I'm interested in the guy who 'found' Arthur and introduced him to St. Joseph school. Was he paid to do this? Is this sort of business normal in the states? Is it considered a controversial activity, seeing what happened to Arthur?
shareI remember reading the book version of the movie and it said more about him.
I don't have the book anymore (lost it after I moved), but the guy did this as a hobby and didn't get paid at all. It's like he was trying to help the boys find a way for them to play ball and maybe go to college.
It was controversial because he took the kids out of their environment where they were familiar with and into white suburban schools. Recruiting youngsters is controversial but they do it anyways. The players they recruit become younger and younger. There are websites today that profiles 10 year old kids.
That's all I remember off the top of my head.
very instructive thanks. shed some light on what the 'recruiter's' motive was. good to know that he had the kids' best interests at heart; sad nonetheless that their academic/professional careers don't always pan out well.
shareThe man's name is Earl Smith and he was an insurance agent during the week and was a part time scout looking for young talent for the local high schools on the week end.
It's somewhat common in the U.S. to see local recruiters looking for young talent for private high schools. Usually they look for poor black kids to play at private upper middle class white high schools. I would imagine the system they run in 2012 is much more sophisticated than the system that was run back in 1987.
It's not mentioned in the film but I highly doubt that he was doing this as a "hobby" and wasn't receiving any kind of payment or a finders fee. I would imagine he was paid some type of small fee for finding these young players.
In many ways it's quite sad because these young boys are sold a bunch of unrealistic pipe dreams and it seems like the adults are the ones who really make out well in the end.
I think there's a scene somewhere where it's implied or even said that he brings these kids to St. Joseph's, so yeah, I think he gets something on the side for bringing a kid to their attention and they give him a scholarship. A pipeline to the inner city talent. But he could be having fun, scouting and seeing young talent.
I think the pipe dreams though was sold well before him. These kids see no other future because the people around them, in William and Arthur's case the men, see their own dreams and want it so bad.
@davejohnson316,
Yeah, that's a very good point you bring up in that it's not only the high schools that offer up these pipe dreams it's the father in Arthur's case and it's the brother in William's case.
Yeah so it's sad on two points in that Arthur's dad is living vicariously through him and then the private high school exploited him for their own benefit. Arthur comes across as a pretty nice kid who never really gets to be his own person in a sense which is kind of a minor tragedy. Thank God for Arthur's mother because she was the only one that really supported him unselfishly and she probably saved his life.
William is kind of forced to fulfill the dreams of his older brother and then he's totally used/abused by the coach. I never got the feeling from William that he really had the desire or the dream to go all the way. He had talent but it seemed like he loved his brother and didn't want to disappoint him.
The pressure is just way too much on these kids to lift up the entire family out. Both mothers are real heroes in this film. William's mother just wants him to go to college and finish. She wanted it for Curtis and now for William. At the end when she says she thinks he'll make it, it's really to graduate. You can see it earlier where he works on his grades and even gets a summer job. The injury killed that spirit and he never got back on that track.
Arthur's dad's own dreams really affected his son's behavior. You're right, he's a nice kid but he's lazy and I think that comes from Dad's dreams. Basically telling him if he's talented enough, he'll go to the NBA, not teaching him there are so many barriers to cross. He probably didn't work hard in grammar school, St. Joseph's or Marshall. And it's sad because the Coach and teachers of Marshall do their best with him and he's resisting all around.
Yeah, and I think it's just not realistic and kind of tragic to bank everything on a shot at making it to the NBA. It's kind of like banking everything that you'll be struck by lightning or that you'll win the lottery. I've seen similar situations with white working class kids who are very good little league/high school baseball players. I mean the parents are so delusional that their kids are going to be drafted or that they're going to get Division 1 scholarship.
Even without the injury I think William could have been a pretty good college player but I never sensed that he had the hunger or desire to make it to the NBA.
I don't think Arthur is lazy because he's makes it as a starter and the best player on the Marshall varsity basketball team. He works hard at his basketball, I think even harder than William at times. I think part of the problem with kids like this is that almost all their effort and energy is spent "only" playing basketball. As a result many other things in their lives are completely neglected.
There's simply no way he was academically nor socially prepared to function at St. Josephs. He's not even prepared to function academically at Marshall. It's almost like a form of child abuse in that these kids are trained only to play basketball. But like the coach at Marshall said if he had progressed at basketball they would have found a way to keep him at St. Joe's.