Customer Reviews

Big Shot - Confessions of a Campus Bookie

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie, based on a true story is interesting and Ernest Dickerson's direction is superb - I like the 'shaky' camera effects. David Krumholtz is awesome as Benny Silman! He starts out as a naive freshman, moving across the country to go to college, but the freedoms get the best of him. He starts gambling, then works for a bookie, then goes out on his own. He ends up hooking up with a b-baller to assure the house wins everytime, but the wrong people find out about his scheme and it gets complicated.

The subplot with Callie is cute, especially when she mocks him. This movie is great, even after repeated viewings.

originally i said this was a very good movie to buy if you could stomach the then-high price, which i could. i went to ASU around the time the hedake smith story was reaching full media realization. this is an interesting take on the whole mess.

the DVD's best extra, of the real benny silman explaining what happened, is a raw take on the situation from a guy who genuinely seems to understand he did wrong. (note that, as best i could tell, no footage was added or subtracted from the TV version of the actual movie, in case you hoped to see callie nude or witness benny brutally unloading a machine gun on big red and his posse.)

flaws: the video transfer, though generally glossy and praiseworthy, is a little messy in a couple spots (most noticeably when benny is selling suits). and the spanish subtitles consistently refer to ASU as the university of arizona - an obvious sore spot for any ASU alum!

anyway, i watched it twice the first day i bought it, and this was a movie i'd already seen once on TV.

highly recommended. thanks for releasing this, FX.

Most Amazing true account of Arizona State University Sports teams conspiring with a Jewish MOB connected Fraternity Man gone Bookie.
Bennie, I never knew personally, I did not know of this happening as a student while at ASU. There is a special scene of a charactor
who resembled the Uni-Brow Pat Tillman ASU Football player, NFL Cardnals Legend and former Ranger (It is my opinion Pat was too straight and would not be involved in throwing a game for the MOB).

The fates of some students at ASU at the end of the film is quite shocking. Wait until the very end and Benny gives a real life interview.
Hats off and applause to the casting director because these people look exactly like who I saw on campus when I was a student.
I would love to take classes from the productions staff who made this amazing movie not to be missed. To think this was going
on and I did not know about it just blew me away.

If you like sports betting or are into gambling you will enjoy this movie. I like the fact it's based on a true story. No this isn't a major blockbuster but if you are into any kind of gambling I think you will have a high appreciation for this movie. Going from rags to riches in a very short period of time only to come crashing back down. Just shows how fast you can get caught up in something and how greedy people really are. After watching this it really makes you think how much point shaving in college games actually is going on. This is a must have dvd for all the gamblers out there!