The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)

Very well executed

Excellent but underrated film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The Legend Of Bagger Vance (2000) Plot In A Paragraph: Rannulph Junna (Matt Damon) a down-and-out golfer attempts to recover his game and his life with help from a mystical caddy named Bagger Vance (Will Smith).Easily one of my favourite Will Smith movies and performances (possibly THE favourite) and it's easily one of his most under rated and overlooked pieces of Work. I cannot fathom how a movie of this quality, directed by Robert Redford, starring Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron got great reviews, and yet it failed to draw much of a crowd.I've said earlier in the thread, I prefer it when Smith is actually acting, instead of just playing versions of his public persona. This is no different. I remember taking my 8 year old son (who was a huge Will Smith fan back then) to see this at the cinema on opening day, and it was only half full. After I had watched it, I was telling a friend how wonderful it was, and he replied "I don't like Will Smith, I hate Matt Damon and I can't stand golf!! So you have no chance of getting me to watch that!!" His loss. As it is a brilliant movie, filled with excellent performances. Even my son, used to such movies as Independence Day and Men In Black from Will Smith loved it. He used to silently sit watching this movie all the time.Although the basis of the movie is around a golf tournament, it's not really about that. For me, certainly isn't about who wins the tournament. It is more about the characters and the journey they take.This is why I love movies. I'd rather watch a movie like this, than most things released these days. No CGI, no gimmicks, no superhero's, no shared universe and no eyes on a potential franchise. Just one movie, with some great acting, that is well directed, beautifully shot and tells a well crafted and well told story. I'd go so far to say Smith is so good, he should have been nominated for an Oscar. He got a few nominations of smaller awards, but was over looked for the big ones. Matt Damon is very likable, and is easy to root for, Charline Theron was fine, J. Michael Moncrief is great as Hardy. Child actors are so hard to cast right. Bruce McGill and Joel Gretsch are perfectly cast as rival golfers. Lane Smith is a joy like always and I love Jack Lemmon's voice over. Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus creates some beautiful images, accompanied by a beautiful score by Rachel Portman.I recommend everyone watch this wonderful, heartwarming movie. The Legend Of Bagger Vance grossed $30 million at the domestic box office to end the year the 82 highest grossing movie of 2000. To put it in to context of how poorly this movie performed. The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and a rerelease of The Exorcist grossed more. America should hang its head in shame.

**May include Spoilers** The Legend of Bagger Vance is told from the perspective of an elderly Hardy Greaves who has just had his sixth heart attack while playing golf. As he is lying there he is recalling his childhood and why he loves the game of golf. Before going off to the war, Rannulph Junuh was a very good golfer in Savannah, Georgia. Junuh lost all of his men in World War I, became very depressed and disappeared. When he finally returned to Savannah, Georgia it was the start of the Great Depression. He was an alcoholic and tried to keep to himself. Hardy Greaves really looked up to Junuh and volunteered him to play in a golf tournament that Adele Invergordon (Junuh's girlfriend before the war) had managed to set up with two of the world's best golfers, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagan. Adele had done this in an attempt to save the family golf resort. After some nagging from Adele and Hardy, Junuh starts practicing hitting golf balls when a strange man appears, Bagger Vance. He starts giving Junuh advice and becomes Junuh's caddy. Junuh reluctantly agrees to play in the tournament. Bagger Vance finally is able to help Junuh realize that his thoughts are affecting his game and he has to overcome them in order to do well in the tournament. By the last hole, Bagger Vance can see that Junuh has grown and matured and leaves the caddying to Hardy Greves, who he had been mentoring. Junuh, Jones and Hagan ended the game in a three way tie. The film ends with Hardy Greves getting up from his heart attack on the golf course and seeing an unaged Bagger Vance waving him over.The theme of this move could be 'the way we think affects our and actions'. Bagger Vance bring to Junuhs' attention that he needs to let go of the pain and sorrow inside of him in order to be able to focus on life. It is setting him back in both his gulf game and his relationships with people that he needs in life. As Junuh starts letting go of his troubles, he is able to start opening his heart once again to Adele and find happiness.The movie Nanny McPhee has a similar theme to The Legend of Bagger Vance. Nanny McPhee shows up when a father is struggling in life and has children that have a knack for destruction. She mysteriously shows up one day and slowly helps correct the madness. Her famous line is "When you need me but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go." The same thing happened in The Legend of Bagger Vance. Bagger Vance mysteriously shows up and help straighten out the problems going on in Junuh's mind and helps him become aware of the affects that his mind/memories are having on his life.Two techniques that are used in this file are camera angle and lighting. Camera angle is used in a lot of close ups in order to show the expression at that particular point in time. When it is more serious or intense it shows the actors close up. The most noticeable close up that is used is when Bagger Vance has Junuh watch the way that Jones putts. He has him see that he is the only person on the golf course and gets him to focus on the ball, his swing and where the hole is. Junuh becomes one with the game at that point. The lighting in the movie seems to portray the mood very well. During the dark time and memories in Junuh's life the film is darker or night time. The move that Junuah finds himself, the brighter the sun seems to shine, and when he has his fall backs it gets a little gloomier.Junuh went from being miserably depressed and drunk to finding inner peace through the help of Bagger Vance. Bagger Vance had a calm peaceful feel about his character that made the audience feel at ease with him and his choice of words. Letting go and not allowing our fears and frustration affect us, is when we will truly find happiness.

I know Americans love their golf, but even as a golf-lover and player myself, it seems to me it is a difficult sport in which to impart cinematic drama and though beautiful to look at, Robert Redford's gentle film treads a little too gently on the grass to really satisfy.Redford's recreation of the American South is gorgeous if sanitised to the point of caricature. The rich seem too rich and the poor too poor and for another thing there's a distinct lack of the expected good ol' boy prejudice in the air around Will Smith's black caddie. If, as others have suggested, this is down to his character's supernatural influence on everyone, why make him black at all? I wasn't completely convinced by the elusive nature of his Bagger Vance, even as I get the Hindu allusions in his character name and metaphysical impact on Matt Damon's Junuh character as helps him to "find himself" at the same time upholding the sportsmanship of the game of golf as it used to be.I just thought the Zen and the golf made for awkward bed-fellows plus I also thought it wrong to accredit Damon's character with the key moment of sportsmanship in the film (when he calls a foul on himself that no-one else sees) when in real-life this was actually done by Bobby Jones himself, here portrayed merely as one of Junuh's playing partners.As for the acting, I usually like Matt Damon but felt his "little-boy-lost" depiction seemed shallow, ditto Will Smith's beatific Vance while I also Charlize Theron's southern belle character a bit too rich and loud for my taste. Director Redford's cinematography as indicated is all soft-focus and golden-hued, tributing a by-gone age and there are some nice unobtrusive special effects inserted into the golf match between the two golfing greats and Damon's Junuh, especially the floodlit finale, but for me a golf-ball rolling into a hole just doesn't make for great cinema, unlike say a knockout punch at golf or a home-run hit in baseball.This is a lovingly made film by all concerned but I think in the end think I might have preferred a couple of hours myself on an actual golf course than cosy up to Redford's just- too-nice fantasy film.

A great film. The idea of Will Smith and Matt Damon golfing together sounds more like an awful comedy. Caddy Shack 3 crosses my mind lol! The Legend of Bagger Vance is a great film on several fronts. The characters are well developed. Will Smith plays an honest/mysterious character. Matt Damon's excellent performance of a man with many inner demons, who hides from others. The other supporting characters around the golf community build on the story and create a positive spirit towards the story's climax of the golf tournament. The director blends an entertaining story with social messages. Can Damon win the golf tournament, and inspire people? Sportsmanship, professionalism, doing the right thing, and having ethics is spun as the characters develop. The Legend of Bagger Vance explains the mystery of the Will Smith's character. Inspiring, and entertaining. I give The Legend of Bagger Vance a par 8 out of 10.