White Men Can't Jump

White Men Can't Jump is a 1992 feature film starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as basketball hustlers. Rosie Perez co-stars. The film was written and directed by Ron Shelton. It was released to theatres on March 27 1992 by 20th Century Fox.

Plot synopsis

Woody Harrelson plays a Billy Hoyle, a talented basketball player whose only source of income is to play on peoples predjudices that white people cannot play basketball at a high standard. He uses his talent to earn money by hustling streetball players. The 'hustle' is even more provoking as Billy never plays badly to increase the money stakes but rather the African American basketball players in Venice Beach simply assume that as a 'white guy' Billy cannot play. The opening scene is set as Wesley Snipes' character, Sidney Deane loses a game to Billy in front of all of his friends on the playground in Venice Beach, California. Both players earn significant income through street basketball (though Billy is trying to pay off his girlfriend's debt and Sidney is attempting to buy a house for himself and family outside of the slum areas) and begin a partnership to earn money by using Billy's skin colour as a hustle and later by fair means, in a community basketball tournament. Billy is his own worst enemy, however, as he proves time and time again to be an addicted gambler, much to the dismay of his girlfriend.

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