View source for The Legend of Bagger Vance

{{short description|2000 sports fantasy drama film by Robert Redford}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Legend of Bagger Vance
| image          = Legend of bagger vance ver2.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Robert Redford]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Michael Nozik]]
* [[Jake Eberts]]
* Robert Redford
}}
| screenplay     = [[Jeremy Leven]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[The Legend of Bagger Vance (novel)|The Legend of Bagger Vance]]''<br />1995 novel|[[Steven Pressfield]]}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Will Smith]]
* [[Matt Damon]]
* [[Charlize Theron]]
}}
| music          = [[Rachel Portman]]
| cinematography = [[Michael Ballhaus]]
| editing        = [[Hank Corwin]]
| studio         = [[DreamWorks Pictures]]<br>[[20th Century Studios|20th Century Fox]]<br>[[Allied Filmmakers]]
| distributor    = DreamWorks Distribution, LLC (United States and Canada) <br />Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (International)
| released       = {{Film date|2000|11|03}}
| runtime        = 126 minutes<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/legend-bagger-vance-film | title=''The Legend of Bagger Vance''| publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]]}}</ref>
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $80 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />
| gross          = $39.5 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />
}}
'''''The Legend of Bagger Vance''''' is a 2000 American [[sports film|sports]] [[fantasy]] [[drama film]] directed by [[Robert Redford]], and starring [[Will Smith]], [[Matt Damon]], and [[Charlize Theron]]. The screenplay by [[Jeremy Leven]] is based on [[Steven Pressfield]]'s 1995 book ''[[The Legend of Bagger Vance (novel)|The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life]]''. The film is set in 1931 [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. It was the final film starring [[Jack Lemmon]] and [[Lane Smith]].

The plot is loosely based on the [[Hindu]] sacred text the [[Bhagavad Gita]]. It depicts God, [[Krishna]], tutoring a warrior-hero, [[Arjuna]], played in the film by Smith and Damon. The film was criticized by several [[African American]] commentators and reviewers for employing the "[[Magical Negro]]" stereotype.<ref name="Farley" />

== Plot ==
As a senior, having had his sixth heart attack while playing golf, Hardy Greaves contemplates how his late wife used to ask him why he kept playing "a game that seems destined to kill" him. Explaining his love for the game, the story begins with his childhood idol: Rannulph Junuh.

Junuh is the favorite son of [[Savannah, Georgia]]: a noteworthy golfer from a wealthy family; he and his beautiful girlfriend Adele Invergordon seem to have it all. While serving as a captain in the U.S. Army during [[World War I]], Junuh is traumatized when his entire company is wiped out in battle. Though he earns the [[Medal of Honor]], he disappears after the war, returning to Georgia years later as a broken-down [[alcoholic]].

At the start of the [[Great Depression]] (circa 1930),<ref>Jones actually retired from golf in 1930, but a theater playing [[The Public Enemy|''The Public Enemy'' (1931)]] is seen.</ref> Adele is trying to recover her family's lost fortune by holding a four-round, two-day [[exhibition match]] between  [[Bobby Jones (golfer)|Bobby Jones]] and [[Walter Hagen]], the best golfers of the era, with a grand prize of $10,000, at the golf resort her family opened as the Depression struck. However, needing a local participant to gain local interest, a young Greaves speaks up for his hero, Junuh, prompting Adele to ask her estranged lover to play.

Junuh is approached by a mysterious traveler carrying a suitcase, who appears while he is trying to hit golf balls into the dark void of the night. The man identifies himself as Bagger Vance and says he will be his [[caddie]]. With Greaves as assistant caddie, Bagger helps Junuh come to grips with his personal demons and play golf again.

When the match starts, Jones and Hagen each play well in their distinctive ways, but the disengaged Junuh plays poorly and is far behind after the first round. With Bagger caddying for him and giving advice, Junuh rediscovers his "authentic swing" in the second round and makes up some ground. In the third round, he closes the gap even more, hitting a hole in one in the process. Meanwhile, Junuh and Adele rekindle their romance.

Late in the final round, an overconfident Junuh disregards Bagger's advice at a crucial point and, after that, plays poorly. He hits a ball into a forest, which triggers a war flashback, but Bagger's words help him focus on the game. Junuh pulls back to a tie with Jones and Hagen, then has a chance to win on the final hole, but has the integrity to call a penalty on himself when his ball moves after trying to remove a loose impediment.

Seeing Junuh has grown and matured, Bagger decides that his golfer does not need him any more. With the 18th hole left unfinished, Bagger gives the position of caddie to Greaves and leaves as mysteriously as he came.

Though losing a chance to win because of the penalty, Junuh sinks an improbable putt and the match ends in a gentlemanly three-way tie. The three golfers shake hands with all of Savannah cheering. Junuh and Adele get back together.

The old Greaves wakes up and sees Bagger Vance, not aged a day, on the golf course. As Bagger beckons, Greaves follows.

== Cast ==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Will Smith]] as Bagger Vance
* [[Matt Damon]] as Rannulph Junuh
* [[Charlize Theron]] as Adele Invergordon
* [[Bruce McGill]] as [[Walter Hagen]]
* [[Joel Gretsch]] as [[Bobby Jones (golfer)|Bobby Jones]]
* J. Michael Moncrief as Hardy Greaves
* [[Lane Smith]] as [[Grantland Rice]]
* [[Peter Gerety]] as Neskaloosa
* [[Wilbur Fitzgerald]] as Roy
* [[E. Roger Mitchell]] as Aaron
* [[Jack Lemmon]] (uncredited) as Narrator / Old Hardy Greaves
}}

== Production {{anchor|Writing}} ==

=== Background ===
The plot is loosely based on the [[Hindu]] sacred text the [[Bhagavad Gita]], part of the Hindu epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'', where the Warrior/Hero [[Arjuna]] (R. Junuh) refuses to fight. The god [[Krishna]] appears as [[Bhagavan]] (Bagger Vance) to help him follow his path as the warrior and hero that he was meant to be. This relationship was explained by [[Steven J. Rosen]] in his 2000 book ''Gita on the Green: The Mystical Tradition Behind Bagger Vance'', for which Pressfield wrote the foreword.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONDYJTXf8loC|title=Gita on the Green: The Mystical Tradition Behind Bagger Vance|first=Steven|last=Rosen|date=30 May 2002|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|via=Google Books|isbn=9780826413659}}</ref>

=== Filming ===
Portions of the exhibition match were set at the [[Kiawah Island Golf Resort]] in [[South Carolina]], United States, considered one of the toughest in the country. The scene in which Greaves has a heart attack was shot on No. 11 of the resort's Cougar Point golf course. The final hole in the film was temporary, so the filming did not interfere with the club activities, and cost US$200,000 to build. Most of the golf scenes were filmed at Colleton River Plantation,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colletonriverclub.com/|title=Colleton River Club&nbsp;Homepage|website=www.colletonriverclub.com}}</ref> just off [[Hilton Head Island]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2000/11/12/the-bagger-vance-hole-watch-for-that-alligator-hazard/ |title= The Bagger Vance Hole: Watch For That Alligator Hazard |publisher= Orlando Sentinel }}</ref> Certain segments were filmed in Savannah and [[Jekyll Island]], Georgia.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146984/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt IMDb ''The Legend of Bagger Vance''] [[IMDb]]</ref>

== Reception ==

=== Critical response ===
{{Anchor|Critics}}
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] ''The Legend of Bagger Vance'' has an approval rating of 43% based on reviews from 130 critics, with an average rating of 5.23/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite the talent involved in ''The Legend of Bagger Vance'', performances are hindered by an inadequate screenplay full of flat characters and bad dialogue. Also, not much happens, and some critics are offended by how the film glosses over issues of racism."<ref>{{cite web |title= The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/legend_of_bagger_vance/ |publisher= [[Fandango Media]] |work= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= May 24, 2020 }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title= The Legend of Bagger Vance Reviews |url= http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-legend-of-bagger-vance |work= [[Metacritic]] | publisher = [[CBS Interactive]] |access-date= May 24, 2020 }}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, THE (2000) B+ |work= [[CinemaScore]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}</ref>

Film critic [[Roger Ebert]], who gave it 3½ stars, said, "It handles a sports movie the way [[Billie Holiday]] handled a trashy song, by finding the love and pain beneath the story. Redford and his writer, Jeremy Leven, starting from a novel by Steven Pressfield, are very clear in their minds about what they want to do. They want to explain why it is possible to devote your life to the love of golf, and they want to hint that golf and life may have a lot in common".<ref>{{cite web |date= November 3, 2000 |author= Roger Ebert |author-link= Roger Ebert |title= Roger Ebert: The Legend Of Bagger Vance |url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-legend-of-bagger-vance-2000 |work= [[Chicago Sun Times]] }}</ref> The [[BBC]]'s George Perry called it a "sumptuously photographed film" but added that "in spite of being lovely to look at, it is pretentious piffle, although Will Smith shows skill and subtlety in his ludicrous role".<ref>{{cite web |date= February 22, 2001 |author= George Perry |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/02/14/the_legend_of_bagger_vance_2001_review.shtml |title= The Legend of Bagger Vance (2001) |website= [[BBC]]}}</ref>

''[[Time Magazine|Time]]'' called it one of the most "embarrassing" films of recent years for its treatment of African Americans and the use of a "Magical African-American Friend".<ref name="Farley">{{cite magazine |title= That Old Black Magic |date= 2000-05-27 | first = Christopher John | last = Farley | author-link = Christopher John Farley |magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998604,00.html |access-date=2007-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930043314/https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998604,00.html|archive-date=2007-09-30|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="strangehorizons">{{cite news |url= http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20041025/kinga.shtml |title= Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes |first= Nnedi | last = Okorafor-Mbachu | author-link = Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu| work = Strange Horizons |date= 2004-10-25 | access-date = 2006-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930205704/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20041025/kinga.shtml|archive-date=2007-09-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> The film would later be cited by Spike Lee as an example of a film with a [[Magical Negro]].<ref name="SpikeLee">{{cite news | url = http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v29.n21/story3.html | title = Director Spike Lee slams 'same old' black stereotypes in today's films | first = Susan | last = Gonzalez | work = Yale Bulletin & Calendar | publisher =[[Yale University]] | date = 2001-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090121190429/https://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v29.n21/story3.html | archive-date=2009-01-21 |quote= Lee cited four recent films in which there is a "magical, mystical Negro" character }}</ref><ref name="ejumpcut">{{cite journal | url= http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc45.2002/colombe/ |title= White Hollywood's new Black boogeyman |first= Audrey | last = Colombe | issue = 45 | journal = Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media |date=October 2002 | access-date = 2006-12-03 }}</ref>

=== Box office ===
''The Legend of Bagger Vance'' opened at No. 3 at the U.S. box office behind ''[[Charlie's Angels (2000 film)|Charlie's Angels]]'' and ''[[Meet the Parents]]'', grossing $11,516,712 from 2,061 theaters.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Reese|first=Lori|title=''Charlie's Angels'' tops the box office|url=https://ew.com/article/2000/11/05/charlies-angels-tops-box-office/|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=October 8, 2022|date=November 5, 2000}}</ref><ref name="BoxOfficeMojo">{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=legendofbaggervance.htm |title=The Legend of Bagger Vance|publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref>

== Soundtrack {{anchor|Music|Score}} ==
The now out-of-print soundtrack to ''The Legend of Bagger Vance'' was released on November 7, 2000. It was mostly written by [[Rachel Portman]], except for tracks one ("My Best Wishes"), thirteen ("Bluin' the Blues") and fourteen ("[[Mood Indigo]]"), which were written by [[Fats Waller]], [[Muggsy Spanier]] and [[Duke Ellington]], respectively. The score for this movie was the last to be recorded at CTS Studios in [[Wembley]], England, before the scoring stage's closure and demolition.

; Track list
<!-- to improve this section see [[Template:Tracklist]] -->
# My Best Wishes (2:27)
# The Legend of Bagger Vance (2:11)
# Savannah Needs a Hero (4:53)
# Bagger Offers to Caddy for Junuh (4:07)
# Bagger & Hardy Measure the Course at Night (2:32)
# The Day of the Match Dawns (3:07)
# Birdie (1:46)
# Junuh Sees the Field (5:11)
# Hole in One (2:30)
# Junuh Comes Out of the Woods (3:55)
# Bagger Leaves (3:12)
# Old Hardy Joins Bagger by the Sea (5:50)
# Bluin' the Blues (2:27)
# [[Mood Indigo]] (3:07)
* Total soundtrack time: 47:15

==See also==
* [[List of films about angels]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Notelist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0146984|title=The Legend of Bagger Vance}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=341485}}
* {{AFI film|id=61379|title=The Legend of Bagger Vance}}
* {{Mojo title|legendofbaggervance|The Legend of Bagger Vance}}

{{Robert Redford}}
{{Steven Pressfield}}
{{Works based on the Mahabharata}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legend Of Bagger Vance, The}}
[[Category:2000 films]]
[[Category:2000s fantasy drama films]]
[[Category:2000s sports drama films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:African-American drama films]]
[[Category:American fantasy drama films]]
[[Category:American sports drama films]]
[[Category:Bhagavad Gita]]
[[Category:DreamWorks Pictures films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Redford]]
[[Category:Films produced by Michael Nozik]]
[[Category:Films scored by Rachel Portman]]
[[Category:Films set in 1931]]
[[Category:Films set in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in Savannah, Georgia]]
[[Category:Films shot in South Carolina]]
[[Category:American golf films]]
[[Category:Magic realism films]]
[[Category:Films based on the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:Films about angels]]
[[Category:Films produced by Robert Redford]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy drama films]]
[[Category:English-language sports drama films]]