JAYPLAY entertainment news
November 16,2000
For comments, contact Br Anne Hess at 264 481.
Photo illustration by Keith Burner Movie summaries by BriAnne Hess
Lawrence on the big screen
The University of Kansas and Lawrence have found different paths to the silver screen. From former basketball players taking second billing to basketball-playing dogs to an apocalyptic tale featuring shots of campus, the University has contributed diverse elements to Hollywood. Here's a list of some flicks with ties to the University and Lawrence:
Blue Chips (1994)
Gale Sayers joins the Chicago Bears as a running back and meets the competitive Brian Piccolo in this movie based on a true story. While at first the two are rivals, they soon form a strong friendship. Things take a turn for the worse when Sayers is injured and Piccolo is diagnosed with cancer. A movie originally made for television. Sayers was a Kansas running back from 1961 to 1964.
Nick Nolte stars as a California basketball coach who has his first losing season. He must decide between his personal values and the value of a winning team. The film features cameo appearances by basketball legends Bobby Knight, Bob Cousy and Larry Bird. Former KU basketball players Rex Walters and Adonis Jordan appear as players on other teams.
Brian's Song (1971)
Clueless (1993)
Paul Rudd plays Josh, Alicia Silverstone's stepbrother in the film. He wears a KU ball cap. Rudd dropped out of the University after his freshman year. Don Johnson also dropped out of the University early to make movies, and in the last episode of Miami Vice, he wore a Jayhawk T-shirt under his trademark silk suit coat.
John Heard stars an Indiana man who ran the Ku Klux Klan in the 1830s. Though it was set in Indiana, the movie was filmed in Lawrence and features several good shots of Massachusetts Street, the Douglas County Courthouse, and the South Park gazebo.
Cross of Fire (1989)
John Lithgow stands on the stairs behind Wescoe Hall and watches nuclear missiles launch. The movie was made for television, but it was still a big deal at the time. Nuclear fallout victims fill Allen Field House as Steve Guttenberg tends to the wounded. The bulk of the activity centers on Lawrence. The drama portrays the catastrophe of a nuclear confrontation and its devastating effect on a group of average citizens.
hoopsters into a winning team. It features appearances by more than four dozen real-life NBA stars, including former Jayhawk center Greg Ostertag.
A female cabbie (Whoopi Goldberg) — and diehard New York Knicks fan — is named head coach for a day for winning a halftime free-throw contest. In a publicity stunt, the owner gives her the job full time. Goldberg transforms the last-place
Eddie (1996)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
The Day After (1983)
Julia Roberts plays Erin Brockovich, a twice-divorced mother of three struggling to stay afloat in this movie based on a true story. After a car accident, she loses what should have been a lucrative settlement. Jobless and pressured, Erin convinces the attorney from her case, Ed Masry (Albert Finney), to hire her as a lawyer's assistant. As she settles into her job, she convicts Ed to let her pursue a case involving the residents of a local community. The real-life Brockovich graduated from Lawrence High School.
Scott Bakula (KU alumus) and Kathy Ireland play on a Texas college football team that meets the dreaded Jayhawks in one of its games. Texas State University loses its football team because of NCAA
Necessary Roughness (1991)
He Got Game (1998)
Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) is serving 15 years for the death of his wife. His son Jesus (Ray Allen) is the best high school basketball player in the country. One week before Jesus must sign a letter of intent to the college of his choice, Jake is granted a temporary reprieve. The catch is that the governor wants Jesus to go to Big State, his alma mater, and is willing to consider commuting Jake's sentence if he can persuade Jesus to attend. Roy Williams makes a cameo appearance.
violations and scandals.
Primary Colors (1998)
The political process is told through the eyes of Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), an idealistic young man seduced into managing the presidential campaign of slick southern governor Jack Stanton. Billy Bob Thornton, playing a James Carvilleesque aide, wears a Kansas basketball T-shirt.
Ride with the Devil (1999)
A look at a group of Civil War pro-Southern Bushwackers — operating in the no-man's land of Kansas-Missouri — who carry out guerrilla attacks on the Union Army and its sympathizers. Bushwhacker William Quantrill (John Ales) led a hurriedly assembled group of raiders on what many thought would be a suicide mission. But, when the raiders descended upon the abolitionist stronghold of Lawrence on that Friday morning, more than 180 Lawrence citizens — men and boys — lost their lives within hours. Lawrence was burned to the ground. A few scenes in the Ang Lee-directed movie were filmed in the Lawrence area.
Running Brave (1983)
This film tells the true story of Billy Mills, an Olympic 10k gold medal winner. He was a South Dakota Sioux who ran for Kansas from 1958 to 1961 and the only American to win the Olympic Gold Medal in the 10,000 meter run.
— Edited by Clay McCuintion