White Men Can't Jump
Billy Hoyle is a former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball player who makes his living by hustling streetballers that assume he cannot play well because he is white. Billy never degrades his race when joining on pickup games; he simply allows his opponents to falsely believe they have a natural advantage over him. Such a player is Sidney Deane, a talented but arrogant player who is beaten twice by Billy, once in a half court team game and later in a one-on-one shootout for money.
Billy and his Hispanic girlfriend Gloria Clemente are on the run from outbid mobsters because of a gambling debt. A voracious reader, making note of obscure facts, Gloria's goal in life is to be a contestant on the television show Jeopardy! and make a fortune. Sidney wants to buy a house for his family outside the rough Baldwin Village, Census's District neighborhood of Los Angeles. He talks Billy into a partnership and they hustle other players. When they unexpectedly lose a game, it turns out that Sidney has double-crossed Billy by deliberately playing badly alongside him, making Billy lose $1,700 to a group of Sidney's friends.
Gloria is incensed at Billy for blowing his money again and is also suspicious of how it happened. They go to Sidney's apartment and appeal to his wife Rhonda for fairness, and the women agree to share the money provided Sidney and Billy team up for a major two-on-two outdoor tournament. While they bicker incessantly, Sidney and Billy win the grand prize of $5,000, largely due to Billy's ability to disrupt his opponents' concentration. Billy's most notable claim is that he is "in the zone", a state of mind in which nothing can distract him. Sidney is pleased with the outcome, yet he cannot help mocking Billy about his inability to slam dunk. "White men can't jump," he notes.
Billy insists that he can indeed dunk, and after Sidney clearly disagrees, Billy offers to bet his share of the $5,000 on his ability to dunk. Sidney gives him three chances. Billy fails, losing his share. When he tells Gloria, she leaves him. Sidney reveals that he has a friend who works as a security guard at the TV studio that produces Jeopardy! The friend, Robert, agrees to use his connections to get her on the show if Billy can sink a hook shot from beyond the half-court line, which he does. Gloria initially stumbles over sports questions (such as naming Babe Ruth as the all-time NBA rebound leader), but makes a comeback with a pet topic, "Foods That Begin With the Letter Q." She wins $14,100 on her first episode.
Billy sings Gloria a song he has composed and wins her back. As Billy's life comes together, this time it is Sidney who needs Billy's help; his home is burglarized and his winnings stolen, so he and Rhonda become desperate for money. Gloria expects Billy to get a steady job and settle down, but Sidney asks him to play basketball for money again and use his share of Gloria's take. Gloria warns that if Billy gambles with her money they are through. Billy feels he must honor the obligation he owes Sidney for getting Gloria on Jeopardy! in the first place. They play a final game against two hoops legends of the L.A. scene, "The King" and "Duck." In a very tight game, Sidney and Billy prevail, the winning points coming when Sidney lobs an "alley-oop" pass to Billy, who dunks it.
Returning home happy, Billy discovers Gloria has kept her word and left him for good. He is crushed. The mobsters who are after Billy track him down, and he pays off his debts. Billy asks Sidney to set him up with a real job. Billy says that Gloria has left him many times, but this time is final; Sidney remarks that they may be better off without each other. Billy launches into yet another basketball argument with Sidney, and they return to where they began—but, this time, as friends.
cult, comedy, entertaining, humor