The Legend Of Bagger Vance

I hadn‘t heard a lot of good things about this movie, so I didn’t expect much when I started watching it. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Set in depression-era Georgia, Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan) plays Rannulph Junuh, who is a very promising young golfer. Things are going great for Junuh, until he gets sent overseas to fight in World War One, where he becomes disillusioned and jaded, and “loses his swing”.

While he was gone, the girl he left behind, Adele (Charlize Theron, Reindeer Games, Men Of Honor) has inherited a golf course that her father had built. Because of the hard economic times, the country club is failing, and so to save it from hungry investors, Adele decides to sponsor a tournament featuring two of the premier players of the time, Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch; Kate’s Addiction) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill; Deep Core, Exit Wounds). The city fathers of Savanah want a local hero to play as well, and up steps young Hardy Greaves ( J. Michael Moncrief) who says he knows just where to find Junuh, and sets about convincing the reluctant hero to play.

Junuh resists at first, but the adoration of the locals convinces him to stay and play, even though he feels he can no longer perform, and certainly not against the likes of Jones and Hagen. Enter Bagger Vance (Will Smith; Wild Wild West, Men In Black) in the midst of his soul searching. Please notice how much the name sounds like Bhagavad Gita, the story of a Hindu god who donned the guise of a human in order to guide a Prince in ancient times.
Vance offers to caddy for Junuh, and the rest of the movie is all tournament.
The movie is a bit emotionally manipulative at times, but both Damon and Smith do a good job in their roles. Smith in particular is under-appreciated by many of the critics who panned this film, but I thought he gave a good performance as he almost always does.

I give this one 7 tees out of a possible 10.

DTS

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