Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

oceanpark55 Poorly developed and fragmented movie about a confused college basketball player with a host of predictably militant and/or cynically unhappy acquaintances characteristic of 1960s academia where the film is set. I'm not sure whether we are supposed to like or even care about the characters or not, but in any event I didn't feel much of either for any of them. Jack Nicholson directed this movie with a taste for profanity and nudity. I guess he thought he was being provocative and progressively mirroring the changing cultural mores of the time. He would have fared better by putting his energy into developing characterization and refining the script that he co-wrote instead. All in all a disappointing movie which left me with a feeling of indifference about it.

JasparLamarCrabb Jack Nicholson directed this story of a college basketball star coming to grips with the fact that world is a miserable place. William Tepper is exceptional in the lead role, strung along by his would-be girlfriend (Karen Black) and badgered into being a "good boy" by his win-at-any-cost coach Bruce Dern. The fact that Black is also the girlfriend of one of Tepper's professors really complicates things. Disillusioned and, as he says, feeling disengaged, Tepper personifies an entire generation of late 60s/early 70s youths mired in angst. His roommate is played by Michael Margotta. Margotta is slowly goes mad with paranoia, anger and a pretty sad determination to avoid the draft. The film is melancholy but with a lot of touches of humor, particularly involving Dern's hyperactive pep talks. Black is fine and writer Robert Towne plays her boyfriend. Henry Jaglom, David Ogden Stiers (who, as a professional basketball team owner, has a pretty amusing exchange with Tepper during a contract negotiation), and a silent Cindy Williams are in it too. Nicholson's solo directorial debut is a stunner. He would never direct again with such a sure hand. The great cinematography is by Bill Butler.

Michael_Elliott Drive, He Said (1971) ** (out of 4) Jack Nicholson's directorial debut is a confussing mess but here goes. The film deals with a troubled basketball star (William Tepper) who's caught in an affair with a teacher's wife (Karen Black). The only person trying to make him go straight is his coach (Bruce Dern) but outsiders keep stepping in the way. The film was also co-written by Nicholson and most of the blame can start right here. The film is all over the place and it seems there are enough story lines for at least five other movies. There's also a subplot with a friend who's trying to dodge the draft, which goes no where and leads to some pretty over the top, wannabe serious moments. The one thing going for the film are some pretty good performances, although it appears Dern is trying to give a Nicholson impersonation. Nicholson's direction hits a few good notes but in the end this seems like something that would have only been shown on TV. Needless to say it's never gotten an official release on home video.

bobpetow This was a very interesting movie, as it was Jack Nicholson's directorial debut, and included several other stars before they "became big" such as Bruce Dern and Karen Black. I was an extra in this movie when filmed on the University of Oregon campus/in Eugene area in 1971. Before it came out in theaters, I had left the country for the Peace Corps. When I returned, it had come and gone but I never got a chance to see it.I remember one of the scenes was filmed with a camera inside a basket ball, and was passed back and forth across the court running from one end to the other to "get a perspective from the ball's viewpoint".Anyone seen any copies (vhs or other options for getting a copy)? Would love to see it, as I was in several scenes but again never saw it.Thanks for any leads or ideas of where one would go to get more info.Bob Petow (bobpetow@comcast.net)