The Legend of Bagger Vance

"The Legend of Bagger Vance" is a highly under-rated movie, but it displays the excellence of Robert Redford’s directing. I always meant to go and see this on the big screen because golfing movies need a giant screen to be truly appreciated. However, the movie is not about the game; it’s about the people who play it.

The scenery is fantastic. Kiawah Island in South Carolina makes a perfect backdrop for this wonderful feel good movie. The storyline is like “The River” (another excellent Redford movie) meeting “Field of Dreams.” It never lags or disappoints you; in fact it enchants you.

Much has been made about this being one of Will Smith’s worst movies. I couldn’t disagree more. If you just want to see Smith as a smart-mouthed, high adrenaline, good guy vs. the bad guy black actor, then you will miss the subtlety and charm Smith hs to offer in this production. His acting is never way over the top. He plays Bagger Vance perfectly, and it makes me think that this will personally be one of his favorite roles. As the caddie who comes out of nowhere to help a has-been golfer, Smith excels. And the other great thing about the movie is this: Matt Damon does not compete with Smith on the screen – they both compliment and augment each other’s acting ability.

This is also a charming romantic movie. The chemistry between Matt Damon as local hero Rannulph Junnuh and Charlize Theron as the heiress Adele Invergordon is wonderful. Miss Theron is palpably beautiful throughout the screenplay. The highs and lows of the couple are depicted over twelve years, and in the end they happily find each other again.

Rachel Portman’s theme music is exceptional and wonderfully sets the mood for the legendary golfing showdown between Junnuh, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. The whole era is magically captured on the screen and I found the entire movie a joy to behold and experience.

Jack Lemmon’s cameo appearance, as well as his narration throughout the picture is marvelous. You get the feeling that the whole cast enjoyed the entire movie and if there had been an Oscar for best ensemble, I think it would have won it.

Lastly, the young Hardy Greaves (whose elderly character is played by Jack Lemmon) is wonderfully portrayed by J. Michael Moncrief – a local Savannah lad who beat 2000 other applicants to play the part. He has the key character that holds the movie together – it says a lot about the acting security of Smith, Damon, and Theron to allow such a young local boy to do so well.

I wouldn’t have thought so before I saw this movie, but “The Legend of Bagger Vance” has become one of my Top Ten. I rate it five stars out of five for entertainment, character value, scenery, music and direction.

Matt Damon thought he was under attack from a lunatic stalker when an on-set explosion brought his new film to a standstill. He was practicing hitting golf balls for his role as a golfing phenomenon in The Legend Of Bagger Vance when he laid into a practical joke ball - shattering it into a hundred pieces and sending a cloud of smoke into the air. In the background, his young co-star J. Michael Moncrief collapsed giggling to his knees. Damon says, "My immediate reaction was to throw myself to the ground. I thought somebody, possibly a loopy fan, has thrown a grenade. "It was genuinely scary. The last thing I expected to happen. Then I saw JM and realized I had been the victim of a practical joke!"