The Best Basketball Movies: #2 "White Men Can't Jump" (1992)

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You knew this one was coming. Written and directed by Ron Shelton, “White Men Can’t Jump” is labeled a comedy but is actually a downbeat story of two losers with an ambiguous end. Woody Harrelson plays a basketball hustler who bamboozles black street players into believing he to be bad being white. The ruse works and he beats arrogant black hustler Wesley Snipes. Harrelson has gambling debts to the mob placing pressure on him. Ditzy girlfriend Rosie Perez pursues her life’s ambition to be a contestant on “Jeopardy.” Both in need of cash, Harrelson and Snipes form an uneasy double dealing partnership. The running joke is Snipes taunting that white men can’t jump to which Harrelson insists he can. That will prove a crucial story point. “White Men Can’t Jump” is sort of a biddy picture that is smart and sharply written. NBA great Gary “The Glove” Payton has a cameo.