The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend

Good movie. Grandsons enjoyed watching it.

As a contemporary of Pete Maravich and an avid basketball player, I had always admired and borrowed from this extraordinary athlete during his playing days. I had forgotten about his life until reading his definitive biography, "Maraviich." My expectations were high about this half-story, expecting all sorts of creative doges. Instead, this film contains so much truth about those innocent times because it leaves un-tampered the steps to basketball success plainly for succeeding generations to follow. Pete Maravich, the greatest collegiate player to date in most ways, did not achieve the greatest fame in the NBA. It is to the producers and writers of this marvelous sport story's credit that I must say manged to sum up all of his playing time in this simple story. What goes unsaid, but could be implied here about Maravich, is that Pete's father (Press) shared his ascent in basketball until he signed in the NBA. After that, he was literally on his own. He was so ahead of his time that there was resistance to him and un-cooperation from team mates and officials and media. Without saying explicitly, the NBA resistance/reaction to Pete was symbolized in the high-school try-out depicted in this story. The objection to Pete's flamboyant style and salary limited his impact because Press, his father, could no longer be his coach/protector. The treatment of Maravich and Kareem Jabbar by the press and players was a blatant contrast; (of the two, only Jabbar assaulted another player blindly with his karate punch) . Like in this story, Pete was told too often to 'play basics' i.e. move the ball to the tall, slower "brothers." There was little reciprocation.To Maravich's credit, he played team ball for several years and found a way to raise all his stats slowly and leave the NBA game with his head high. Realizing a decade later how Pete Maravich's 'showtime' style was beyond the reach of his contemporaries, the NBA placed him in their Hall of Fame without personally achieving a team championship. Be that as it may, Pete Maravich was accorded the same ill-treatment as a southerner (LSU) that Happened to an equally gifted football player, Billy Cannon, a decade earlier.(both forced to play for weak teams) Remarkably, both endured the slings and arrows to excel in their sport. This is a great re-creation of Pete Maravich's youth and bond with his father, Press, leaving out the great contributions of his father as a player and war aviator. The testimony as a special feature by Pete Maravich shortly before he passed away only enlarges this athlete's legacy as a peerless shooter and ball handler.

Those who complain about the quality of the transfer are not understanding the film itself. The film was not shot on the best quality of film. Originally the movie was done on a very small budget with 35mm film grade that was just passable. The film appears muddy to us today because of the grade of movies we have today. You can't make the comparison of this movies picture to modern films picture because that would be unfair, the film will be muddy and pixelated no matter how much work you do on the transfer.In comparing the DVD to the Blu Ray, the DVD was the best it could have been but grainy, this is also true for the Blu Ray it is still grainy, however, the image is more clear on the Blu Ray than the DVD, however, both the DVD and the Blu Ray really do show the limitations of the film grade itself and that can't be fixed. The sound however, is much improved the DVD was really low and compressed heavily, the Blu Ray allows you to hear every word, the music sounds more full, granted, it is only in stereo but that is a function of that being how the film was produced not a function of the actual transfer of the film, they did not record the audio in high definition surround sound.If you are looking for the best transfer of this film you have found it! Even with all the limitations. if you are looking to complain you can also do that too nobody is going to stop you but that is a waste of time. Just enjoy the film and relax, this movie will inspire you to be your best, have a dream and live it which is something I need to continue to do in my life.

Always loved this movie. The quality is not the best, due to them not properly preserving the original when it was cut. But i can assure you it's worth overlooking to delve into Maravich's story. Pete personally chose the young man playing him and the story even behind that is worth looking into. This does a great job of highlighting what it took to be one of the greatest of all time. He's my all time favorite player but that's half due to his abilities (44 ppg avg which is still a college record) and more due to who he became at the end of his life due to Christ. He turned around his drinking and partying and became a man that was worthy of praise. That's what is most important and even though this movies doesn't get deep into it, the inspiration from this movie is what led up to that. An interesting side note i found: Tom Lester, who played Eb in Green Acres, is the actor portraying the older Maravich, as Maravich had passed in January of 1988. This was released in 1991 and Pete Maravich had already been consulted on how the movie should go prior to his death. Get this movie for any young person in your life, whether or not they are into basketball.

I'm not a basketball fan, however I really liked how they portrayed this real life story of hard work and discipline and success as a result. Good movie!

Loved the story of the young Pistol Pete !

Love this movie growing up. Awesome that I was able to find it

This is a great film for the Entire family and then some. A well made film about a Very special basketball player that would become a legend.