The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)

Sports Illustrated once rated this the worst movie of all time. They're Crazy! Great story. Will Smith is excellent. Love the kid who plays the local Savannah boy! One of my favorite-if not my very favorite-golf movies.

Fmovies: I used to love this film a lot, but with time I have grown less fond of it. Still I regard it as a pretty good film, for a number of reasons.

First, it is very well made, and artistically shot with some highly memorable scenes, such as the one where Will Smith first appears out of the dark.

Second, it is very well directed, by Robert Redford.

Third and finally it has a smashing cast, with Will Smith and Matt Damon carrying it beautifully. Surprisingly, Charlize Theron, who I don't tend to like very much in general, is very good as Damon's love interest. Another surprising thing about this film is that the kid, J. Michael Moncrief, is fantastic in his part as young Hardy Greaves (kid actors, with the exceptions of Rupert Grint and Haley Joel Osment, tend to have very poor acting skills. Yes Daniel Radcliffe, I'm thinking of you). Also, look out for Jack Lemmon's (for some reason uncredited) role as the old Hardy Greaves (it was one of his final roles).

"The Legend of Bagger Vance" is a good watch, but it does get a bit monotonous after a while. Still, if you love golf, you're bound to enjoy it. I give a respectable 8/10.

This will be short. This will be sweet.

After viewing this film, I am feeling really good about myself right about now. This movie was uplifting and inspiring. You will feel good about yourself after seeing it. And that is probably what Robert Redford has hoped would happen. Hehe. That little s***. This movie has the exact feel of those other feel-good movies that have come before it. Ex. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, OCTOBER SKY, etc. But, for some reason THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE seemed to be one of the better films of that genre. It almost made me cry, which very rarely ever happens. Matt Damon is a good actor. I hope to see more of him everywhere. If you are in the mood for a happy movie that will make you feel good about yourself, see this one.....5/5.

Oh, and it was good to see Jack Lemmon in this film. Especially since it is the last one he ever plays in.

The Legend of Bagger Vance fmovies. The Legend of Bagger Vance is one of those movies that are all about feeling good and inspiring messages all of which we have seen a trillion times before.: Chocolat, You've got Mail, etc. Yet, it kind of works and Redford succeeds in persuading you to stay till the ending credits though the core of the story is not a romantic plot but rather the personal development of the Matt Damon's character Junuh. Will Smith's character Bagger Vance comes to his rescue as a mysterious, yet charismatic caddie who helps him regain not only his self-confidence but also his status. The film is interwoven with magical realism of Vance, although there's not much more to him than delivering motivational speeches and puzzling everyone regarding where he came from and why he's on Junuh's side in the first place. A large part of the charm of the film is the beautiful setting of Savannah, and a very luscious Charlize Theron playing a glamorous local socialite who incites the exhibition golf match around which the whole story is revolving. With all this, it's a light , inspiring afternoon entertainment in a stylish package. You probably won't regret seeing it, but it's not exactly on par with equally feel-good vehicles like Forrest Gump. To paraphrase Vance, it's not exactly the perfect strike, but it goes in the right direction (pun intended).

You know, there's basically only two ways you can watch movies. You either use them as food for the thinking mind, or you simply sit back and see where it takes you, as if it's the first thing you've ever seen.

In the first way, your mind generates expectations of what it will get to consume. Then it will be presented its food for consumption, and it will start up its filters in order to judge whether the food is good or bad. And every time you think you can fit it with a negative label, you will gladly make known that you made that recognition.

In the other way, you enter the movie fully and openly, without expectations. And as the experience unfolds, you feel into the characters and relate it to your own being.

From the first perspective, this movie is not very good. It's slow, a bit airy-fairy, and the plot quite boring. Your mind will probably already know what's going to happen all the time, and find plenty of negative labels it can paste onto the movie. On to the next one, the next thing to consume, it will tell you.

From the other perspective, this is one of the best movies if not the best ever created in the history of humanity, if you ask me. It gradually unfolds into showing how R. Junuh (Matt Damon) becomes more present in where he is, as he makes crucial steps in his mind and lets go of the baggage that remains inside of it. By following this process and relating to it ourselves, this movie is a wonderful tool for becoming more present and being masterful in whatever we happen to be doing in our own lives.

Bagger Vance (Will Smith) basically tells that the only thing that Junuh can do in order to win this game of golf is let go of his thoughts. The thoughts that tell him who he is or should be in relation to others, what he feels about the present 'situation', or what he needs to do in order to succeed. He learns that he needs to simply drop that self-centeredness, essentially that whining child inside, and let the moment that is already there take him over instead of his mind.

By doing so ourselves during the movie, we might become more present too as our thoughts fade to the background and as we become more aware of what's going on around us, instead of being absorbed only in what's going on inside the screen, behind the electronic window. We can get into that state where we feel our environment, where we drop all mental baggage, and where we can simply excel in what we do, whatever it is that apparently wants to be done through us. We can remember how it was before all the mental conditioning started somewhere in our childhood, and become present again. That's the real potential of this movie, the experience it can drag you into. Which is much better than a temporary pleasure, if you ask me.

And is that not the only thing to do in this game we call life? Is that not the ultimate teaching that the Bhagavad Gita and ultimately the mystical branches of all religions point to? In this movie, it's not Bagger Vance that awakens R. Junuh, it simply all happens pretty much independently of anything, in the true experiential recognition of itself. And that's really all we need to know, and the limit of all that we can really get from any type of immersion in media content.

I guess I'm really into the "winning through adversity" films. I really enjoyed films such as "The Natural" and "The Legend of Bagger Vance." I think the two were about equal. They both show the hero overcoming adversity through a sport's golden age which is what makes this movie great. If you showed a golf or baseball movie today it would not be as believable because they no longer play for the love of the game but for the money. This was set in a time when the game was more dignified. I never though much of Will Smith, thinking of him mostly as a comedy type actor but I think his greatness hit its peak when he started doing these drama type productions. Smith is sensational in his roll. If Redford had a mental picture of Bagger Vance before this movie started, I think he actually saw how Will Smith performed in this film. Matt Damon was good also.

Overall, a great "feel good" film. 9/10