The Basketball Diaries
The Basketball Diaries
Overview
A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
Trailer
Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio
Mark Wahlberg
Lorraine Bracco
Michael Imperioli
Ernie Hudson
Juliette Lewis
James Madio
Bruno Kirby
Patrick McGaw
Manny Alfaro
Toby Huss
Cynthia Daniel
Brittany Daniel
Michael Rapaport
Roy Cooper
Josh Mostel
Crew
Avy Kaufman
Graeme Revell
John Bard Manulis
Dana Congdon
Scott Kalvert
Jim Carroll
Bryan Goluboff
Liz Heller
David Phillips
Lisa Katcher
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll’s epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim’s life centers around the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach (“Swifty”) who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an unhealthy appetite for heroin — all of these begin to encroach on young Jim’s dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother’s mounting concern for her son. He can’t go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim “picked up a game” now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity.
The Basketball Diaries
