Heaven Is a Playground (film)
| Heaven Is a Playground | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Randall Fried |
| Produced by | Keith Bank Billy Higgins |
| Screenplay by | Randall Fried |
| Starring |
Michael Warren D.B. Sweeney Victor Love Bo Kimble Richard Jordan Janet Julian |
| Music by | Patrick O'Hearn |
| Cinematography | Tom Richmond |
| Edited by | Lou Angelo |
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Production
company |
Aurora Film Corporation
Heaven Corp. |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Heaven Is a Playground is a 1991 film based on Rick Telander's book of the same name. It was written and directed by Randall Fried, and stars Michael Warren, D.B. Sweeney, Victor Love, Bo Kimble, Richard Jordan and Janet Julian. Telander himself has a cameo appearance in the movie. The film was released on October 4, 1991, by New Line Cinema.
Byron Harper operates a non-profit farming system on a playground in the Cabrini Green neighborhood of Chicago with the aim of landing black kids into college basketball programs. He focuses most of his energy on the best prospects, whom he calls his Breds, and ignores the less talented ones. One day, burn-out white lawyer Zack Telander shows up on the playground, willing to play, but Byron believes him to be a drug pusher and throws him out. However, just then one of the Breds is being shot, and Zack happens to be the only one on the spot with a car, so he helps Byron to rush the victim into a hospital, where he also threatens the clerk with a gross negligence lawsuit in case treatment would not be provided.
Afterwards Byron reluctantly allows Zack to stay on the playground, but he assigns him to coach a group of players he considers hopeless and derogatory refers to as the Knuckleheads. Both parties immediately dislike the other, and their cooperation does not seem to be promising at all. One of the players, Casey Caldwell was once one of the Breds himself, but was dropped due to his drinking habit, and is making repeated but unsuccessful attempts to regain Byron's trust.
Byron's most talented prospect is his adopted son, Truth Harrison, a college junior, who has a 32-point scoring average, but is also developing a cocaine addiction. Byron hopes to turn him pro before his senior year, and tries to arrange a million dollar contract for him with top agent David Racine, for which he also requests Zack's legal counsel.
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