Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals (2010)

Directed by

Ezra Edelman

Genre

documentary, drama

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 28m

Rating

7.8 of 10 from 28 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary looks at the rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. It shows how their competition started in college and continued through their NBA careers. The film argues that their matchup helped save the NBA in the 1980s.

competitivenostalgicfocusedinsightfultenserespectfulfast-paceddramatic

What happens

Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals is a 2010 television documentary film broadcast on HBO. The film chronicles the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird that began with the 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship Game and lasted throughout their Hall of Fame careers in the NBA. The film makes an argument that without the massive media attention that was placed on the rivalry that Johnson and Bird had, the NBA might not have made it through the 1980s following the merger with the ABA, among other things. HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg stated that the documentary was partly inspired by the book When the Game Was Ours by Jackie MacMullan. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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