafy town. Granted the names of the past and current stars meant diddly-flip to me, nor did the Mecca of Basketball (Harlem’s Rucker Park), but what was interesting was looking at the families of the up-and-comers to the sport, the “Elite 24”. Each family was proud and worked hard to push Junior on towards a possible goal of playing professional basketball.
The “Elite 24” (the up-and-comers) came from all walks of life and were being followed by Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys as he interviewed them, while professionals in the field interjected with their wisdom and praise for these people. This is all done to a soundtrack that many hip-hop fans would be more than happy to own, though I didn’t overly appreciate it myself, especially when the newer music seeped into the mix. Still I’m sure Adam (nine years my elder) is aiming this more for the kids and not me with my cup of peppermint tea. I prefer older Public Enemy and N.W.A. as I’m sipping on my herbal tea.
What really did bother me throughout the film though is the quality of the footage “recorded by others” – it is clear that some was recorded on phones of the day, but others I felt perhaps had been digital degraded to give it a website-based feel.
Other than my minor fuss, Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot was very enjoyable. The “Elite 24” were clearly young people who showed a strong sense of what they wanted, and it came across in the film, and the directing was as any good documentary spot-on. The goal of the film remained focused up until the end. I didn’t learn very much, but that didn’t detract me from enjoying it all and clapping on my own at some amazing shots on the court.
Also I never knew that rain also stopped play in basketball like it does in cricket.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★ ★
Villordsutch is married with kids and pets. He looks like a tubby Viking and enjoys science fiction. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published May 27, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
