Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, everybody, and welcome back. I do apologize that it has been a little bit since I got back from Montana and our trip around the Pacific Northwest. When we were on our trip, I unfortunately managed to get quite sick, and that followed me even when we got home. So please forgive me. My voice isn't quite back to itself yet, but I am so glad to be back and here talking to you with. Talking with you about another movie that I had the chance to review here for you. The one that we're going to be talking about today is one that I was not expecting to get an opportunity to review. So I really want to thank Angel Studios for giving me the opportunity to review this one. And I look forward to reviewing some of their other movies as well. Angel Studios really strives a lot to bring wholesome, family, faith based movies to their audiences, and this one honestly kind of surprised me. It did not go in the direction that a lot of Angel Studios movies go in, and so I wasn't sure what to expect. Now, I will say that that did end up being a good thing, because this one really did surprise me. Pardon me? Because of the content and the story that was told. Now, I, like many people, love the Harlem Globetrotters. It's like, they're fun to watch, and I. It's kind of sad to admit that the first time I was introduced to the Harlem Globe Trotters was on a Scooby Doo episode.
[00:01:34] I'd never heard of them before, and I'm a huge Scooby Doo fan. So when I was growing up, watching a Scooby Doo cartoon that happened to feature the Harlem Globetrotters, and then just watching them do everything that they were doing with the ball and just kind of having all the fun with it, it's like I was hooked. Now, mind you, I am very tall. So a lot of people assume I played basketball when I was younger, and I did for fun, but I never did for school or for anything that was, like, competitive. It was just more for fun. And so watching the Harlem Globetrotters brought me a lot of joy, and I have actually never had a chance to see them in person. But anytime they're on a tv show, it's like, I will stop. It's like, oh, I gotta check this out. But the movie we're talking about today is called Sweetwater. Now, if you are at all familiar with the story of the Harlem Globetrotters, you're familiar that they weren't always the Harlem Globetrotters. They were known as the Trotters back in the day. And I had. I had heard that before, but I didn't really understand the whole, like, why that was. And the movie doesn't even really explain that a whole lot. I think it has more to do with the fact that they were a negro team back then, and back then, you didn't commingle the teams together. It's like they were not allowed to play a lot of the venues and stuff like that because of segregation and everything that was going on back in the day. But in this story, we get to see the story of Nat Clifton, and he. His nickname is Sweetwater because he is just.
[00:03:05] I mean, it's just sweet watching him play and his moves. It's like.
[00:03:11] Forgive the term, it's like butter. I mean, they're probably referring to water in this thing, but it's like his smooths are smooth as butter. Absolutely butter on that end. So that's just a funny way. I've always said butter, so I'm not doing that for anything particular with the movie. But in this one, we get to see the trotters in their early days and their manager and how they're traveling around and playing these games, and they get a chance to play an exhibition, exhibition game against the kind of a bigger college team thing that's going on. And so that kind of gets their name out there. But it not only does that, but it gets the attention of the NBA. And in doing so, it really kind of challenges a lot of ideas, because in the NBA's rules and their guidelines and everything that they follow is they are allowed to sign Negroes, but they are not allowed to play them in their teams. And nobody has ever done so up to this point. And so they just. They kind of stray away from that because it.
[00:04:16] Segregation was still so controversial back in the day.
[00:04:20] But Nat really proved his worth, and he really proved what he was capable of on the court, as well as a lot of the other globetrotters that were the trotters that were playing in the movie. And so we see his story from the very beginning as he's playing in these games and how he's really making a name for himself and the difficulties that they have to face along the way. I mean, as you can imagine, this age of segregation, I mean, the studios really, they didn't over exaggerate any of this, but at the same time, they didn't shield the audience from it. It was presented in a way that's. It's painful to watch at times, but it's so real. It's like you can't turn away. But it was not over exaggerated like so many other Hollywood stories are nowadays, which just take away from the stories themselves.
[00:05:12] Well, ultimately, and you know me, no spoilers ever. But Nat ends up having a chance to do something with the NBA. And it causes a lot of problems for both the teams and the other players and the managers and even the owners of the other NBA teams and everything. And so it's just, how this plays out is not, like I said, it's not necessarily what you would expect, but it does so in a way that just draws you in and you really see a story that you never expected to see. Now, mind you, if you're a big basketball fan, you know how this turns out. But if you're like me and not like a huge basketball fan, but a fan of the Globetrotters, this one definitely caught my attention. Hi, Quincy.
[00:06:01] One of my babies is in here. I got a couple, but he's the only one trying to get my attention at the moment.
[00:06:07] But this one, like I said, it's just.
[00:06:11] It's a true story, this one. This is absolutely based on a true story. And fans of basketball, I almost said baseball, but fans of basketball are gonna love this. Fans of the NBA are gonna love this, which, of course, is basketball. But there are some people who prefer just the sport in general. Other people focus on the NBA. There are some people who are gonna focus on very specific teams, like the. The Knicks, the Globetrotters, etcetera. Come here, Quincy. Come here.
[00:06:41] Those that don't know, I am a crazy cat lady. I am a crazy cat mommy to seven fuzzy babies. And Quincy is one of my youngest ones. So, yeah, he just needed some mommy attention.
[00:06:52] But I ultimately gave Sweetwater a surprising, or maybe not surprising. I gave this an 8.5 out of ten on the deputy scale, which is almost certainly going to position this in my top ten movies for the year. Now, I am not giving angel studios any extra consideration because they let me screen this, but the movie is that good and that impactful in the stories that, in the story that it tells. So if you've ever been a fan of basketball, if you've ever been a fan of Nat Sweetwater, Clifton, if you have just always been a fan of, like, the inspiring true story movies, even if you're not a sports fan, there is something here for you. And so I, and probably I should touch on the whole thing, too. I did. I am. Even with the segregation and some of the content, I'm also giving Sweetwater an innocent rating. There was nothing in this that I would deem inappropriate for younger audiences at all. So again, I'm giving Sweetwater an 8.5 out of ten on the deputy scale, as well as an innocent rating. So if you have not had the chance to stream this or to watch this, please take the chance and do so. And as always, please like subscribe and share to always get the latest and greatest movie deputy content. And if you haven't done so already, be sure to subscribe over to our YouTube page as when these review podcasts go live on YouTube, they go live over there a full 2 hours before they go live on all of the rest of the platforms. So I look forward to talking to you again soon, and I'll be back later. Bye.
