The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #16. Rebound: The Legend of Earl “The Goat”

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #16. Rebound: The Legend of Earl “The Goat”

Our second movie title related to Rebounding. A made for HBO home movie. Our second bio pic after Hank Gathers and third based on true events after Believe in Me. Movie starts with Kareem saying the best player he ever faced was "The Goat". Don Cheadle plays the titular character who starts as many do with so much promise, but then turns to drugs when things go sour. Forest Whitaker's character sees The Goat play on the playground against some much older kids and coaches him up through life for a bit before passing. He gets a rotten shake from a teacher who wants him to play track but Earl refuses. Then Cheadle's character gets sent to a small reform school of sorts ran by James Earl Jones. He never sees the college court in the movie as Earl gets suspended almost immediately. Earl does some jail time and almost dies from OD. I had to google the man in the middle of the movie and spoiled some things. It has a positive message. I liked the second half much better than the first. Earl has to go get his playground back from his dealer in a powerful scene. Supposedly a very high jumper. Eriq La Salle directed this as one of his first projects (and mostly just directed TV after). He had bit parts in Logan, One Hour Photo, Jacob's Ladder, Coming to America. Again a bit difference between myself and the internet scores. Kevin Garnett plays Wilt Chamberlain. I wouldn't watch it again, but I appreciated the James Earl Jones appearance and the ending.

Movie	Rotten Tom	Rotten Tom Aud	IMDB	Internet Rank	My Rank
16. Rebound: The Legend of Earl “The Goat”	50	94	7.6	6	27
17. Inside Moves	50	77	7.0	19	16
18. Hoop Dreams	98	92	8.3	2	35
19. Uncle Drew	61	48	5.7	32	6
20. Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story	50	99	6.9	11	28
21. The Winning Season	50	55	6.6	26	15
22. Fast Break	50	59	6.1	30	13
23. Believe in Me	60	74	7.0	16	29
24. High Flying Bird	91	50	6.2	20	26
25. "O"	64	58	6.1	22	25
26. Forget Paris	48	56	6.5	29	19
27. Sunset Park	13	83	5.9	31	21
28. Game Day	50	82	5.4	25	30
29. Blue Chips	37	51	6.2	33	23
30. Amateur	60	66	5.9	24	32
31. The Air Up There	21	35	5.5	38	20
32. Space Jam	43	63	6.5	27	31
33. Semi-Pro	22	38	5.8	36	24
34. Heaven Is a Playground	50	84	5.8	21	39
35. Hurricane Season	50	69	6.5	23	38
36. Teen Wolf	42	52	6.1	34	34
37. Boogie	42	57	5.2	35	36
38. Rebound	14	38	5.1	40	33
39. Slam Dunk Ernest	50	31	4.5	37	37
40. Eddie	17	36	5.2	39	40