The Basketball Diaries
Jim Carroll: Writer and subject of the movie, the guy Jim talks to in the underground drug den.,When Jim, Pedro, and Mickey steal the car to sell to Mickey's brother, Jim is smoking a cigarette which he takes a drag of then throws out the window. When Pedro nearly crashes the car, he is smoking it again.,Jim Carroll: You're growing up. And rain sort of remains on the branches of a tree that will someday rule the Earth. And it's good that there is rain. It clears the month of your sorry rainbow expressions, and it clears the streets of the silent armies... so we can dance.,Uncut for UK cinemas, it was previously cut by 47 seconds by the distributor. The cuts were to the dream sequence where kids are shot in school, which was removed by the distributor in response to the Dunblane massacre. Passed uncut with an 18 rating in 2000.,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Kiss of Death/Jury Duty/Stuart Saves His Family/The Basketball Diaries/The Pebble and the Penguin (1995),Catholic Boy
Written by Jim Carroll
Performed by Jim Carroll with Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam appears courtesy of Epic Records,I remember that when the Columbine shootings happened, some people blamed "The Basketball Diaries". When I saw the movie, I couldn't understand the connection at all. True, there's a school shooting scene, but focusing only on that misses the movie's point. The movie is the true story of New York teenager Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) and how he descended into the ugly world of drug addiction. If you're squeamish, then I should warn you that there are some pretty nasty scenes of drug addiction and what happens.

Yes, it's ugly what happens, but that's what makes the movie so good: they're not afraid to get down and dirty. Also starring are Lorraine Bracco as Jim's mother, Mark Wahlberg as Jim's friend, Bruno Kirby as the high school coach, Juliette Lewis as an acquaintance, and Ernie Hudson as a man who saves Jim from dying out in the cold.

Like I said, this is not a movie for the fainthearted. But otherwise, I truly recommend it.,