NBA at 50
As a documentary this is pretty naff and has "made for TV" written all over it, a nice fluffy propaganda piece made by the NBA as a celebration of itself that's nevertheless captivating viewing for even the most casual basketball fan. "Hosted" by He Got Game star Denzel Washington who we bounce back to periodically for some soulful soliloquy about the "true essence" of the game, it's basically a 'best of' clip-show, with quite a few good interviews with the game's greats.
As such, there's not as much detail into the history of the association as I would have liked. We are briefly told things; like how two competing leagues merged to create the NBA – but are not given any insight into how it happened. Hard to complain too much though, as this leaves more time to focus on the Celtic domination of the 70's, the awesome Magic Vs Bird decade long clash, or the arrival of the world's biggest sports star, Michael somebody.
The archival footage of the early days of basketball is also a treat and it's great that they don't rush over these important moments to just skip to the 'showtime' period of spectacular dunks and street ball trickery, as there's already enough dodgy 'NBA's Top Dunks!!!' type DVDs out there. This self-congratulatory film may be just preaching to the converted, but the basketball fans wouldn't want it any other way.