The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh (1979)

Laugh as you must with this title, and despite the fact that I HATE sports movies, this little feature did the trick in both entertaining and providing a couple of great laughs. Using both Stockard Channing and Jonathan Winters as anchors to this farce of a film, we watch this down-and-out basketball team discover that because of their astrological sign, they cannot win any games. BUT, when a kid discovers that Pisces work well together, our little Pittsburgh team gets the support they finally need. Featuring some of the biggest names in basketball in the 70s, this little VHS has never seen the light of day - and I don't understand why. It was light, simple, incredibly fun, and exceptionally intelligent despite its age and topic. Using both sports humor as well as racial un-comforts, "The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh" was a fun little film that I was not embarrassed to watch.

Despite my sneering hatred for sports movies, in the fact that they always seem to use the same formula again and again and again - when you watch movies of this nature, it is notorious that you will always realize that the underdog will arrive victorious by the end - the crowd will go wild - love will still blossom. I am not trying to sound cynical, but not much has changed in world of sports films over the past decade - or even the past 100 years. It is a sound, but true formula - and it still works. While I get angry about these types of films all the time, "The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh" seemed to move along that same focus, but somehow felt fresh and fun. The characters were light - the story was fun - and Jonathan Winters continues to make me laugh and laugh. "Mork & Mindy" laugh. The use of Stockard Channing was also light as it just felt like she was having fun with the script. It was totally absurd, but because everyone was having fun - the chemistry between the teammates worked - it worked on screen as well. There was something about this film that she seemed stronger than other films of this nature.

Oddly, now don't laugh, this was found in my "Fangoria 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen", this was actually a side film mentioned as an actor that was in the 101 films was in this movie (or director or someone), but I was glad to have discovered this film. I am still nowhere close to being a fan of sports films, but I will proudly suggest this movie to anyone that has a VHS player and is willing to laugh at the look and feel of the 70s. There is no doubt in my mind that this movie is going to be played more - and I cannot wait to laugh with a sports team built around an astrological sign. Oh, and to see a kid drive a Bentley around Pittsburgh - hilarious! Green highlight with blue stars - no question, I will watch this movie again!