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The Basketball Diaries (1995)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
21 April 1995 (USA) moreTagline:
The true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist morePlot:
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction... more | add synopsisNewsDesk:
(10 articles)
Wimmer boards Total Recall, bound for mars (From Fangoria. 2 June 2009, 9:57 PM, PDT)
Are you ready for another Total Recall?
(From Fangoria. 26 February 2009, 3:21 AM, PST)
User Comments:
St. Vitus' Dance moreUS TV Schedule:
| Sun. July 12 | 1:00 AM | SHOW | |||
| Mon. July 20 | 12:30 AM | SHOW | |||
| Thur. July 23 | 12:00 AM | SHOW | more |
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Leonardo DiCaprio | ... | Jim Carroll | |
| Lorraine Bracco | ... | Jim's Mother | |
| Marilyn Sokol | ... | Chanting Woman | |
| James Madio | ... | Pedro | |
| Patrick McGaw | ... | Neutron | |
| Mark Wahlberg | ... | Mickey | |
| Roy Cooper | ... | Father McNulty | |
| Vincent Pastore | ... | Construction Worker (as Vinnie Pastore) | |
| Bruno Kirby | ... | Swifty | |
| Jimmy Papiris | ... | Iggy | |
| Nick Gaetani | ... | Referee | |
| Alexander Chaplin | ... | Bobo (as Alexander Gaberman) | |
| Ben Jorgensen | ... | Tommy | |
| Josh Mostel | ... | Counterman | |
| Juliette Lewis | ... | Diane Moody |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for graphic depiction of drug addiction with related strong violence,sexuality and language.Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
102 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreCertification:
Australia:MA (cable rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-15 (video rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | Germany:12 (bw) | Norway:15 | Singapore:R(A) | South Korea:(Banned) (original rating) | South Korea:18 (re-rating) (cut) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #33624) | Iceland:16Filming Locations:
Forest Hills High School, Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA moreFun Stuff
Trivia:
After being nominated for an Oscar for Running on Empty (1988), MTV asked River Phoenix what he wanted to do next. He responded by pulling out a beat up paperback of "The Basketball Diaries" and stated "I wanted to play Jim Carroll." Later, the Los Angeles Times declared, "River Phoenix may have wanted it too much." Leonardo DiCaprio was a fan of Phoenix's. moreGoofs:
Continuity: At the beginning of the film, Jim Carroll is being brutally beaten with a cricket paddle on the buttocks by one of his teachers. The amount of strokes he gets are enough to cause severe bruising or at least serious redness of the skin, yet minutes or hours later, when Jim and the boys are mooning a public ferry from a cliff, not one single bruised or red bottom is to be seen in the row of nude boys. This is inconsistent with Carroll's own words in his book. moreQuotes:
Jim Carroll: First, it's a Saturday night thing when you feel cool like a gangster or a rockstar- just something to kill the boredom, you know? They call it a chipie, a small habbit. It feels so good, you start doing it on Tuesdays... then Thursdays... then it's got you. Every wise ass punk on the block says it won't happen to them, but it does. moreSoundtrack:
Dizzy moreFAQ
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There is a type of disease associated with St. Vitus and this film qualifies in the comparison because it's quirky, fast, and it never stops moving. Director Scott Kalvert gives the movie a 'look' that makes the Manhattan of the period when it supposedly takes place, believable.
Leonardo DiCaprio was at his best in the film. His performance is very nuanced and in your face, at the same time. Mr. DiCaprio makes you feel the pain Jim is going through; he is a lost soul. Not being a fan of Mark Wahlberg, I must confess that in this film, be it because of the direction, or whatever, he shines, as Mickey.
As Jim's mother, Lorraine Bracco has never been better in anything she has been in recent memory. Bruno Kirby is perfectly creepy as the coach of St. Vitus High School.
As far as the connection with the Columbine School massacre, since the sequence where Jim is involved is a dream, it's easy to understand how the twisted minds of the ones responsible for the killings would have taken this scene as a model for their terrible crime.