The Basketball Diaries (film)

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The Basketball Diaries
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Scott Kalvert
Produced by	Liz Heller
Written by	Jim Carroll Bryan Goluboff
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Lorraine Bracco James Madio Mark Wahlberg Bruno Kirby
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	David Phillips
Editing by	Dana Congdon
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	April 21, 1995
Running time	102 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$2,424,439
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Basketball Diaries is a 1995 drama film based on the book of the same name by Jim Carroll. The film features original music by Red Hot Chili Peppers' bass player, Flea.

[edit] Plot

Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a high school basketball player. His life centers on basketball, and his dream is being a basketball star. Once in a while he gets stoned with his friends, and step by step, he falls into the dark world of crime and drugs. Once his mother expels him from the house, he goes into the streets of New York, and together with his friends takes drugs for which they steal, rob and even kill.

As time passes, Jim's situation becomes worse. It looks like he will never escape his drug addiction. One night, after hallucinating on the basketball court where he played as a youth and passing out in the snow, he blacks out and wakes up, presumably days later, in the home of Reggie, an older acquaintance with whom he previously enjoyed playing one-on-one basketball. Jim attempts to leave, but Reggie prevents this. He eventually tells Jim that he is a recovering drug addict and has been in Jim's situation. Jim acquiesces to the offer of help, and endures the process of withdrawal over several days. However, upon leaving, he relapses, finally ending up incarcerated, where he goes clean. The final scene of the movie is a recovered Jim sitting on a stool on a nightclub stage, reciting his life story.

After the Heath High School shooting, lawyer Jack Thompson brought this film into a $33 million lawsuit claiming that the film's plot, among other media, caused the 14-year-old shooter Michael Carneal to shoot members of a prayer group. The case was dismissed.