IMDb > The Basketball Diaries (1995)
The Basketball Diaries
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Overview

User Rating:
7.1/10   22,905 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Writers (WGA):
Jim Carroll (based on the novel by)
Bryan Goluboff (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Basketball Diaries on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 April 1995 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
The true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist more
Plot:
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
A Powerful Indictment Against Drug Addiction... more (129 total)

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 #1

Alexander Chaplin ... Bobo (as Alexander Gaberman)
Ben Jorgensen ... Tommy
Josh Mostel ... Counterman

Juliette Lewis ... Diane Moody
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Streets of New York (International: English title) (video title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for graphic depiction of drug addiction with related strong violence,sexuality and language.
Runtime:
102 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
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 | Canada:14A (DVD rating) | 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 (NO. 33624) | Iceland:16

Fun 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. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: This movie is set in the 1960s, and besides seeing modern-era vehicles seen in most outdoor scenes, numerous skyscrapers that didn't exist in background shots, when Jim (DiCaprio) takes his sick friend Bobby out for a night on the town and away from the hospital bed where he is dying from cancer, the film completely ignores the date the film is supposed to take place. As Jim and Bobby are shown strolling down modern day (circa 1995) and post porn-littered 42nd Street, they reminisce when there were adult theaters all over the street, and Bobby refers to one porn movie with the title, The Sperminator, an obvious take from the 1984 blockbuster, The Terminator. Until the early 1990s, pornographic shops and theaters lined 42nd Street and the immediate surrounding area which formed a virtual adult district. However by the 90s, when Rudy Giuliani became city Mayor, he effectively shut down almost all porno shops in the city by the time this movie was made, and not only do we see the newly sanitized 42nd Street, Jim and Bobby talk about how it changed in this way. more
Quotes:
Jim Carroll: I felt dazed, like I just came out of a 4 hour movie I didn't understand. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Butterfly Effect (2004) more
Soundtrack:
Watusi Latin Boogaloo more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful.
A Powerful Indictment Against Drug Addiction..., 27 December 2005
8/10
Author: ijonesiii from United States

An uncompromising script and a solid performance from Leonardo Di Caprio help make THE BASKETBALL DIARIES a powerful and memorable film experience. Leo plays Jim Carroll, a high school student with a love of basketball and a flare for writing whose life goes right down the toilet when he becomes a heroine addict. Yes, perhaps Leo gets hooked a little too quickly but everything that happens to him after he gets hooked is totally real. Along with CLEAN AND SOBER, this movie so clearly and honestly demonstrates where drug addiction can take you...how nothing else becomes important but how and where that next high is coming from. There is one harrowing scene after another here. We see Jim returning to his mother (Lorraine Bracco) after being kicked out of the house and we see Jim turn from begging child to threatening thug in a matter of seconds, a scene brilliantly performed by DiCaprio. We see Jim and his friends beat up an old lady for her purse and we even see Jim prostitute himself with a man in order to get money. It's a frightening and realistic spiral downward that Jim takes and he does make it back, but it is important to remember when watching this film that a lot don't. DiCaprio gets solid support from future star Mark Wahlberg, Bruno Kirby, Jr., Juliette Lewis, and Michael Imperioli. A harrowing film experience that will not be forgotten once the credits roll.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Basketball Diaries (1995)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Christiane F vs The Basketball Diaries user-19886
First watched this at 14 years old, however don't approve LizPhoenixNikita
Wonder wot happened to Pedro meakins8
Would people pay to 'give' someone a blowjob? Mcice88
my humble opinion crazynocrazy
Ivory Snow baby? nina_beretta
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