concordtom said:

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Big C said:

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concordtom said:

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MSaviolives said:

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I found it entertaining and weird. But I also found it off putting because of the unfair portrayals, the failure to capture the excitement and grandeur of some iconic moments, and not great acting for some of the characters. I thought Solomon did a great job, and the guys who played Magic and Jerry Buss were fine. But, come on, Sally Field was great.

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I thought the Buss character was great!!!
All 5 coaching characters were poor portrayals! West, sharman, riley, the injured guy and westhead. I don't think you rise to that level being the weak clown they were portrayed as. Magic, Kareem and bird were all picked as lookalikes and were truly just "stage characters" designed to mimic what we know about them. All other players had basically nothing to do with their real life person, except Nixon, played by his son!! What I mean to say is, I didn't get the sense that I was truly in that locker room.

The part that is funny, is how everyone seems to be like a child in this movie.
Like, if you took 10 year olds to portray the complex adults these people were, that's how they would have done is: boil people down to simple people who fit a narrative.

Nobody, save maybe Buss, has a complex (developed) character inside them. Buss seems to have demons and angels inside, which he's balancing. He's the character I feel I want to know better in this series.

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I have no idea what Dr. Jerry Buss was like in real life, but usually, the owners, I want to know them less, not more. Just have them open up their checkbooks and stand back. If an Eddie D or a Joe Lacob need to step into the spotlight now and then to massage their massive egos, fine, they're paying. But the less, the better.

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1. Well, Buss used to party crazy. So that makes him interesting and unique among owners, I think. It's portrayed in the show.
Hefner. Magic sexcapades. And then he did turn them into winners while on a budget. Pretty good story telling.

2. The Buss actor has done a great job!!

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He's good. If he were a Cal alum, I'd say he's as good as Solomon Hughes!

For those that enjoyed the Buss character, I strongly recommend "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story".

Just finished watching the HULU documentary called Legacy.

It is in stark contrast to the previously discussed HBO dramatization which was full of so much salaciousness simply for our fun.

This Hulu show is story telling mixed in with old hoops footage milxed in with recent personal interviews of all the main participants. Honest and vulnerable. And the part of it which was most compelling to me with the personal story of the Buss family throught the years, transitioning from Dr. Buss through his kids and eventually leaving it with Jeanie as the controlling owner. I recall the siblings fight a few years ago, but this got into it much more.

It struck home a bit thinking about the transitions of family power on both my mother and father's sides.
And it also rang home a bit with the suprise revelation that Dr. Buss and his wife, both 20 and married at the time, had a daughter but gave it up for adoption because HE didn't feel he had the time or money to properly care for the child.

Imagine that (!), juxtaposed with the fact that he later became very rich, self made, and had 4 more children with this same wife, AND he was constantly setting them all up with different roles in the "family business": Lakers, Lazers, Sparks, The Forum concerts, marketing, ticket sales, events, etc. All the while, he's hiding a child to his family that the FIRST child was somewhere out in the world, forgotten about. My goodness. I've called that "living a lie" to one's family! Like, how can you do that?

Just this last year, we learned that my wife's mother had a child at 18, gave it up for adoption, and nobody ever knew - until the son unsealed his records, found her and the truth all came out. Wow! 57 years a secret. My best friend's mother in law had the EXACT same thing happen to him 4 years ago. Crazy realities.

Anyone adopted here? What's that like?

Lee Klose (Maria Buss would have been her un-adopted name) was very kind about it, and obviously looked exactly like her siblings. She said, "It was a decision that was made in a moment, and not necessarily who they were in life. I could forgive a momentary decision, though it affected so thoroughly so many lives thereafter."
Wow, that was REAL.

Anyways, the HULU show "Legacy" is 10 episodes, and I recommend it to any hoops fans, Lakers fans, and beyond.

For all the fun I was having with the HBO series, I haven't gotten around to finishing it. I will...

I'm not sure Kareem captured the essence of Kareem like Solomon Hughes did, however.