The Rewatchables
‘Blue Chips’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 04:00:00 -0000
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The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan owe them this rewatch… WE OWE IT TO 'EM! The guys shave a few points for Western University as they revisit the 1994 sports classic ‘Blue Chips’ starring Nick Nolte, Mary McDonnell, J.T. Walsh, Shaquille O’Neal, and Penny Hardaway. Directed by William Friedkin. Watch this episode and much more on our Ringer Movies YouTube channel! Producer: Craig Horlbeck Video Producer: Jack Sanders, Chia Hao Tat Try Loom today, visit loom.com to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the Rewatchables Film Festival?
Hey, Rewatchables fans, you already knew we were coming to Boston for a sold-out show on March 27th, but what you didn't know is we're sticking around that weekend. We're going to host our first ever Rewatchables Film Festival while we're in Boston. We're screening some of our favorite movies, movies that we have done on this podcast.
plus maybe a couple others, at the historic Coolidge Corner Theater. We're doing it all weekend from March 28th through March 30th. One of my favorite theaters in America. We might even make a few surprise appearances at a couple of these screenings. It's your chance to see some of our favorites as they were meant to be seen on... the big screen.
Classic mob heist, Boston movies we love, Goodfellas, The Town, The Departed. Oh yeah, we're doing Heat. Again, it's going to kick off Friday, March 28th at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline. Visit theringer.com slash events for showtimes and ticket information. Hopefully, we'll see you there. The rewatchable is brought to you by the ringer podcast network.
You can find all of our video on Spotify as video podcasts, as well as the ringer movies, YouTube channel. You can find Chris Ryan doing the watch. That's right. Some good TV lately. Finally uplifting adolescence. Yeah. Talk about that. Yeah. Um, and then white Lotus last of us is coming. A lot of good stuff. Yeah. Van higher learning, higher learning midnight boys. Don't do it.
I said pew pew.
Thank you. Lots of stuff going on. Lots of political news. Lots of news in the superhero space. Great pod that we did just recently. Me, Sean, Joe, CR. What was the pod? It was about the state of the MCU and superhero movies.
So, yeah.
He's skipping it. It doesn't mean... No, no. That sounds like a great idea for a pod. You know my feelings. I could have just come in for a cameo at the end and been like, yeah. I've been here for 10 years. He's got to light a couple more candles for Abdul Carter. Exactly. DMing Cleveland Browns reporters.
We're going to talk about a very polarizing sports movie that is somehow weirdly endearing. Blue Chips is next. We don't buy athletes. All the other schools are doing it, coach. We owe them this money.
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Chapter 2: Why is Blue Chips considered a polarizing sports movie?
basketball scene in this one is probably the indiana game because i find it very easy to like kind of navigate bobby hurley on the court and i feel like it that was the one where maybe it's just because i was so familiar with bobby hurley at the time really missed his game i liked his but it's like that's a good point car accident yeah his car accident's kind of underrated i think he would have been a good pro little swaggy confident right playmaker tough yeah tough
Stealed a ball, was an all-time favorite college player. He coaches Arizona State now? Yeah, yeah. I like this game. He just directs traffic in a way where you're kind of like, oh, right, there's a pick and he's going to come over there.
Old school.
That stuff is good. But they don't actually even flash to the scoreboard that much. They don't. I mean, Western gets their asses kicked most games of this movie except for towards the end. Do you know what I mean? Except for that very last game. I have a lot of thoughts on that basketball stuff.
I want to say one more thing about the basketball. Do you know what the best basketball in the movie is to me? The practices. Yeah. The practices to me. And the coaching in the practice. And the coaches in the practice. Put your leg behind him when he's spinning around. I like all that stuff. All of that stuff. Gets his hand right up on Ricky Rose butt cheeks.
Right there. Get out of here, Ricky! Right over the front of the rim, butch. Unlock the left hip. Take your jersey off. Go with the blue team. All of that stuff. The practices are the stuff to me that actually grounded the movie in being actual college basketball and authentic. You know what I mean?
When I tried to recruit Van for the ringer, and he's like, I want 30K and a gym bag and a tractor. I was like, get out of here, Van! Take that! You don't deserve to wear it.
Then two days later, he was working for us. It was like it never happened. I never understood that part of blue chips. With the pay stuff... So the movie kind of shifted, especially as in the last 10 years, people are like, these guys got to get paid and that whole thing.
By 2023, Esquire was writing, Shelton and Friedkin seem to be foreshadowing the everyone-sells-out influencer culture of the 21st century. Hmm. Interesting idea. I don't know if I 100% agree with it, but it does foreshadow something. I don't know if it was intentional, because I really think they were just in the moment.
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Chapter 3: How does the film reflect the realities of NCAA recruitment?
Alfre Woodard. sucking a cancer stick at one point there, CR. Maybe he has the line of the movie. When Pete's like, what's he gonna become? And she's like, a millionaire? Yeah. She wants a job and a house. Then we go see the legend in Indiana. Why are you grunting? I'm grunting because... He knows where this is going.
He knows where it's going. You can't help yourself. He's grunting because it's the same feeling I just had. Just get it off your chest. Do it. First of all, the only movie he's been in... Okay. You know where they filmed it, though?
In French Lick? His house. French Lick? Okay. Nice house.
You know what else was filmed in that house? What? The greatest commercial of the 80s. The commercial, yeah. That was the same drive. Pete drives down the same driveway that Magic drives down in the limo for the Converse commercial, which was the day that they became friends. They became boys. I thought Larry's not terrible as an actor.
I don't think their eye lines are matched up. So at one point, Pete's looking over here and talking to Larry Bird, and Larry Bird's like, hey, coach! Hey, coach, how are you? Larry has enough aura, like the kids say, aura, to just kind of Larry Bird his way through any scene. So when you see Larry Bird, and Larry Bird is keeping it 100% real with him, just tell me what you want. It works.
Do you think Larry Bird...
in 94 was still just going out into the hot indiana sun and getting getting shots up or was he um i had something for this later but the the short answer is no he had like two back surgeries there's no way he's like i'm just gonna go out and shoot some pickup i have like get my own rebound three surgery impaired herniated discs he's gonna go get some shots my own free throw misses um then we go see neon in algiers
Give us the Algiers scouting report. Well... Because it seems hard to get there. Well, it's West Bank, New Orleans. It's not as hard as they made it seem. Okay. It seems like they're going to Cuba.
There's a jungle cruise. They made it seem... But we laughed at that because, you know, in Louisiana, when people go to Louisiana in a movie, they always make it seem like you got to ask an alligator directions. when you're getting around the state. So it's not like that. No, it's not. It's West Bay, New Orleans. So you do have to like, I don't know that you have to go through the swamp.
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Chapter 4: What are the main themes explored in Blue Chips?
Using brooms as fake shot blockers, man. Loved it. Always. I thought, I just thought a lot of the touches with the coach and the players was really high level.
I really liked that part. It's also like, it feels very real when, I mean, obviously because they were actually playing games that they were just filming, but Patino and Knight coaching felt very real. Like it felt like they were giving like actual instructions.
and the coaching stuff in the movie is actually, they didn't really lean into it that much, but the coaching stuff is actually really good because they were coaching against each other. And it was like, don't guard this guy. Don't guard that guy. And then you hear the other guy trying to adjust off of that. It was like a little deeper look into like the scheme and strategy of the game.
Yeah. Uh, It was good basketball nerd kind of stuff. Even down to when Pete's like, I'll go into the Indiana locker room and give Bob Knight our game plan because it doesn't matter. I was like, fuck yeah. Rick Pitino in the closing credits of this movie is Richard Pitino. I just wanted to shout that out.
Do you think he was thinking, maybe I'll move into acting, I'll go as Richard? Honestly, kind of awesome in this movie. Yeah.
I have him and Larry Bird and Bob Cousy all being awesome in a sports movie. So what's the best? There's a locker room sign and the people locker room that says what you see here, what you hear here, let it stay here when you live here. That I just want to flag for later for the one more thing. Here's my number one though.
I almost feel like this should be a new category because we had this last week with Nicole Kidman asking if she should study neurosurgery. Jerry's like, Nicole, we're good. Just show up and get your scenes on time and don't wear heels because you're already taller than Tom. This research, Nick Nolte wrote a 200 page novel about Pete Bell to tap into his character's psyche. It's all right, man.
And gave it to Friedkin and Friedkin's like, Yeah, it was okay. You gotta get the green light before you write the 200-page novel. So is this a new Rewatchables award? Maybe it's conditional? The Nick Nolte's 200-page Pete Bell novel award for most ridiculous commitment to a movie?
That's fucking insane! He wrote a 200-page novel about Pete Bell? Can we get it, though? Would you put it out on Ringer Books? I imagine it's not good. It might be awesome. Freaking just might have had too much on his plate. What's better, that or Nicole Kidman wanting to take some neurosurgery classes for days of thunder?
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