Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive

NO MAS TV REVIEW

UCLA Dynasty
HBO, 7 p.m.
1 hour documentary





For all you hardcore UCLA fans out there who are feeling a little letdown by your boys' performance on Saturday against Florida, tune into HBO tonight at 7 p.m. and head back to the glory years of Bruin basketball with HBO's latest sports doc, The UCLA Dynasty. As HBO docs go, I have to say I find this one pretty thin, but as with all their material, it's well-made and looks fantastic. Gail Goodrich and Walt Hazzard in the backcourt, Alcindor as a frosh in the freshman/varsity game, John Wooden home movies - just for the footage alone, this will be a treat for any true Bruin basketball fan.

But all the great footage in the world can't hide the main problem with this thing, which is that they've oriented it around a truly flimsy premise - that UCLA basketball in its dynasty era was highly influenced by the turbulence of the 60's, such that the teams became a reflection of the time. This premise is inarguable, but only interesting if you crave explanation of the blatantly obvious. I mean, isn't every team, every person for that matter, a reflection of the time period they live in? Next they'll do a doc on how the LJ UNLV team was heavily influenced by the emergence of gangsta rap.

As an organizing principle, the whole 60's thing wouldn't be so bad, except that it limits the show to some really banal observations. Because the legitimate connections between the 60's counterculture and UCLA basketball are meager - Alcindor participated in the boycott of the '68 Olympics, the 1970 championship team sent an anti-war letter to Nixon, Bill Walton went to protests and wore his hair long - we're left with a show that goes back and forth between two narratives and doesn't really do either of them justice. We get a cursory treatment of the Wooden era and an even more cursory treatment of the upheaval of the 60's, with every now and then someone like Ray Manzarek appearing on the screen to say, apropos of nothing, "In your FACE! break on through TO THE OTHER SIDE BABY! I'm a back door man!" or Penelope Spheeris bragging about how when she was at UCLA they smoked pot out in the open man and they like totally dared anyone to try and stop them.

Oh it's all so wack. They should have just stuck to the basketball. When they do, believe me, it makes a lot more sense. Sidney Wicks is funny and looks about the same as he did in his playing days only now he's bald. And towards the end there's a lot of good Wooden stuff, about his equivalent of swearing ("'Goodness gracious sakes alive' just sent chills down your spine... if he said that you knew it was serious...") and the fact that he started every season's training camp the same way - by teaching his players how to put their socks on properly. This is the kind of detail that I could have done with a lot more of. Meanwhile, I could have done with a LOT less of Ray Manzarek and Bill Walton. Those two should have a ladder match someday soon for the Intercontinental Most Self-Important "I Am the True 60's Wild Man" Blowhard Belt. Walton is just... well check it out. You'll see.