Heaven Is a Playground

Heaven Is a Playground (1991)

On Chicago's South Side, too many kids get their one shot in life at the wrong end of a gun. But Byron Harper is determined to change all that with a dream called basketball. His hottest player, Truth, has a chance to turn pro, but first Harper has to tackle two major obstacles: Truth's drug problem and his ambitious, crooked sports agent. Enter Zack Telander, a promising young attorney who has given up his small-town law practice. He's spending a summer in the city playing pick-up basketball games and re-thinking his future. Harper asks for his help, but first Zack has to prove himself at hoops.

Date of release
1991-10-04
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (9)
Runtime
1h 46m
Genres
Drama
Director
Randall Fried

Casting

Interesting facts

Heaven Is a Playground is a 1991 American sports drama film based on Rick Telander's 1976 non-fiction book of the same name. It was written and directed by Randall Fried, and stars Michael Warren, D. B. Sweeney, Victor Love, Bo Kimble, Richard Jordan and Janet Julian. Telander himself makes a cameo appearance in the film. The film was released on October 4, 1991 by New Line Cinema.

Production

The project was in development since the early 1980s when Fried acquired the rights to direct the film in 1986. Michael Jordan, after he was drafted in 1984 by the Chicago Bulls, was pursued to play the role of Matthew Lockhart.

Although Jordan himself did not participate in the movie, his long time body double Nigel Miguel did appear in the role of Casey Caldwell. Terry Bradley, who portrayed Herc, was a former Chicago State basketball player, who was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1983, one year before Jordan, but he had never played in the NBA.

The song TOO GOOD which was written and produced by Cydney Wayne Davis and Lloyd Tolbert and recorded by the vocal trio, Babydoll, was also featured in several scenes in the film and included in the soundtrack.

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