''White Men Can't Jump'' is a 1992 American

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by

Ron Shelton Ronald Wayne Shelton (born September 15, 1945) is an American film director and screenwriter and former minor league baseball infielder. Shelton is known for the many films he has made about sports. His 1988 film ''Bull Durham'', based in part o ...

. It stars

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, th ...

and

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

hustlers. The film was released in the United States on March 27, 1992, by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. A loose video game adaptation was released in 1995, while a remake film was released in 2023.

Plot

Billy Hoyle is a former college basketball player who makes his living by hustling

ers who assume he cannot play well because he is white. Sidney Deane is a talented but cocky player who is twice beaten by Billy. Billy and his live-in girlfriend, Gloria Clemente, are on the run from the Stucci brothers, mobsters to whom he owes a gambling debt. Gloria's goal is to be a contestant on the television game show ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

'' and make a fortune. Sidney wants to buy a house for his family outside the rough

Baldwin Village Baldwin Village is a commercial enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the west of downtown Toronto, within the Grange Park neighbourhood, one block north of Dundas Street West, between Beverley and McCaul Streets. The former mo ...

neighborhood. He proposes a business partnership with Billy where they will hustle other players by setting them up to pick Billy as Sidney's teammate. At first, their system is very successful, but when they unexpectedly lose a game, it turns out that Sidney had double-crossed Billy by deliberately playing badly to avenge his earlier loss to him. Gloria and Billy go to Sidney's apartment and appeal to his wife, Rhonda. The women agree to share the money, provided Sidney and Billy team up for a major two-on-two outdoor tournament. Despite their constant bickering, Sidney and Billy win the grand prize of $5,000, largely due to Billy's ability to disrupt his opponents' concentration. Sidney is pleased with the outcome, but he cannot help mocking Billy about his inability to

slam dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as a dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with on ...

. Billy insists that he can indeed dunk and bets his share of the $5,000 on his ability to dunk but fails. When he tells Gloria, she leaves him. Desperate to get her back, Billy goes to Sidney for help. Sidney has a friend who works as a security guard at the TV studio that produces ''Jeopardy!'' His friend agrees to use his connections to get her on the show if Billy can sink a hook shot from beyond the half-court line, which he does. Gloria initially stumbles over sports questions but makes a comeback with a pet topic, "Foods That Begin With the Letter Q". She wins $14,100 on her first episode. Billy sings Gloria a song he has composed and wins her back. As Billy and Gloria discuss their future, Sidney approaches Billy for help: His apartment was burglarized and his winnings were stolen. Gloria is expecting Billy to get a steady job, but Sidney informs him that two hoops legends of the L.A. streetball scene, "The King" and "The Duck", are playing downtown. Sidney asks Billy to partner with him to play against them. Billy agrees, offering to gamble his share of Gloria's take. Gloria warns that if Billy gambles with her money, they are through, even if he and Sidney win. Billy sides with Sidney, feeling he must honor the obligation he owes him for getting Gloria on ''Jeopardy!''. They play against King and Duck and prevail, the winning point coming when Sidney lobs an "alley-oop" pass to Billy, who dunks it. Billy returns home and is crushed to find that Gloria has left him. The mobsters who are after Billy find him, and he pays his debts. Billy asks Sidney to set him up with a real job, and Sidney remarks that Billy and Gloria may be better off without each other. The film ends as Billy and Sidney launch into another basketball argument and return to the court where they first met to play a one-on-one game, this time as friends.

Cast

as Sidney "Syd" Deane *

as Billy Hoyle *

Rosie Perez Rosa Maria Perez (born September 6, 1964) is an American actress. Her breakthrough came at age 24 with her portrayal of Tina in the film '' Do the Right Thing'' (1989), followed by '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992). Perez's performance in '' Fear ...

as Gloria Clemente * Tyra Ferrell as Rhonda Deane * Cylk Cozart as Robert *

Kadeem Hardison Kadeem Hardison (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. The son of fashion model Bethann Hardison, he rose to prominence after landing the role of Dwayne Wayne on the television series ''A Different World'', a spin-off of the NBC sitcom ''T ...

as Junior *

John Marshall Jones John Marshall Jones is an American actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Floyd Henderson on The WB sitcom television series '' Smart Guy''.Elliott, Spencer (March 7, 2020)‘Smart Guy’ dad John Marshall Jones makes many rooms out of one ...

as Walter * Ernest Harden, Jr. as George *

Nigel Miguel Nigel Patrick Miguel (born April 8, 1963) is a Belizean-American actor, film producer, and technical advisor who is the film commissioner for Belize. He is also a former professional basketball player. A native of Belize, he immigrated to the ...

as Dwight "The Flight" McGhee *

Duane Martin Duane Martin (born August 11, 1965) is an American actor. He began his career making appearances on numerous television sitcoms before starring as Robert James on the UPN/ CW sitcom '' All of Us'' (2003–2007) and as Detective Ben Baines on t ...

as Willie Lewis *

Freeman Williams Freeman Williams Jr. (May 15, 1956 – April 19, 2022) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Portland State Vikings, where he was a two-time All-Americ ...

as Duck Johnson *

Louis Price Louis Bernhardt Price (born March 29, 1953) is an American R&B and soul singer, and actor notable for being the lead singer of the first post- Dennis Edwards led version of The Temptations from 1977 to 1979. Price lived in Chicago as a child and ...

as Eddie "The King" Faroo *

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player and character actor who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National B ...

as Raymond *

Eloy Casados Eloy Phil Casados (September 28, 1949 - April 19, 2016) was an American film, television and voice actor. He appeared in more than 20 films and 30 television series. He was best known for playing Ishi in the 1978 NBC television movie '' Ishi: ...

as Tony Stucci * Bill Henderson, Sonny Craver &

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

as the Venice Beach Boys *

Alex Trebek George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian and American game show host and television personality. He was best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 seasons ...

as Himself * Allan Malamud as Rocket Scientist

Production

Ron Shelton conceived of the idea for the film while he was working on a script for another movie, '' Blue Chips''. He had been writing a scene that takes place on a playground and became interested in the "wonderful craziness that goes on behind those chain link fences". Shelton drew on his experiences as a former college basketball star and a regular at

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

pickup games in Hollywood for the script. Shelton said he "love the theater of asketball the posturing and the rituals." Shelton put aside work on the ''Blue Chips'' script to concentrate on ''White Men Can’t Jump''.

Bob Lanier Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. (September 10, 1948 – May 10, 2022) was an American professional basketball player. He played center (basketball), center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). L ...

, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks player and Hall of Famer, was hired as the basketball coach for the film. Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, and other cast members attended an intensive month-long basketball camp to prepare for filming. Lanier was impressed with Harrelson and Snipes, and believed both of them had the skill of Division II college players. During camp and film production, Lanier noted that between the two of them, Harrelson actually was the better player. The character of Gloria was originally conceived as "an upper-class white girl at Smith or Barnard who runs away with a bad boy." However, actress Rosie Perez left a lasting impression on Shelton when she said she could not audition because she was "having a bad hair day", and he reconfigured the character to cast her.

has a supporting role as Raymond, who loses a game to Snipes and Harrelson. Johnson was a star player for UCLA's 1974–75 national championship team coached by

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

and later played for the NBA's Bucks, Clippers, and Warriors. According to Johnson, former NBA player Reggie Harding was the inspiration for the character of Raymond.

, who played "Duck" Johnson, also had a distinguished NBA career, playing for the Clippers, Jazz, and Bullets from 1978–86. NBA player

Gary Payton Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who was a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best know ...

made an uncredited appearance as an unidentified street baller.

Music

Two soundtracks were released by Capitol Records. The first soundtrack using the film title was released on March 24, 1992, and consisted mostly of R&B. The soundtrack peaked at number 92 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 48 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart and features the single "White Men Can't Jump" by

Riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

, which peaked at number 90 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The accompanying music video featured Harrelson, Snipes and Perez. ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' rated it two and a half out of five stars. The second album, titled ''White Men Can't Rap'', was released on April 7, 1992, and consisted entirely of hip hop. It reached number 79 on the ''Billboard''

chart. ''AllMusic'' rated it two out of five stars. The only single coming out of the EP soundtrack was " Fakin' the Funk" by Main Source. ''White Men Can't Jump'' soundtrack #"White Men Can't Jump"- 3:35 (

) #"Sympin" (Radio Remix)- 5:02 (

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...

) #"The Hook"- 3:43 (

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, and actress. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe ...

) #"Let Me Make It Up to You Tonight"- 4:30 (

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and producer whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance and electronic soul.Paoletta, Michael (February 22, 2003) "Watley Relaxes In The Setting of The ...

) #"Don't Ever Let 'Em See You Sweat"- 4:19 ( Go West) #"I'm Going Up"- 3:40 ( BeBe & CeCe) #"Can You Come Out and Play"- 3:45 (

The O'Jays The O'Jays are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appea ...

) #"Watch Me Do My Thang"- 3:58 (Lipstick) #"If I Lose"- 4:04 (

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

) #"Jump for It"- 4:08 ( Jesse Johnson) #"Just a Closer Walk With Thee"- 3:07 (Venice Beach Boys) ''White Men Can't Rap'' #"A to the K" – 3:20 (

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American Hip hop music, hip hop group formed in South Gate, California in 1988. One of the first Latin groups to gain mainstream recognition in hip hop, they have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and have obtained multi ...

) #"Area Code 213" – 4:28 ( Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.) #" Fakin' the Funk" – 3:30 ( Main Source) #"Freezin' Em" – 5:14 (Level III) #"How to Act" – 3:14 ( College Boyz) #"Now You're Mine" – 2:55 (

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo, consisting of Houston-born record producer DJ Premier and Boston-based rapper Guru (rapper), Guru. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2003, and is considered a widely influential MC-and-pr ...

)

Reception

Box office

''White Men Can't Jump'' grossed $14,711,124 in 1,923 theaters in its opening weekend, with a total gross of $76,253,806 in the U.S. and $90,753,806 worldwide and was the 16th highest-grossing movie of 1992.

Critical response

The film received positive reviews. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 106 reviews, with an average score of 6.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''White Men Can't Jump'' provides a fresh take on the sports comedy genre, with a clever script and a charismatic trio of leads." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film received a score of 65 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film three and a half stars, saying it was "not simply a basketball movie", praising Ron Shelton for "knowing his characters".

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised Wesley Snipes for his "funny, knowing performance with a lot of physical verve". The film was a favorite of director

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

Year-end lists

The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in these lists: * 2008:

AFI's 10 Top 10 AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various actors ...

: ** Nominated Sports Film

In popular culture

The category "Foods that start with the letter 'Q was an actual category on an October 1997 episode of ''

'' In 2009,

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

teamed up with the filmmakers of ''White Men Can't Jump'' to assemble the package of shoes inspired by the characters Billy Hoyle and Sidney Deane. During the

2020 NBA All-Star Game The 2020 NBA All-Star Game was an Exhibition game, exhibition basketball game that was played on February 16, 2020, during the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2019–20 NBA season, 2019–20 season. It was the 69th edition of the NBA All- ...

Pat Connaughton Patrick Bergin Connaughton ( ; born January 6, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he primarily plays as a shooting guard. Connaughton previously played ...

competed in the

Slam Dunk Contest The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (officially known as the AT&T Slam Dunk) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was conceived of and started by the American Basketball Associat ...

wearing a White Men Can't Jump shirt.

Video game

A video game based on the film for the

Atari Jaguar The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. It is in the fifth generation of video game consoles, and it competed with Fourth generation of video game consoles, fo ...

console was released in 1995.

Remake

In January 2017,

Kenya Barris Kenya Barris (born August 9, 1974) is an American film and television writer, producer, director, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the ABC sitcom ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022). Early life and education Barris, the second-youngest am ...

was developing a ''White Men Can't Jump'' remake with NBA star

Blake Griffin Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. Griffin primarily played with the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and played college basketball for the Oklahoma ...

and NFL player Ryan Kalil producing. In March 2022, rapper

Jack Harlow Jackman Thomas Harlow (born March 13, 1998) is an American rapper and singer. He began his recording career in 2015, and released several EPs and mixtapes until signing with Don Cannon and DJ Drama's record label Generation Now, an imprint of A ...

was cast in the film.

References

External links

* * {{Ron Shelton 1992 films 1990s sports comedy films American basketball films American sports comedy films 1990s English-language films American buddy comedy films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Ron Shelton Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles African-American films 1990s buddy comedy films 1992 comedy films 1990s American films English-language sports comedy films English-language buddy comedy films