This much-celebrated documentary from 1994 follows the life of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two young Chicago basketball players who share the familiar dream of college scholarships and eventual NBA stardom. Pruned from 250 hours of footage, the riveting 3-hour film spans five years in the lives of these young black men, starting as they prepare to enter St. Joseph’s, the predominantly white Catholic high school that helped shape NBA legend Isiah Thomas.

Examining the pressures and the incredibly long odds facing even créme-de-la-créme athletes, director Steve James artfully balances the triumphs and suspense with pathos — including Arthur Agee’s return to a high school in the inner city. Although there’s more than enough exciting basketball footage, James and his cowriter Frederick Marx, capture their most dramatic moments in Gates and Agee’s off-the-court experiences.

For anyone lured by the extraordinary highs of the sporting life, Hoop Dreams emphasizes that the lows can be just as significant. It’s easy to see why this remarkable film provoked a huge outcry when it failed to receive an Academy Award nomination in the Documentary category: No other film has ever explored this triumphant and heartaching court of dreams… (Barnes & Noble)

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This completely absorbing three-hour documentary follows the lives of two inner-city African American teenage basketball prodigies as they move through high school with long-shot dreams of the NBA, superstardom, and an escape from the ghetto. Taking cues from such works as Michael Apted’s 35 Up, director Steve James and associates shot more than 250 hours of footage, spanning more than six years, and their completed work actually moves like an edge-of-the-seat drama, so brimming with tension, plot twists, successes, and tragedies that its length–170 minutes–is never an issue.

Yet, what makes the film more impressive is how James moves his scope beyond a competitive sports drama (although the movie has plenty of terrific, nail-biting basketball footage) and addresses complex social issues, creating a scathing social commentary about class privilege and racial division. The film opens by introducing William Gates and Arthur Agee, two Chicago hopefuls, as they are being courted and recruited by various high schools to play ball, and continues until the pair are college freshmen.

James allows the audience the experience of not only watching their journeys and daily routines (it’s a sobering portrait of inner-city life), but also witnessing their maturation. Each takes a separate path along the way, stumbling over several obstacles (William suffers injuries, Arthur fails to meet his coach’s high expectations); but James takes particular care to stress the importance and strong commitment of each character’s family along the way, giving the film a essential center. The parents and siblings emerge with as much depth and complexity as the two main “characters,” and turn… (Amazon)