The Basketball Diaries

Teenager Jim Carroll is a drug-addicted high school basketball player who regularly gets into mischief with his friends Pedro, Mickey and Neutron on the streets of New York City and at school. Outside of basketball, Jim shows an artistic interest in writing, keeping his work in a journal while expressing his thoughts and creating poetry. Jim's best friend, Bobby, is dying of leukemia, and Jim frequently visits him in the hospital. After Bobby dies, Jim and his friends attend his funeral. Following the funeral, Jim and his friends go to a basketball court and reminisce about Bobby's life. Depressed over Bobby's death, Jim begins to use heroin. At basketball practice, Jim's coach sees him in the locker room taking a break to get high. The coach gropes Jim and offers to pay him for sex, but Jim forcefully declines his advances. As Jim's frustrations with school and life grow with time, he imagines shooting his classmates. The next day, before a game, Jim, Pedro and Mickey take pills from Pedro's hat, hoping they are stimulants. Neutron refuses the pills and confronts Jim about his growing drug habit. The pills are downers, and they cause the boys to perform disastrously during the game. Father McNulty, who notices the boys engaging in drug use, tells Jim and Mickey that they are suspended for a week, while Swifty tells Jim he is now banned from playing basketball for his school again. In response, Jim and Mickey drop out of school, while Neutron remains. After exposing his stash of drugs, Jim's religious mother disowns him and puts him out of their apartment. Jim, Mickey and Pedro become homeless addicts who live only for their next score. At one point, they break into a candy shop to steal money, and Mickey takes a gun he finds in the cash register. Hearing sirens, Jim and Mickey escape, but Pedro--too high and hung over to understand the situation--is left behind and arrested. Jim continues a desperate life of shady dealings and getting high with Mickey. In the winter, Jim passes out in the snow while high on heroin. Jim's friend Reggie, who has been in a similar situation, sympathizes with Jim over his predicament. Reggie finds Jim, takes him to his apartment, and forces him to painfully abstain and detox. But Jim relapses, and he takes money from Reggie for more drugs before leaving. Back on the street, Jim is desperate for more drugs. He resorts to prostituting himself in a public restroom. Jim and Mickey buy heroin, only to discover that the dealer has ripped them off. Enraged, Mickey corners the dealer on the roof of an apartment building and accidentally pushes him off the roof to his death. Mickey tries to escape, but is beaten by a gang and arrested. He is tried as an adult and convicted. After escaping the crime scene, Jim returns to his mother's apartment and begs her for money. Although she is tempted to give in to Jim's begging, she reluctantly reports him to the police instead. Jim cries uncontrollably before two police officers arrive and drag him into custody. Jim is convicted and sentenced to six months' incarceration at Rikers Island for assault, robbery, resisting arrest, and possession of narcotics. While in prison, Jim gets off drugs and spends much of his time writing in a diary. Six months later, Jim approaches a stage door to give a poetry reading. He encounters Pedro, who has been released from reform school. Pedro offers him a bag of drugs, which Jim refuses. Jim recites his work before an audience and receives applause.