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A guy gets a second chance at a basketball career, but neglects the friends who supported him along the way.

The film deals with Roary (John Savage) meeting a group of new friends at a local hangout called Max’s Bar. The bartender, Jerry( David Morse), includes him in a card game and soon the guys, mostly disabled older men: one blind, one in a wheelchair, etc.,  treat him like one of their own. Roary has a pronounced limp, which we learn is from a fall off a building when he tried to commit suicide. Jerry invites him to a basketball game and tells him he likes to go early to watch the practice. That evening, Jerry gets the chance to play one-on-one with one of the players and holds his own. Jerry has a leg problem and Roary, seeing how talented he is, tells him he should consider having another doctor look at it and have more surgery. Jerry brushes this off as he doesn’t want to get his hopes up.

We find out Max, the bar owner, is having financial problems and he has a heart attack soon after getting a foreclosure notice. Roary tells Jerry he can help and buy the bar, but Jerry wants the money for the surgery. Roary reminds him that it’s family he’d be helping. Jerry later does get the surgery and is good enough to join a pro team. However, once he becomes a big shot, he no longer comes around to see his old friends. They feel slighted and soon Jerry invites Roary over, but just Roary and none of his old pals. The other guys become even more hurt. Later, Jerry comes to the bar and explains he didn’t want to come around. The guys get emotional and when Jerry says he’s not playing that evening because he feels he let them down, they get upset and tell them his dream is their dream.

This is a great film about friendship, dreams, and supporting those closest to you. The men in the film all support one another and have become a family. Even when Jerry turns his back on them after they helped him get where he is, they take him back when he asks for forgiveness.

There are so many stellar performances here: Jerry’s so earnest and likable, that it’s forgivable when he comes back to ask for forgiveness, Roary’s appreciation of friendship and family, and Stinky, the blind man (Bert Remsen), who supports his friends and adds humor. He may joke around and make fun, but he has their best interests at heart. Remsen is wonderful in the film.

This is one of the best films I’ve watched with a great script, good side stories (Jerry’s girlfriend, who is a junkie who prostitutes herself for drugs), and Roary’s first girlfriend prior his suicide attempt.  I highly recommend this one.

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