It has been well over a decade since I last saw White Men Can't Jump. So long in fact, that I actually could not remember a thing about it other than it was about a white man playing basketball, to some degree. I remembered the film recently as Disney couldn't help but throw money at another soulless reboot of a 90s classic. A film that came about at the time of incredibly strong films on various duos between a white man (often the totally insane, suicidal maniac with nothing to lose) and a black man of stable nature with a family and healthy life. These duos were always fun to see due to the mashup of personalities that came together given the different backgrounds. Funnily, with today's broken climate in which everyone begs for identity acknowledgement, there isn't really any of this anymore. There's something about these older duos that came about due to the difference in race that makes them so appealing. I think back then people had pride in their backgrounds but respected the others. With today's insanity, it seems everyone looks to their respective traditions and sees them above all else due to the pandering and promotion of the idea that some identities are bad.
Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, and White Men Can't Jump show how different cultures can come together and each bring something to the table. With acknowledgement that each of these nationalities are in fact vastly different in their cultures, traditions, and thus ways of thought, but that it is completely fine and should be celebrated as a result. These films contain moments of clashing as a result of their differences, but they're often seen at with a light of comedy rather than disrespect. To laugh at ourselves, as well as each other, is a fundamental aspect towards the idea of a utopian society that is multicultural. Going into White Men Can't Jump, it's necessary to know the dynamic and how butchered it is in modern day. Especially in regards to this remake that I just refuse to watch due to the reasons above. While White Men Can't Jump is a film about basketball, for the most part, it shows how different cultures can come together and grow with mutual understanding and patience. That stereotypes can be true, but also broken. Coincidentally, this is the total opposite to the film Sweetwater that I saw and reviewed recently, a film on the struggles of black athletes attempting to break into the professional world of basketball; leading to the shift in rules and standards that previously promoted segregation and prejudice.
I feel films like these are important, serious or not. For they open the door to reality, free from political preaching, but with a reminder on who we are as people.
White Men Can't Jump
First off, I want to mention how much of a pleasant surprise it was to see the young Woody Harrelson. I had managed to forget that he had a role here in White Man Can't Jump, and a role that seems very different to what he's most known for going into his later years. I think his casting for this film is perfect given the nature of the narrative. One that explores the hustle culture of the 90s, as well as the stereotypes that could be found within various subcultures. On the Venice Beach in the 90s, there's a subculture of basketball playing, more a version of streetball rather than the full rules of something you'd find in the NBA. These groups play each other for cash, making bets on each other, rigging matches, and generally trying to play the upper-hand to tip the odds of winning -- a little bit different to rigging matches entirely, and rather instead just being deceiving. This subculture has its own rules: if you lose, you lose. There's no getting your money back and there's no complaining. This sets up a few comedic ways in which players toy with each other, which also leads to the film's main setup: a white basketball player. In the 80s and 90s came about the stereotype that whites are terrible at basketball. They aren't fast runners, not agile, and just can't jump as high. Hence the name of the film! Of course none of this is necessarily true, but the stereotype becomes a strategic gambling advantage. Billy (Woody Harrelson) is a white basketball player that knows his skill, and runs around the popular destinations mostly occupied by black players.
By intentionally playing the underdog, Billy baits people into giving him a chance to which he utterly destroys them in competition. Leading to a basketball shootout between him and Sidney (Wesley Snipes) to which Billy utterly embarrassed him in front of everyone. Moving back to that unexecpted trope of a duo from different worlds coming together, White Men Can't Jump sees Billy and Sidney forming a team having witnessed the opportunity in setting up hustled matches around the city, pretending they don't know each other and having their opposition look around the court to find who they feel is the worst possible player around. Of course, leading directly to the stereotypical geeky white man. A lot of the film is just this, the two forming their little team and roaming around making very small amounts of cash doing it. What I found engaging in the film's story was just how little money they're making. A few hundred dollars here and there, and they need this money. They're seemingly unemployed or struggling to get by, almost forced into this subculture as a means of survival. To add to this, throughout the film the gambling aspect comes to play: is there really a team here? Or is either of them hustling the other? Naturally, you can't win every game. Losses are inevitable. Which leads to the constant battling with Billy in his relationship, as he constantly returns home to inform his girlfriend that he's yet again managed to lose everything. And remember, everything is just a few hundred dollars.
I think the very small sums of money made the film more believable. It's more grounded rather than these people throwing out large sums of cash and having huge tournaments. It adds to the hustle culture of the streets in which every small dollar counts for something. That even in one small game of basketball in the streets, that single dollar is worth the sweltering heat and competition. To which another question arises from here: is it really about the money, or are they trying to prove something to themselves? Perhaps it's all about the thrill, the risk placed upon telling others you are the best and capable of beating them, putting down cash to try to prove something. The highest sum eventually comes to $5,000 as the two are forced to enter a competition on the beach, splitting the sum between them only bringing the winnings down to $2,500 each. Money always comes back to being the main reason for all of this though. Prior debts, future ambitions to get started and finally on their feet. No longer on constant move. White Men Can't Jump switches between its more comedic moments and looks into the struggles of the person at times, it's quite a change in pacing as tensions increase. Funnily we even get a glimpse at another type of hustling: loan sharks seeking their debts, while pretending to have killed prior individuals that have failed to make their payments, using fake photographs which only provoke fear and encourage people to pay up.
I think what works best about this film is the era it took place in. This is a world before the mass consumption of digital media. With the Internet still being very wired and sparse. No mobile phones around recording and pulling people from the present in their sense of culture and community. One (just one of them) reason as to why I refuse to watch the modern remake is that the reliance on digital media will inevitably be present. References to broader media and ideas that just pull you away from the locations and characters, where the entire point of the film is the stories found within a small basketball court. These individuals are almost bound together by the fact that they're outcasts. Hidden away in plain sight and only known to those who pertain to that subculture. For the most part, they're the people you'd barely notice in the corner of your eye as you're walking by the area. And the film does a great way of showing this is its initial opening scenes, to which we see how this culture functions: acapella groups, people working out, general life going by. That gritty Los Angeles look on 35mm film only deepens that immersion to be found in the film's story. I just do not think it can translate into digital.
Oh, and there's just no replacing those 90s fashion colours. That just can't be replaced.
