BACKGROUND
The humble sports movie, where we get to see the underdog triumphant over the usual victor. Predictable, yes, but still, very satisfying to watch. We all love an underdog, don’t we?
Disney Channel certainly holds a fair share of sports films in their catalogue, going as far back as the late 1990s. We saw kids and teens excel at activities like surfing, baseball, skateboarding, and of course, basketball. There were even some less commonly publicised sports at the heart of these stories, including motocross, drag racing, and inline skating.
Although not everyone will be familiar with every sport in every film, the basic premise of these types of movies is always the same: after much time spent practising and training for a big event, eventually it all comes down to that one moment, where we see if they will excel or falter, but know that regardless of the result, they tried their best.
Disney Channel has not made as many sports films in recent years, but there were a fair few of these back in the 2000s, and just one of these was Full-Court Miracle, released in 2003. This year also saw two other sports-themed DCOMs: Right on Track, which I have yet to see, and Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off, one of my all-time favourite DCOMs.
Full-Court Miracle’s sport of choice was basketball, a common sport in many North American films, since basketball is one of the most popular sports over there. Yet in the UK, basketball doesn’t get much of a look-in on our sports channels, which are mostly dedicated to football, with certain times of the year seeing more focus on tennis, golf, darts, and cricket.
Basketball is not a sport I’ve ever been interested in. Because of this lack of interest or understanding of the rules of basketball, I did struggle to feel fully invested in Full-Court Miracle, although I always like seeing the end results of any sports movie, regardless of whether I like the sport or not. But Full-Court Miracle also had a very important element that distinguished it from other sports movies, and that is the fact it is set during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, or Chanukah. This was considered to be quite progressive at the time, especially as there continues to be a lack of Hanukkah movies on television in the later part of the year because TV schedules are too filled up with Christmas films and specials.
I learnt quite a lot about Jewish culture from Full-Court Miracle, because I did not know very much at all before watching it. I have seen Hallmark’s Hanukkah on Rye (2022), which is one of the more well-received Hanukkah movies that have been released in recent years, and I learnt a little bit then, but Full-Court Miracle gave me some actual history.
PLOT
Full-Court Miracle begins with a teenage boy called Alex, also known as Schlots, because of his surname, Schlotsky, and his friend Julie talking about the misfortunes of Alex’s basketball team. They are about to play their biggest rivals, the Warriors, and both Alex and Julie can’t help but think his team, the Lions, is going to lose…badly.
Schlots then heads to school at Philadelphia Hebrew Academy and meets up with his friends and teammates, where Alex tries to convince them to stay motivated for the game, but they don’t seem that bothered about it. They go to their History class with Rabbi Lewis, where the story of Hanukkah is being taught, since Hanukkah is coming up. The story says that Judah led a group of warriors, the Maccabees, to a great victory over a huge army, after the Jewish people had been banned from practising Judaism. Judah and the Maccabees fought for their religious freedom. This inspires Schlots to believe that if his team can find their own Judah, then maybe the Lions can finally triumph over the Warriors.
At the game later against the Warriors, sure enough, the Lions lose. Schlots talks to his friends, Ben, Joker, Stick, and T.J., about the loss, but they’d rather talk about the presents they think they’ll be getting for Hanukkah. Schlots reiterates that if there’s going to be a time for their team to win, it’s now as the next tournament is taking place at their school gym, so home advantage. At home, Schlots tries to find comfort from his parents, but they don’t understand why he gets so upset about basketball, not seeing an NBA career in his future. His mother would rather he had a stable career, such as being a doctor, like her.
Back at school, Schlots asks Rabbi Lewis if they can find a real coach for their basketball team, as their current coach is the disinterested maths teacher. Rabbi Lewis suggests he discusses this with his mother, as Schlots’ mother is on the Board of Directors. He knows she won’t agree to that, so he drops it – for now. But whilst out playing basketball with his friends on the public court, he sees a man playing on his own, and he’s pretty good. Alex attempts to talk to this guy, but he isn’t interested in talking, and says he is just waiting to get a trial at the Philadelphia 76ers. He has no interest in coaching, and quickly leaves in his van. Luckily, Schlots caught his licence plate number and with the help of Stick, they find it is linked to Virginia Cavaliers Lamont Carr, a former player. They start to find all sorts of links between Lamont Carr and Judah Maccabee, like how his licence plate has the initials “JM”, and his basketball nickname was “The Hammer”, a nickname also given to Judah.
The next day, the group see Lamont playing on the court next to them again. Not wanting to lose the opportunity to get him to coach them, Schlots offers him $40 to coach them for one hour. Lamont is given the hard sell and agrees. However, Schlots comes home to find that his mother wants to sign him up to an after-school program at the hospital where he will shadow a doctor. Schlots doesn’t want to do that, but says he’ll think about it.
The team soon have their first coaching session with Lamont but all he does is make them run and do exercises. He says this is all necessary conditioning, but the others, apart from Schlots, are becoming demotivated. Lamont agrees to come back the next day for a further session, with Schlots asking his friends to chip in for the cost. On that day, Joker, not believing any of this stuff about Lamont being like Judah, attempts to prove to Schlots that Lamont Carr is not Judah Maccabee, however, they find out that Lamont had four brothers, like Judah; and his father is called Matthew, close to Judah’s father’s name, Matthias. After that session, the others don’t have any more cash to spare, so Schlots decides to sell a rare basketball card that was a Hanukkah present, to raise the funds.
Back at home, Schlots is told by his mother that he got a place in the after-school program. He is annoyed but doesn’t feel he has much choice but to do it. He complains about it to Julie, although she is less than sympathetic. She thinks the program would be a great opportunity, which gives Schlots an idea: she can go in his place so he can continue to play basketball; it’s the perfect plan! Except even perfect plans go awry. Schlots finds Lamont struggling to fix his van, and he says he can’t coach them anymore as he needs to focus on his basketball career and earn some proper money. Schlots says he’ll double his fee for coaching them and Lamont agrees to it. Schlots also tells Lamont to ease up with his intense exercise regime, as it is demotivating the others. Lamont does a shooting practice instead, which the others find much more fun. Lamont says the team have potential, but their biggest issue is that they don’t believe in themselves enough.
Later, Schlots and the Lions sell coffee on the street to raise money to keep Lamont as their coach. Their teacher from school, Mrs. Klein, pulls up by their cart and questions them. Schlots lies, and says it is a charity fundraiser. Mrs. Klein is still suspicious though and calls Schlots’ mother. On finding out about his lies, she is furious, and Mrs. Klein shuts down the coffee cart. Schlots tries to convince Rabbi Lewis of the importance of their new coach, but he says lying is never the answer. Rabbi Lewis decides Alex and his family should invite Lamont to dinner with Rabbi Lewis and his wife.
At this dinner, Lamont is slightly out of his comfort zone, as he is unfamiliar with Jewish customs. He soon picks up on them though and Rabbi Lewis warms to him. Schlots’ mother says that the parents are concerned – and rightly too – that this coaching has been taking place outside of school and by someone they don’t know. Rabbi Lewis suggests a perfect solution to this: to hire Lamont as the school’s basketball coach temporarily. Schlots’ mother is horrified as she knows this will only continue to take her son’s focus away from his studies, but the deal is done. Lamont will work at the school until his trial comes through.
On his first day at the school, Lamont doesn’t how to get the Lions to believe in themselves more, so Rabbi Lewis offers some words of encouragement, saying that the best way to defeat an enemy is to identify their weakness and target it. This gives Lamont the idea of implementing the full-court press, where their team will apply pressure to their opposition by aggressively defending against them throughout the entire length of the court. After practice, Schlots follows Lamont’s van on T.J.’s bike and discovers Lamont is living out of his van. Lamont tells Schlots about the family he has, and how this basketball trial needs to happen soon. He says sometimes to achieve a big dream you have to make sacrifices. Schlots can understand that. He promises not to tell anyone about Lamont’s living situation. On the first night of Hanukkah, Schlots gets the basketball card he sold as a gift from his parents; Julie had snitched on him about selling it to pay for Lamont’s coaching!
At school, Mrs. Klein needs Lamont’s address for his employment forms. Lamont makes up a fake address, but this only makes her suspicious and she complains to Rabbi Lewis about it. Not wanting Lamont to be fired, Rabbi Lewis warns Schlots that Mrs. Klein plans to follow Lamont home that evening to check his address. This gives Schlots enough time to come up with a plan. He asks his father if Lamont can stay in the apartment his father is unable to sell. His father agrees. Schlots then puts a note on Lamont’s car, telling him the plan and the address to drive to. At the apartment, the ruse is enough to persuade Mrs. Klein that Lamont has a home and she drives away. But Lamont doesn’t want any handouts, and promises Schlots’ father he will smarten up the apartment in exchange for letting him stay.
Schlots’ mother sees a failed test in Schlots’ backpack whilst this is happening and she goes into the school to discuss his studies. Lamont gives a pep talk to the Lions team before a match, saying that Schlots is off the team until his school work improves. Annoyed, he upsets his friend Julie by telling her she keeps harassing him, and even worse, he is unable to focus on anything other than basketball, so he has no idea how to pass his History test, which Rabbi Lewis is allowing him to re-do. His team come over to help him, using basketball to help him remember key facts. Schlots then takes his test. Meanwhile, the team are being told by Lamont how to act more like a team and what their key role will be.
After practice, Schlots is told that he has passed his test and is back on the team. However, the happiness is short-lived as Lamont soon reveals that he has got a temporary contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. Schlots is upset that Lamont is turning his back on the team, calling him selfish, but Lamont says he’s allowed to have a dream too. Schlots asks his mother if the school can hire a new coach but she says no, wanting him to focus on school. After a further lesson about the miracle oil in the lamp lit by Judah and the Maccabees which stayed alight for eight days instead of just one, Schlots asks Rabbi Lewis for some wisdom, and he tells him maybe they need to look for Judah in themselves.
It is then time for the tournament, where the Lions have to go on without Lamont. Schlots motivates the team, and they manage to win their first two games easily. As they are about to lose their third game, Schlots is fouled at the end of time, so the Lions are awarded two free throws. Schlots sinks both of them and they win, getting through to the Finals. After the match, Schlots sees his mother and tells her about the team’s success. She still doesn’t understand why Alex likes basketball so much, so he tries to explain it to her, saying he wants to have his dream, not spend time working for hers.
The day before the Finals, we see that Lamont is struggling with a previous knee injury and doesn’t seem to be loving playing basketball again. On the day of the final, there is a huge thunderstorm. Schlots and the Lions get pumped up, feeling ready to face the Warriors yet again. Schlots’ mother takes Julie to the game, but goes off to do something. She is actually at the stadium, looking for Lamont. She sees Lamont struggling with his van, saying he has to get to the airport. Schlots’ mother starts to wonder if there could be a miracle on this strangely stormy night and asks Lamont to try and start his van again – and it works. She convinces him to come to the game. During the game, eventually, the power goes completely. Outside, the teams try to work the backup generator, so they can finish the game. With the generator on limited time, the two teams come to an agreement that whatever the score is when the power runs out, that is the winner, regardless if there is time remaining. The Lions try to make up their 18-point deficit, and make a strong comeback. But a timeout is called by the math teacher, and their former coach, Mr. Simowitz, who says there is less than three minutes left on the generator. The Warriors overhear this and call their own timeout, wanting to waste those three minutes so they can win, as they still lead.
Lamont then arrives and tells them all to be more like Judah Maccabee and not admit defeat. Schlots goes back on the court ready to restart, when the generator runs out of oil. And yet, the generator restarts – and seems to want to stay on for the game’s final five minutes, mimicking the Hanukkah story. With five minutes left, the fight is back on. The Lions and the Warriors stay close in score, but with ten seconds to go, the Lions are left with one final chance to shoot and win. Schlots passes the ball to a teammate, who scores just as the timer finishes and the power goes off. The Lions win the Championship and the trophy! Schlots’ mother also arrived in time to see it, as did Lamont’s wife and child, reuniting him with his family. Lamont tells Schlots that he’s giving up basketball, wanting to be their permanent coach. Schlots’ mother is happy for the school to hire him permanently.
The film ends with Schlots and his family celebrating the final night of Hanukkah, before playing basketball together with Lamont’s family, whilst Rabbi Lewis gives a message about the celebration of light, in helping to illuminate dreams and bring hope to the world.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Schlots, or Alex, is the primary focus of the story of Full-Court Miracle. Schlots is motivated to find his basketball team, the Lions, the best coach possible, since their current coach, their school maths teacher, doesn’t seem to be particularly bothered about whether the team win or lose. Schlots comes up against indifference from members of his own team, who aren’t looking to have a future career in basketball unlike Schlots, as well as exasperation from his mother who would rather her son focused on having a stable profession. But luckily, because of Schlots’ determination, he finds the Lions a brilliant coach, a former player, and the team go on to have all the success that Schlots had dreamt of winning with them. Schlots is a great leader for the team, and a good motivator.
Alex “Schlots” Schlotsky was played by Alex D. Linz. Linz had previously starred as Alex Pruitt in Home Alone 3 (1997), and voiced Young Tarzan in Disney Animation’s Tarzan (1999). He was later cast in the title role of Disney’s live-action film Max Keeble’s Big Move (2001) and appeared as Pete Calcatera in the medical drama Providence (1999-2002).
Lamont Carr is the new coach that Schlots finds for his team. Lamont is very reluctant when Schlots comes to him, wanting him to be their new coach. Lamont has no interested in coaching, and is just trying to keep himself fit and ready for a potential trial with the Philadelphia 76ers team. Lamont even walks away from Schlots the first time, and is not pleased to have him hassle him again the very next day. Lamont does relent though when Schlots offers to pay him for his time, eventually growing to like coaching the Lions. When Schlots’ school gets involved, Lamont is able to coach them properly, and does well with them – except Lamont does get his trial and leaves the Lions just before their big tournament, upsetting Schlots in particular. Lamont struggles with his recurring knee injury during the trial and is coaxed back to coaching the Lions, as a way of having a stable career and being able to spend time with his family once again, as he had sacrificed his time and home life with them to live out of his van, chasing a dream.
Richard T. Jones was cast as Lamont Carr. Around the time of Full-Court Miracle, Jones was playing Bruce Calvin van Exel in the legal drama Judging Amy (1999-2005). He went on to be cast as Governor Sam Denning in Seasons 2 and 3 of Hawaii Five-0 (2010-20). Currently, Jones has a main role in ABC’s The Rookie (2018-present), as Wade Grey.
For the rest of the Lions team, we have the four main members of Schlots’ friendship group, Ben, also known as “Big Ben”, Joker, T.J., and Stick. Ben appears to be the least athletic of the group, struggling with some of Lamont’s intense training regimes, but he becomes an integral part of the team, helping them win the tournament nonetheless. Ben was played by Sean Marquette, who shortly after Full-Court Miracle played Young Matt in the romcom 13 Going on 30 (2004), which starred Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner. Also around this time, Marquette voiced Mac in Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (2004-09). More recently, Marquette was cast in the recurring role of Johnny Atkins in the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs (2013-23) and its spin-off Schooled (2019-20).
T.J. is a bit of a hothead, who has been booked by the referees in multiple matches for talking back to them when results don’t go his way. Lamont teaches T.J. to be calmer, by getting him to think about his crush whenever he’s close to lashing out! T.J. was played by Erik Knudsen. He went on to be cast as Lucas “Crash” Wilson in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), after his role as Daniel Matthews in the horror movie Saw II (2005). Knudsen also appeared as Robbie Mercer in Scream 4 (2011). He was later nominated twice at the Saturn Awards in the category of Best Television Supporting Actor for his role as Alec Sadler in Showcase’s sci-fi series Continuum (2012-15).
Joker is the most cynical one of the group, both about the origin of Hanukkah, which he calls a “fairy story”, and about Lamont being like Judah Maccabee. Eventually, Joker gets on side and is able to help the team to their big victory over the Warriors. David Sazant was cast as Joker. He later went on to have a minor role as the Marymount Captain at the Mathletes competition in Mean Girls (2004). For his role in Full-Court Miracle, Sazant was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special – Supporting Young Actor.
Stick is the smart, studious one on the team, who is also the biggest follower of his faith. Stick is even the one to put forward the theory about Lamont being “their” Judah, and finding lacks to prove his theory. Stick was played by Jase Blankfort, with his character in Full-Court Miracle being his most recent acting credit.
Outside of his teammates, Schlots’ other close friend is Julie. She has followed Schlots’ team, the Lions, through the years and is constantly talking to Schlots about their lack of success and the reasons why they can’t improve. This might occasionally annoy Schlots, but Julie is a loyal friend to go to so many of these games even though the likelihood is the Lions will lose! She later helps Schlots out by taking his place on the hospital program his mother got him a place on, so Schlots can keep playing basketball after school. Later, Julie and Schlots have a falling out after Schlots snaps at Julie for always “harassing him” about basketball. Schlots’ mother helps the two make up as she drives Julie to the final tournament match to go and see the Lions finally win a trophy.
Cassie Steele was cast as Julie. At the time of Full-Court Miracle, Steele was appearing as Manny Santos in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001-15), being on the show from Season 1 until Season 9, which ended in 2010. Steele went on to voice various characters, including Tammy Gueterman and Tricia Lang, in the adult animated series Rick and Morty (2013-present). She is also singer, having released two albums, one in 2005, other in 2009. Apparently, Steele was set to voice Raya in Disney Animation’s Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) but the role actually went to Kelly Marie Tran. Steele was nominated for Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special – Leading Young Actress for her role as Julie in Full-Court Miracle.
Now for Schlots’ mother and father. Neither his father or his mother believe that Schlots is ever going to make it in the NBA, but his father is more inclined to let Schlots figure things out for himself instead of trying to push him towards something else. On the other hand, Schlots’ mother, a well-respected doctor, wants Schlots to follow in her footsteps and focus on becoming a doctor, or at least something a bit more stable, a profession he can rely on for years to come. His mother is quite forceful in her wishes for Schlots, because she gets him a place on a program he doesn’t want to be involved in, and gets him kicked off the basketball team for getting a bad grade on a History test. It isn’t until Schlots’ team gets to the Finals of the tournament and his mother asks him to explain why basketball is so important to him, that she finally understands that she needs to let her dream of her son being just like her go, so Schlots can have his own life, doing whatever makes him happy.
The actor who played Schlots’ mother may look familiar to Disney Channel Original Movie fans, as the actor, Linda Kash, played Samantha, Kelly’s mother, in Cadet Kelly (2002), which starred Hilary Duff. Kash also played Alma Hix in the made-for-television adaptation for ABC of The Music Man (2003), alongside Matthew Broderick as Harold Hill and Kristin Chenoweth as Marian around this time. Kash went on to play the recurring role of Nellie Hebert in the medical drama Doc (2001-04). Schlots’ father was played by Jason Blicker. He had previously been cast as Uncle Heschie on Fox Family and ABC Family’s series State of Grace (2001-02), just before his casting in Full-Court Miracle. More recently, Blicker was cast as Todd in the Canadian comedy series Jann (2019-21).
Then, we have Schlots’ teachers at Philadelphia Hebrew Academy. One of these is Rabbi Lewis, who is also their History teacher. Rabbi Lewis is constantly on hand to advise Schlots on his journey to finding a new coach for the Lions. When Rabbi Lewis discovers that Schlots has been lying to his mother so the team can have coaching sessions with Lamont Carr, he immediately resolves this problem by inviting Lamont to a family dinner and giving him a temporary role as the basketball coach at the school. Rabbi Lewis later gives Lamont advice on how to get the team in a winning position by saying that they need to use their opposition’s weakness to their advantage. This is all done via the analogy of comparing the Lions’ difficulties to that of Judah Maccabee in the Hanukkah story. Rabbi Lewis is basically the voice of reason in Full-Court Miracle. Rabbi Lewis was played by R. H. Thomson, who most recently played Matthew Cuthbert in the Canadian drama Anne with an E (2017-19) based on the Lucy Maud Montgomery novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).
Mrs. Klein is a strict teacher at the academy, always suspicious of Schlots and his basketball teammates. Mrs. Klein doesn’t like how these boys put too much emphasis on basketball and not enough on their studies, a feeling that is shared by Schlots’ mother. All Schlots’ lies unravel when Mrs. Klein sees Schlots and the others selling coffee, not as a charity fundraiser, but as a way of paying Lamont for his coaching sessions. But this ultimately leads to Lamont Carr being hired by the school, something Mrs. Klein is not too happy about, and this is made worse by the fact Lamont lies about his address, as he is living out of his van at that time. Mrs. Klein even resorts to following Lamont home in a bid to catch him out and get him fired, but this plan is foiled by Schlots’ quick thinking – and a tip-off by Rabbi Lewis! Ultimately, Mrs. Klein sees the importance of the school’s basketball team and cheers them on to victory in the final game.
Sheila McCarthy was cast as Mrs. Klein. McCarthy has had supporting roles in movies such as Die Hard 2 (1990), where she played Sam Coleman, and The Day After Tomorrow (2004), as Judith the librarian. She also has some history with the Walt Disney Company and their films. For example, she was cast as Mrs. Gerard in the Disney film Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), which starred Lindsay Lohan. In the world of DCOMs, McCarthy was later cast as Angie, Addison’s grandmother, in ZOMBIES 3 (2022). She also played Fran Walker in Cow Belles (2006). Another actor from Full-Court Miracle, who also appears in Cow Belles is Ron Gabriel, who played Mr. Simowitz the former Lions coach here. He played Melvin the accountant in Cow Belles.
Since Full-Court Miracle is a basketball movie, it makes perfect sense that they would have a cameo appearance by a real basketball player. In this case, that player was Jerome Williams, who was active in the NBA from 1996 to 2005, playing for such teams as the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. At the time of Full-Court Miracle, Williams was playing for the Toronto Raptors. He made two appearances during the movie, playing one-on-one with Lamont at one point in the film, and then speaking to Schlots’ mother outside the stadium as she is searching for Lamont to bring him to the Lions’ game.
MUSIC
Because Full-Court Miracle heavily focuses on its story, there are few songs that appear in it.
The most prominent song that appears in Full-Court Miracle is playing during the warm-up and final match between the Lions and the Warriors and that is “Spin ‘Ya Like A Dreidel”, written by Ray Cham and Rwaana Barnes. It was performed by SoL Survivor, a hip-hop song. It is a good backing track to the Lions’ fight against their arch rivals.
Two other songs are credited in this film, but I have little idea, if any, where they appear. One is “Team Theme”, written by Gary Mrowca and John Hiler, and performed by GBonafide and J-Hi. I think this could be the song that Lamont puts on when the Lions are having a practice session without Schlots. Lamont is telling each member of the team why they are important and how they fit into the game. This is then followed by Lamont leading the Lions in a new team song that is a hip-hop take on the typical camping or Scouts song “Everywhere We Go”, in a bid to further boost their commitment to the team.
The other song is “Monkey Thumbs”, written by Steve Bauman and Robert Willy Wood, performed by Stretch Nickel. I have no clue when this is used in Full-Court Miracle and I can’t find the song online anywhere to try and hear it to work it out myself, nor does anyone else seem to have worked out where it is.
For the score, composer Christopher Brady was chosen. Brady was a frequent collaborator with Disney Channel back in the 2000s, composing the music for other Disney Channel Original Movies like The Luck of the Irish (2001), Motocrossed (2001), The Poof Point (2001) and Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire (2000). He later composed the music for Going to the Mat (2004), another DCOM, and for Season 1 of Phil of the Future (2004-06).
PRODUCTION
Full-Court Miracle came to Disney Channel at a time when Disney Channel Original Movies were starting to have an identity and beginning to attract loyal viewers, with more musicals and films that complemented their series, as well as those that showcased the channel’s biggest stars from their series.
Full-Court Miracle doesn’t fit into any of these categories, meaning that it is one of those DCOMs that has been overlooked, simply due to the fact it came out in 2003, before the Disney Channel boom of High School Musical (2006), and it is not a musical.
Still, Full-Court Miracle saw some previous Disney Channel collaborators involved in the project, trying to make all these movies at least feel similar in style, even if their stories were very different. The director of Full-Court Miracle was Stuart Gillard, who had directed The Scream Team (2002) prior to this, and went on to direct other DCOMs such as the sports movie Going to the Mat (2004) and comedy Hatching Pete (2009). Gillard also directed some episodes of non-Disney television series later in his career, including the reboot of 90210 (2008-13) and the crime drama Beauty and the Beast (2012-16).
The writers involved with this film were Joel Silverman, Joel Kauffmann and Donald C. Yost. Yost and Kaufmann had been the screenwriters on Disney Channel’s Miracle in Lane 2 (2000) prior to working on Full-Court Miracle.
The story of Full-Court Miracle is actually loosely based on a true story, about a real basketball player named Lamont Carr. At 6 foot 7 inches tall, he was recruited out of a Chicago junior college to play for the University of Virginia college team, the Virginia Cavaliers. He helped the team win their first ACC Championship title in 1976. After his basketball career had ended, he later became interested in darts and earnt a law degree, before moving to Florida and becoming a gym teacher and basketball coach, during which time he coached a championship-winning basketball team at a Jewish school, this being the premise for Full-Court Miracle. Carr sadly died in July 2017 at the age of 64[1].
Some changes were obviously made to this story with the most obvious being that the Jewish school in Full-Court Miracle is based in Philadelphia, which has a large Jewish community. Strangely enough, but not so strange when you think about how many movies are filmed there, Full-Court Miracle was filmed in Toronto, Canada, not Philadelphia, with only some of the opening shots actually showing the city itself.
The other part of the story that Full-Court Miracle is based around is the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, Judaism’s festival of lights. For anyone unfamiliar, Hanukkah takes place on eight consecutive nights, where people gather to light a new candle on their menorah. They sing songs, eat traditional foods, and exchange presents too. The dates of Hanukkah vary year-on-year, but they always occur within November or December[2].
Full-Court Miracle frequently references the origin of Hanukkah. A small group of Jewish fighters, the Maccabees, led by Judah, fought against Greek rule and the Hellenists, who had banned their religion and its rituals. In the three-year conflict, the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, but over time, it was cleaned and repaired. This long-standing battle is symbolised by the Lions and the Warriors going up against each other, and the Lions, the small, less equipped group, winning. To celebrate their victory, an oil lamp was lit by the Maccabees. They suspected there was only enough oil to burn the candle for one day. It stayed alight for eight days, so this is why a menorah has eight candles and why foods cooked in oil are traditionally eaten at this time of year in Jewish culture[3]. This miracle oil is referenced in Full-Court Miracle with the generator. The backup generator is about to run out of oil, but it miraculously stays on for just enough time for the basketball final to end.
After much annoyance over the lack of Hanukkah-themed movies around the holiday season, some Jewish viewers were very glad to see a positive representation of their Jewish identity in Full-Court Miracle. Full-Court Miracle actually followed another movie about Hanukkah, an animated comedy from Adam Sandler called Eight Crazy Nights (2002). Although it did not receive particularly good reviews, it was an attempt to showcase a culture that is underrepresented on television, and it was appreciated. Full-Court Miracle coming just a year later, and aimed at younger viewers, was a further step in the right direction[4].
RECEPTION
Full-Court Miracle debuted on Disney Channel on 21st November 2003 in the US.
In 2003, Hanukkah began on 19th December and ended on 27th December, so this was a little bit early, but at least the film wasn’t late! No doubt it was re-run on the channel during the actual Hanukkah celebrations. At least, I hope those in Scheduling at Disney Channel had the foresight to do that.
I haven’t been able to find anywhere that specifically states the viewing figures for Full-Court Miracle on its premiere, but it is believed to have been a little below 4.5 million. For some context, the best film premiere of 2003 for Disney Channel was The Cheetah Girls, which gained over 6 million. So, not too bad in comparison, really.
Most DCOMs receive mixed reviews, due to their young casts, simple storylines, and lack of budget, which doesn’t necessarily make a film bad, but it does make them easier to critique. On the negative side here, some said Full-Court Miracle was weak compared to other Disney Channel movies of this era and beyond. Others said it was clichéd and predictable, with the ending of the Lions winning against all odds easily guessed from the outset of the film. There were also comments that the basketball playing in the film was not accurate either, annoying some fans of the sport. Since I am not one, I can’t say I noticed! It was also felt the metaphor of the Hanukkah origin story applying alongside Schlots’ bid for victory with his team and the oil continuing to fuel the generator was a little forced, and not appreciated to be applied to something as trivial as a school sports team.
On the lighter side, some enjoyed the cast, and felt it was an inspirational film for young people. It was appreciated for its representation of Jewish culture, being a good introduction for those unfamiliar with Judaism or Hanukkah itself in particular. Other said the movie was decent, but not amazing. I’m afraid that is the camp I sit in. But others absolutely love this film, and feel it was ahead of its time in terms of depicting Jewish culture.
Full-Court Miracle may not have been beloved by the masses, but it was still nominated for some awards. The movie’s writers were nominated at the Writers’ Guild of America Awards for Children’s Script, but lost to The Maldonado Miracle (2003), a TV movie that starred Salma Hayek. Full-Court Miracle was also nominated at the Humanitas Prize awards in the Children’s Live-Action Category. Disney Channel’s Going to the Mat (2004) was also nominated in this category, but both lost to Crown Heights (2004).
LEGACY
Full-Court Miracle followed a string of sports-themed Disney Channel movies, which went back to 1998 with their first of this kind, Brink!
It would make sense then, that Disney Channel would continue to add more films of this type to their catalogue, although not as many in recent years. Since Full-Court Miracle, we’ve seen figure skating in Go Figure (2005); Double Dutch skipping in Jump In! (2007), and snowboarding skills in Cloud 9 (2014), just to name a few.
The most important part of Full-Court Miracle’s legacy though is that it is one of few movies about Hanukkah, which has made it memorable in the minds of former Disney Channel viewers, particularly those who are Jewish themselves. It was also ranked at No. 11 on Vulture’s ranking of the 105 Disney Channel Original Movies released at the time. The reason for this ranking was that Full-Court Miracle is apparently one of the only movies in American cinema to depict a modern-day Jewish school. It was also a chance for Disney Channel to show that there are other holidays being celebrated around the world besides Christmas[5].
Being remembered for something notable like this is much better than just being remembered for being a popular Disney Channel franchise. Full-Court Miracle might be just one in a list of DCOMs, but for some, it might be the one that represented them the most.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Full-Court Miracle is labelled as a Hanukkah sports movie, showing that the two ideas were meant to blend seamlessly. The success of this can be debated.
Personally, I would say the balance does skew more towards the basketball, but I did also learn plenty about Hanukkah and Jewish culture. Since I’m not Jewish, I hadn’t given much thought to the lack of films on television that celebrate Hanukkah, with festive Christmas films, full of cookie baking and tree decorating, dominating the schedule.
It would seem Full-Court Miracle went some way in trying to accurately reflect the teenage Jewish experience and their family traditions. Although not a perfect representation, Full-Court Miracle was much appreciated by some young viewers for this very reason; it made them feel seen.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Virginia Magazine, ‘In Memoriam: 1970s’, UVAMagazine.org, Fall 2017.
[2] Credit: Giovanna Dell’Orto, ‘When is Hanukkah, and how is it celebrated around the world?’, PBS.org, 30th November 2023.
[3] Credit: CBBC Newsround, ‘Hanukkah: What is it? How is it celebrated? What do you eat and why?’, BBC.co.uk, 6th December 2023.
[4] Credit: Will Feinstein, ‘A great Hanukkah movie would take a miracle’, AVClub.com, 11th December 2020.
[5] Credit: Rebecca Alter, ‘All 105 Disney Channel Original Movies, Ranked’, Vulture.com, 4th May 2020.
The Disney Purist 