The Red Sneakers

{{Infobox television

| image = Sneakers Red television film.jpg

| caption = DVD cover

| screenplay = Mark Saltzman

| story = Jeffrey Rubin

| director = Gregory Hines

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| composer = Stanley Clarke

| country = United States

| language = English

| producer = {{Plainlist|

Tommy Lynch
Gary L. Stephenson

}}

| cinematography = John Berrie

| editor = Tim King

| runtime = 109 minutes

| company = Dufferin Gate Productions

| network = Showtime

| released = {{Start date|2002|02|10}}

}}

The Red Sneakers is a 2002 American fantasy comedy-drama television film produced and directed by Gregory Hines.{{cite news |author1=Jay Bobbin |title=Hines wears the hat of director with his "Red Sneakers" |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-reporter-times-hines-wears-the-hat-o/132775605/ |access-date=2 October 2023 |agency=Tribune Media Services |work=The Reporter-Times |date=9 February 2002 |page=35 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} The film stars Vanessa Bell Calloway, Dempsey Pappion, and Ruben Santiago-Hudson.{{IMDb title|id=|title=The Red Sneakers}}. It premiered on Showtime on February 10, 2002.

Premise

This coming-of-age story features a modest high school basketball player, Reggie Reynolds, who is given a pair of magical basketball shoes by a stranger, Zeke. Reggie quickly becomes a superstar shooter on his team. He is recruited by college basketball scouts and plans his future in college basketball, as he neglects potential academic scholarship possibilities.

Cast

Vanessa Bell Calloway as Berniece
Dempsey Pappion as Reggie
Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Uncle Joe
Scott Thompson as Aldo
Philip Akin as Mr. Seabrooke
K. C. Collins as Roscoe
Kendra FitzRandolph as Courtney
Cabral Richards as Khalil
Vincent D'Onofrio as Mercado
Gregory Hines as Zeke
Sarah Barrable-Tishauer as Larosa
Jordan Walker as Noah Greggory
Drew Nelson as Jacob
Neil Crone as Coach Blake
Reuben Thompson as Alvin Duke
Jake Goldsbie as Boy

Broadcast

The film was first aired on Showtime Networks on February 10, 2002.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Awards

Nominations

Emmy Award – Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special – Gregory Hines – 2003
Emmy Award – Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special – Gregory Hines – 2003
Writers Guild of America – WGA Award (Television) – Children's Script – Mark Saltzman (teleplay) and Jeffrey Rubin (story){{Cite book |last=Company |first=Johnson Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbUDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22The+Red+Sneakers%22+-wikipedia+hines&pg=PA45 |title=Jet |date=2002-02-18 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |language=en}}
Young Artist Awards – Best Family Television Movie – Leading Young Actor – Jake Goldsbie – 2003

Screenings

Chicago International Children's Film Festival – 2002{{Cite web |date=2002-02-07 |title=Purple pros and cons |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-02-07-0202070018-story.html |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Chicago Tribune}}

Reception

In his review for The New York Times, Laurel Graeber stated that the main character that "mathematical skill can be a real asset in basketball and that he might do better to rely on his natural gift rather than on the artificial glory of the shoes."{{Cite news |last=Graeber |first=Laurel |date=2002-02-10 |title=FOR YOUNG VIEWERS; Dressing for Success: Try a Beat-Up Pair of High-Tops |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/tv/for-young-viewers-dressing-for-success-try-a-beat-up-pair-of-high-tops.html |access-date=2023-09-30 |issn=0362-4331}}

The Christian Science Monitor found that "the real issue for Hines is that too many kids dream about a life in sports and don't nurture their real strengths."{{Cite news |title=Hines laces up director's shoes |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0208/p17s01-altv.html/(page)/3 |access-date=2023-09-30 |issn=0882-7729}} Sun Sentinel describes the film as being "sort of the family-film flip side to Michael Powell's 1948 masterpiece The Red Shoes."{{Cite web |last=By |date=2002-02-09 |title=SHOES FIT THE MESSAGE ON SHOWTIME |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2002/02/09/shoes-fit-the-message-on-showtime/ |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Sun Sentinel |language=en-US}}

Sara Long, with the faith-based Dove Foundation gave the film a positive review, writing, "The Red Sneakers is an enjoyable movie based around inner desires, and what one knows is right as far as actions go ... Then the movie turns around to focus on the inner battle over how to behave against what one wants, and what one should do. Though this movie does have several instances of profanity, it is nothing too severe. Because the overall content is well displayed, the film is approved for ages 12 and up.[http://www.dove.org/MovieReview.asp?Unique_ID=3629 Long, Sara] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061015054735/http://www.dove.org/MovieReview.asp?Unique_ID=3629 |date=2006-10-15 }}. Dove Foundation, February 10, 2002. Accessed: May 14, 2013.