The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend (1991) Millie Perkins, Nick Benedict, Adam Guier, Murrell Garland, Tom Lester Movie Review

The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend (1991)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Adam Guier in The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend (1991)

Pistol Pete the Formative Years

With his dad being a passionate basketball coach it is no surprise that twelve year old Pete Maravich (Adam Guier) is as passionate as he is and thanks to the drills his father has taught him is a talented young player. So talented is he that the coach of the Varsity team breaks his own rule and puts him on the team with the seniors which initially doesn't go down with the other players especially when his showboating style is so different to what they are use to. But soon most of the team come around as they see how dedicated he is to being the best. But when Pete and his dad push to have the Varsity team playing the top African-American High School team it is met with some negativity.

I will put my hand up and say I am not a huge basketball fan and as such had never heard of "Pistol" Pete Maravich but after watching "The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend" I have to say he seemed a fascinating and inspiring man. And inspiring is in many ways the order of the day as we are given 3 inspirational sides to the life of Pete as a child. We see how dedicated he was to becoming a great basketball player to the point of sleeping with the ball and always practicing till the ball was like a part of his body. We then see how he overcame the initial rejection of the older players in the team who disliked being shown up by a little kid. And finally we see how Pete and his father were influential in trying to tear down racial barriers by pushing for a game against an African American team. And all three aspects are both inspiring and entertaining but never heavy with anything approaching darkness kept down to a minimum.

But I have to say that whilst "The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend" both entertained and inspired me it didn't feel like a movie of depth, just lots of re-enforcement about hard work, dedication and fairness. And there is nothing wrong with that as for a young audience the level of the movie is just right and I am sure many will be blown away by the basketball skills of Adam Guier. I don't know whether Guier did all the tricks on show or whether they were computer generated but I know that he kept my attention which considering I am not bothered by basketball is quite impressive.

What this all boils down to is that "The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend" is a very good movie and it instils in the audience the importance of hard work and dedication to achieve your dreams. My only slight negative is that whilst it does work as a biopic the depth isn't there to make it feel as important as all the scenes of basketball action.


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