Product Details

• Actors: Millie Perkins, Nick Benedict, Adam Guier, Murrell Garland, Tom Lester
• Directors: Frank C. Schröder
• Writers: Darrel Campbell, Peter Maravich
• Producers: Darrel Campbell, Rodney Stone, Frank C. Schröder, Peter L. Andrews, Samuel Benedict
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Plaza Entertainment,
• VHS Release Date: April 13, 1999
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304930852
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,267 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The late "Pistol" Pete Maravich made basketball history as the most spectacular college scorer ever, and he's still inspiring kids through this movie based on his first season of high school varsity basketball (which he played when he was in eighth grade). This 90-minute film explores the supportive father-son relationship that pushed him to the heights of achievement and fame (Dad was a former pro and Clemson University coach) and includes a story line on the stirrings of the quest for racial equality in the late 1950s. Newcomer Adam Guier plays some fine basketball in his role as the young Maravich. Viewers won't be able to track his no-look passes any better than opponents could when the real Maravich was dishing them out. In fact, the basketball sequences in general are superior to many seen in bigger-budget films. Shot on location in Louisiana, where Maravich grew up, the film captures the moral dilemmas of its time while still keeping a positive drive, making it an excellent film to watch with the kids. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and basically accurate, November 20, 1999

By 

Cecil Albrecht ([e-mail]) (Carrollton, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pistol - The Birth of a Legend [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a must see movie for all Dads and sons (or daughters). FYI: Re the previous reviewer that gave it one star. The movie is not a lie. Before Pete Maravich attended Needham-Broughton high, he did indeed play at Daniel High in Clemson, SC. He holds the record there with 483 points in one season. Without this uninformed one star review, the movie would get the five stars that it so richly deserves.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Pistol Pete" Maravich: Superstar Scorer And Showman, October 5, 2002

By 

JAMES H. LISTER (DENTON, MARYLAND USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pistol - The Birth of a Legend [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This wonderful basketball movie is a childhood biography of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinee Peter Press "Pistol Pete" Maravich. He was one of the few people in basketball history bred by his father Press Maravich to become a basketball child prodigy.
Out of all the basketball movies ever released I would rate very few as truly exceptional. This is one of the best basketball movies ever made. It portrays the loving obsession of Pete's desire to become a basketball scoring superman and showman supreme. Maravich later lived up to his self-fulfilling prophecy of what NBA basketball hall-of- famer Isiah Thomas stated: " 'Pistol Pete' Maravich was probably the greatest NBA showman of all time ". Maravich, probably more than any other NBA player is responsible for the basketball "showtime" obsession we are permeated with today. He was the forerunner of assimilating more "Harlem Globetrotter" trick skills to seriously competitive NBA games than any individual before him.
"The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend" shows Pete in his self-training with amazing basketball handling and trick shooting skills. Former UCLA coach John Wooden stated that "Pistol Pete" Maravich could perform more amazing things with a basketball when he was in the tenth grade than any Harlem Globetrotter John Wooden ever saw.
This movie depicts Maravich's schoolboy career. Although in the past some plans had been made to create a movie about the entire life of Pete Maravich such a movie has never come to fruition. This is the only movie about Maravich in existence. Adam Guier as Pete Maravich and Nick Benedict as his father perform fine acting portrayals. Admittedly, Pete was spindly and somewhat ill health in appearance ( whereas Adam Guier is not ) and the real Press Maravich as his father was in fact probably tougher acting than Nick Benedict, this is still a very creditable acting performance. This movie doesn't explore the tragic personal problems Pete's mother had.
This inspirational movie has a Christian tone to it and it was the recipient of a Christian award to films. Although Pete Maravich early in his life wasn't clean cut in his life-style he spent a great deal of time spreading the Christian message in his later years before he so tragically died on a basketball court at a church school in California at the age of forty. This movie was released close to the time of his death so it is more in keeping with his moralistic intentions at that time. Perhaps because this movie wasn't released by Hollywood is the very reason why it is such a superb movie.
I perform one person basketball trick shooting shows and I must confess to you that Pete Maravich influenced me more than any one else other than the Harlem Globetrotters. Thanks to idolizing Pete when I was a teenager I am able to perform some of those extraordinarily difficult trick shots you see Adam Guier perform in this movie to a phenomenally high degree of statistical accuracy.
If you should only view five basketball movies in your lifetime this movie should be one of them.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome movie, February 18, 2005

By 

Pistol Pete "Pete" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pistol - The Birth of a Legend [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Pistol Pete is one of my favorite basketball movies of all time, ranking right up there with Hoosiers. I don't understand why they haven't put it on DVD yet.

Pistol Pete sticks to the life of 8th grader Pete Maravich. His dad is a coach at the local college and teaches him basketball in his spare time. Pete doesn't fit in very well at school because he is so hooked on basketball. He gets a chance to try out for the team and hijinx ensue. It is actually pretty good basketball to watch - even though it was made a while ago and on a shoestring budget. I wish I could have seen Pete Maravich play when he was alive. Great for the whole family.