Customer Reviews

NBA Below the Rim [VHS]

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The highlights in this film are certainly awe-inspiring and incredible. The feats on film include Spud Webb's two-handed slam dunks, Muggsey Bogues' defensive prowess, and a few (boring) highlights from ancient old-timers like Bob Cousy and the redoubtable Tiny Archibald. I'm a short fellow myself, and after watching the scenes of Spud Webb defying gravity I managed to twist reality to the degree that I saw myself one day jumping as high as the 5'7" Webb; "someday, I too might be able to slam-dunk a basketball over a couple of cowering opponents," I said. Well, years after the dream's germination, this lofty goal of being able to dunk has been trampled underneath, as by the sandaled, tromping feet of Yahweh. Watching "Below the Rim" with unabashed awe is risky, because you fool yourself into believing the impossible: that you too -- the short, white-skinned viewer -- could emulate the feats of those on-screen by dint of hard work and determination. Well, that's what the NBA camps and shoe companies would like you to believe. But the chilly truth is this: "the air up there" is off-limits to those of us cursed by genetics or by congenital indolence to a life bounded by gravity. So what is there to do? A man can dream, can't he? And that's why "Below the Rim" is such a fine film to watch when you're listening to Barber's Adagio for Strings, caught in a reverie of NBA greatness, and just want to escape the dolor of existence for a fine forty minutes. So kick back and enjoy!