| City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal | |
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| Directed by | George Roy Steven Hilliard Stern |
Production company | Black Canyon Productions |
| Distributed by | HBO |
Release date |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal is a 1998 American documentary film about the City College of New York basketball point-shaving scandal. It was produced by George Roy and Steven Hilliard Stern. It was made for HBO. [1]
Jews and blacks composed the CCNY team and their coach was Nat Holman. [1] The team was found guilty of point-shaving; gamblers would pay money for players to lose points or not play as well as was expected. [2] The revelation of the CCNY point-shaving scandal led to other scandals: other basketball teams were caught point-shaving around the country. [1]
Black Canyon Productions produced the film with multiple players, broadcasters, and alumni of the college being interviewed. [1] The content was compiled by Ross Greenburg who was HBO Sports' senior vice president and executive producer. [3] The film opens with a statement from Burt Young and is narrated by Liev Schreiber. Game play footage is included in the documentary. [2] None of the six then-living CCNY players wanted to be interviewed. [1] The film did not portray the players in a disparaging way, but how they were influenced by the complexity of the corruption. The film shows the background of the multicultural team and its successes as well. [1] It premiered in 1998 on HBO during March Madness as an hour-long documentary. [3]
Tex Cox of The Daily Herald wrote, "City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal might just be the most beautiful sports documentary I've ever seen." [3] Ed Bark, writing for the Sun-Sentinel said the film "is a lush filmic swish, even if some of its narrative gets gaudier than a Dennis Rodman dye job." [2]
Daniel A. Nathan gave a mixed review for The Journal of American History , saying that "City Dump glosses over and simplifies too much" and concluding with "City Dump debunks the popular notion that the 1950s was a time of wholesomeness, integrity, and traditional values." [1]