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The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
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Genre: |
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Director: |
Robert Redford
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Rating: |
PG-13
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Running Time: |
125 Minutes
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Release Date: |
November 3, 2000
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Official Website: |
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Movie Trailer: |
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Discuss and vote: |
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Cast: |
Will Smith
Matt Damon
Charlize Theron
Joel Gretsch
Jack Lemmon
Bruce McGill
J. Michael Moncrief
Lane Smith
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Pickup Line: Hole In One!
Quickie: A desperate heiress puts on an elite golf tournament to raise money to keep her estate. Schwing!
The Long Review:
After coming out of The Legend of Bagger Vance, we felt good…really good. It was as though we had gone through an emotional and spiritual cleansing that left us, well, clean. Heck, we think we even smelled better. It's just one of those movies that reach into you and make you admit and explore emotions you otherwise would have been too oblivious or scared to do so. Ooooooh…deep!
The movie tells the story of Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon), the best golfer Savannah ever did lay eyes on…that is, before he fought in the War. Upon returning, he's bitter, solitary, disillusioned, and guilty that his comrades all died in battle while he survived, earning a Medal of Honour, no less. So just as he dropped his rifle when the War ended, he dropped his golf clubs as well, along with everything else that was of importance to him before he went to battle.
Things get interesting when ex-his lady love, Adele Invergordon (Charlize Theron), the daughter of the richest man in Savannah, who also fell victim to Junuh's mass dropping, finds her Southern butt in dire financial straits. You see, her father took The Depression literally and committed suicide. Okay, he had a better reason. He was broke (just like pretty much everyone else during The Depression) after bulding an immense, frivolous golf course that virtually had no hope of garnering him big bucks. So he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, leaving his beautiful daughter to foot the bill.
Being the smart, sassy sista that she is, Adele comes up with a scheme guaranteed to put the golf course on the map, thus raking in the dough: an elite golf tournament that would feature the best of the best with a grand prize of $10,000 (the lump sum that she could come up with if she sold all her valuables). So the invitations are made and Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch), Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill), and a very reluctant Rannulph Junuh, with his witty caddy/spiritual adviser, Bagger Vance (Will Smith) all agree to take a swing at the tournament.
What unfolds is a compelling story that follows Junuh's fight with the demons that plague him. With Bagger Vance as his smart-mouth but perpetually right caddy forcing and guiding him to face his problems head on, the golf tournament becomes Junuh's journey towards a new life. And as an audience, you feel honoured to be a part of all of it.
Great dialogue, excellent cast performances, and an emphatic (and much appreciated) refusal to use clichéd and predictable turns of events make The Legend of Bagger Vance a true legend. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be surprised. But most of all, you'll be touched. And the movie does all this to you in a perfectly balanced fashion. It's neither under-acted nor overly dramatic. As Roger Ebert comments, "Nothing in [the film] is pushed too far; it is a masterpiece of tact."
Matt Damon plays the part of a frustrated and burdened man who has a hell of a golf swing pretty well; Will Smith tackled his part with such gusto, it's hard to imagine that this is the same guy who wore baggy red pants and strutted his stuff in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"; and Charlize Theron displays her versatility as an actor by portraying the role of a desperate but determined heiress to a tee. Man, Director Robert Redford deserves some major props for his work on this film. The guy's proven that he's just as good being behind the camera as he is being in front of it.
The Legend of Bagger Vance is a film that will make you feel like a better person after you see it. Really. Whether you're a golfer or not, you'll appreciate what it has to offer. It teaches some lessons that most of us would take a lifetime to learn. Not bad for the price of a movie, huh? And for the few who want to see this film just for sheer pleasure of seeing Mr. Will Smith in funky '20s clothing, you won't be disappointed!
In Two Minutes:
Did you know?
- Matt Damon is one guy who's completely secure in his sexuality. He once said that if he were gay, Brad Pitt's poster would be hanging on his wall. Now THAT would make an interesting movie!
- If Charlize Theron struck you as a very graceful in the dancing scenes in The Legend of Bagger Vance, it's because this 25-year old is a trained ballerina. Heck, she made Matt Damon look graceful, too!
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