White Men Can't Jump
| White Men Can't Jump | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ron Shelton |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Ron Shelton |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Bennie Wallace |
| Cinematography | Russell Boyd |
| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $90.8 million |
White Men Can't Jump is a 1992 American sports comedy film written and directed by Ron Shelton, starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as streetball hustlers. The film was released in the United States on March 27, 1992, by 20th Century Fox.
Billy Hoyle is a former college basketball player who makes his living by hustling streetballers that assume he cannot play well because he is white. Billy never degrades his race when joining on pickup games; he simply allows his African American opponents to falsely believe they have a natural advantage over him. Such a player is Sidney Dean, a talented but arrogant player who is beaten twice by Billy, once in a half-court team game and later in a one-on-one shootout for money.
Billy and his Hispanic girlfriend Gloria Clemente are on the run from out-of-state mobsters because of a gambling debt. A voracious reader, making note of obscure facts, Gloria's goal in life is to be a contestant on the television show Jeopardy! and make a fortune. Sidney wants to buy a house for his family outside the rough Baldwin Village, Crenshaw District neighborhood of Los Angeles. He talks Billy into a partnership and they hustle other players. When they unexpectedly lose a game, it turns out that Sidney has double-crossed Billy by deliberately playing badly alongside him, making Billy lose $1,700 to a group of Sidney's friends.
Gloria is incensed at Billy for blowing his money again and is also suspicious of how it happened. They go to Sidney's apartment and appeal to his wife Rhonda for fairness, and the women agree to share the money provided Sidney and Billy team up for a major two-on-two outdoor tournament. While they bicker incessantly, Sidney and Billy win the grand prize of $5,000, largely due to Billy's ability to disrupt his opponents' concentration. Billy's most notable claim is that he is "in the zone", a state of mind in which nothing can distract him. Sidney is pleased with the outcome, yet he cannot help mocking Billy about his inability to slam dunk. "White men can't jump," he notes.
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