Burnt Prairie - Von
Genre: Drama
Director: James Ponsoldt
Writer: Chad Taylor
Cast: Stephan James, Josh Lucas, Diana Silvers, John Gallagher Jr, Robert Forster, Colman Domingo, Kristin Chenoweth, Olivia Holt, Jacob Elordi, Jeremy Allen White, Annabeth Gish, Grace Fulton, Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Ed Oxenbould, Joel Murray and Richard Pitino
Plot: February, 1996
In the small town of Burnt Prairie, Indiana, sweat trickles down the brow of Burnt Prairie Blazers basketball star Von Murphy (Stephan James) as time stands still and he pulls back to shoot a free throw. The crowd eager in anticipation. The ball leaves his hand and goes into the net, causing time to resume and the crowd to go crazy. He is swarmed by his teammates. Time expires and the celebrations continue.
The score shows 89-23. The cause for celebration was that shot set the all-time scoring record in school history for Von.The team’s second best player, Chris Ford (Jacob Elordi), gives him a big hug, followed by the team’s coach Dick Carpenter (Robert Forster). Dick is a basketball legend in the state, now in his 48th year as Blazers coach. Von heads to the stands, where he is greeted by his father Marvin (Colman Domingo) and his younger brother Denni (Jahi Di’allo Winston), a freshman. Lastly, his girlfriend Cameron (Olivia Holt) makes sure that she gives him a kiss before he heads into the locker room.
In his post-game analysis, radio broadcaster Doug Parker (Joel Murray) sets the scene. Four regular season games left until the postseason. The town of Burnt Prairie - just under 5,000 residents - has a lot riding on this season. Despite his legendary status, Coach Carpenter has never reached the state finals - or even the semi-finals. Everyone knows that is an uphill battle for any school this size to survive a single elimination tournament including every school in the state. But if any year, this could be the one. Never has the town - nay, state - seen a once-in-a-generation the likes of Von Murphy.
As everyone is leaving, Von is approached by Colleen Lamb (Annabeth Gish) - the mayor of Burnt Prairie. She congratulates him and wants to know if she can ask him a favor.
The next day, a well-dressed man (Richard Pitino) stops into a popular local burger joint, Mac’s. His waitress Willow Carpenter (Grace Fulton) treats him as if he is any other customer, which he finds refreshing. The cook, Keith Whintey (Jeremy Allen White), takes a good long stare at the customer but doesn’t say anything. When Sheriff Cal Montgomery (Josh Lucas) enters the restaurant, he immediately recognizes the guest and introduces himself. When Willow comes serve his food, Cal asks if she knows who the man is. She doesn’t. It’s Rick Pitino, head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. Willow feigns a sense of awe and says that she should’ve known that – her dad is Burnt Prairie’s basketball coach, after all. Cal starts talking the coach’s ear off - asking what he thinks the odds are that he will go to Kentucky. Cal says he’s hoping he picks his alma mater, Purdue.
Pitino pays a home visit to Von and his family. They have been through these recruiting visits before so it is nothing new to them. Marvin has an honest conversation with the coach about the benefits of going to college or going straight to the NBA. After the coach makes his pitch, Von takes Denni out to the driveway to play some one-on-one. Denni looks up to his brother but is self-conscious about how smaller he is than his brother. He is hoping that one day he will grow to be as tall and as good as Von. Von playfully teases him but says that he knows he’ll get there eventually. Maybe they’ll even be playing in the NBA together some day.
At school and beyond, Von is a superstar. The town as a whole is practically read to etch “Burnt Prairie – Home of Von Murphy” on their town sign. An outlier is history teacher Thomas Hardy (John Gallagher Jr.), who tries to keep a level head and treat Von as if he is anyone else. He senses that he will get this kind of attention for the rest of his life and trying to give the kid a sense of normalcy. Von appreciates this.
Von gets along well with Chris, who is admittedly a bit jealous of the attention Von gets. He is hoping to get offered a scholarship by a college to play and is a bit annoyed at Von’s nonchalance towards his future decision. Chris is currently getting over a long term break-up while harboring a crush on Von’s on-again-off-again girlfriend Cameron. Cameron tells them that her parents are heading out of town that night and she is holding an impromptu party.
The word of the party spreads and eventually reaches the freshman, including Denni and his best mate Elliott (Ed Oxenbould), Cameron’s younger brother. Denni knows that freshmen aren’t invited but asks Elliott anyway, given that it is at his house. Elliott says there’s no way. Cameron would kill him if he brought anyone over. He’ll just be up in his room playing video games, anyway. Denni won’t take no for an answer.
Erin Lamb (Diana Silvers) drives into Burnt Prairie, her hometown. Erin is a college sophomore majoring in journalism and Mayor Lamb’s daughter. She pitched her college newspaper to do a profile on Von Murphy and they approved.
Von is excused to leave campus during lunch to meet with Erin for her interview. She starts by getting the obvious out of the way first: where does he think he’ll be going after this? He is coy about his answer and says that he is not leaning any which way yet. At this point it is down to Kentucky, Indiana, Purdue, or, of course, the NBA.
They start to get into how he and his family moved here the year before from Chicago because of his dad’s job. She asks what kind of adjustments have taken place. He says that it is far different from where they were before and it has taken some adjusting to being one of the only black families in town.
She asks if he ever thought about attending a prep school instead but he says that he never wanted to feel like he was better than everyone else so he always turned those down. Von breaks from the interview to ask her about her personal life, specifically talking about the mutual friends they have. He says they seem to get along well and it would have been cool had they been at BP High at the same time. She tries to get the interview back on track but Von says that he has to go back at school soon. He tells her the location of a party later and says that he’ll be there if she wants to get more content for the interview. She says she can’t go to a high school party but Von turns up his charm and asks what else is there to do in this town?
Cal and his wife Rose (Kristin Chenoweth), a local pastor, talk over their weekend getaway - which she is hoping will repair their marital woes. Sick of his wife, Cal grabs his cocaine from his closet but decides against it and puts it back. They tell their kids to behave while they’re gone. After Rose heads out to the car, Cal tells Cameron where he is recently-stocked alcohol cabinet is and says that if she has to a party, to just make sure that Elliott doesn’t drink. She thanks him and hugs him goodbye.
At the party, loud music plays as most of the juniors and seniors at the school are at Cameron’s house. Elliott and Denni are in Elliott’s room, plotting how to join the party (which makes Elliott nervous). Downstairs, Von flirts Cameron as Chris looks on from afar. Erin enters the house to everyone’s surprise except for Von, who knew she’d come. He excuses himself from Cameron to go talk to Erin. She is angered but he says it is to continue the interview.
Erin encounters Von in the hallway and they resume their conversation from earlier. He offers to get her a drink but she says she doesn’t, prompting him to ask her how she is getting through college and they both laugh. It is a bit loud where they are so Von says they should go into one of the bedrooms for some peace and quiet. Cameron catches this in the corner of her eye and watches them to go into the room. Erin asks him if playing basketball professionally has always been his dreams and how he feels about being so close to achieving it. It soon becomes clear that that passion is surprisingly absent. He’s a gifted athlete and good at basketball so he plays it because that’s what it is expected of him.
Elsewhere, Cameron gives in to Chris’s flirtations and starts flirting back - Von’s wishes be damned. They start to make out prompting her to ask if he wants to go to the basement. As she walks down the stairs, she discovers Denni and her brother sneaking themselves some drinks. Before she can fully explode, they are already out of there - running out of the house and down the street. Denni asks Elliott why is running from his own home and Elliott doesn’t know but it feels like the right choice.
Von drops his head down and starts talk about how he is scared of the expectations laid upon him. He doesn’t really care about being the best but instead is sticking with it because it is the easiest path for him to help his dad and brother financially. He doesn’t want his dad working in a factory all his life but he knows it’s too late to work his way up any other career path at his age. So basketball it is. But unlike other jobs, this one could fall apart in an instant. What if he can’t cut in the big leagues? What if he has a career-ending injury?
He starts to softly cry as he says this before asking if they are still on the record, because he doesn’t want that to be included in her profile of him. She asks him if there is anything else that he is passionate about but before she can finish the question, his hand is stroking her cheek.
Erin felt an attraction to him the first time they met but she tried to maintain a professional demeanor – one that she is finding hard to locate at the moment. They start to make out and she climbs on top of him as he sits on the bed. He starts to unbutton her top but pulls back and says she can’t do this – not now, at least. She’s sober, he’s drunk, it doesn’t feel right. He promises that he consents but she maintains that she has to go – he is her interview subject after all. Before she leaves, he takes her hand and asks to see her again. She promises that he will, prompting him to smile.
As Erin leaves the party, she runs into Chris and things are immediately awkward between them. Chris is surprised she is here (or even in town) but before he can say anything, she says she has to go. She sits in her car and adjusts her mirror so she can see Von in the upstairs bedroom. She bites her lip smiling. She then sees him fraternizing with Keith – the cook from Mac’s – who was a few years older than her but has stayed in Burnt Prairie after graduation.
Erin is jolted awake by ambulance sirens whizzing past her bedroom window. Coach Carpenter by a ringing phone. Marvin by a loud knock on the door. Upon answering the door, he takes a moment to regain his alertness but can’t believe what he is hearing from the police officer. He can’t seem to get a ringing out of his ears and asks the person on the officer repeat what they just said: Von was found overdosed in the master bedroom of the Montgomery household.
In the small town of Burnt Prairie, Indiana, sweat trickles down the brow of Burnt Prairie Blazers basketball star Von Murphy (Stephan James) as time stands still and he pulls back to shoot a free throw. The crowd eager in anticipation. The ball leaves his hand and goes into the net, causing time to resume and the crowd to go crazy. He is swarmed by his teammates. Time expires and the celebrations continue.
The score shows 89-23. The cause for celebration was that shot set the all-time scoring record in school history for Von.The team’s second best player, Chris Ford (Jacob Elordi), gives him a big hug, followed by the team’s coach Dick Carpenter (Robert Forster). Dick is a basketball legend in the state, now in his 48th year as Blazers coach. Von heads to the stands, where he is greeted by his father Marvin (Colman Domingo) and his younger brother Denni (Jahi Di’allo Winston), a freshman. Lastly, his girlfriend Cameron (Olivia Holt) makes sure that she gives him a kiss before he heads into the locker room.
In his post-game analysis, radio broadcaster Doug Parker (Joel Murray) sets the scene. Four regular season games left until the postseason. The town of Burnt Prairie - just under 5,000 residents - has a lot riding on this season. Despite his legendary status, Coach Carpenter has never reached the state finals - or even the semi-finals. Everyone knows that is an uphill battle for any school this size to survive a single elimination tournament including every school in the state. But if any year, this could be the one. Never has the town - nay, state - seen a once-in-a-generation the likes of Von Murphy.
As everyone is leaving, Von is approached by Colleen Lamb (Annabeth Gish) - the mayor of Burnt Prairie. She congratulates him and wants to know if she can ask him a favor.
The next day, a well-dressed man (Richard Pitino) stops into a popular local burger joint, Mac’s. His waitress Willow Carpenter (Grace Fulton) treats him as if he is any other customer, which he finds refreshing. The cook, Keith Whintey (Jeremy Allen White), takes a good long stare at the customer but doesn’t say anything. When Sheriff Cal Montgomery (Josh Lucas) enters the restaurant, he immediately recognizes the guest and introduces himself. When Willow comes serve his food, Cal asks if she knows who the man is. She doesn’t. It’s Rick Pitino, head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. Willow feigns a sense of awe and says that she should’ve known that – her dad is Burnt Prairie’s basketball coach, after all. Cal starts talking the coach’s ear off - asking what he thinks the odds are that he will go to Kentucky. Cal says he’s hoping he picks his alma mater, Purdue.
Pitino pays a home visit to Von and his family. They have been through these recruiting visits before so it is nothing new to them. Marvin has an honest conversation with the coach about the benefits of going to college or going straight to the NBA. After the coach makes his pitch, Von takes Denni out to the driveway to play some one-on-one. Denni looks up to his brother but is self-conscious about how smaller he is than his brother. He is hoping that one day he will grow to be as tall and as good as Von. Von playfully teases him but says that he knows he’ll get there eventually. Maybe they’ll even be playing in the NBA together some day.
At school and beyond, Von is a superstar. The town as a whole is practically read to etch “Burnt Prairie – Home of Von Murphy” on their town sign. An outlier is history teacher Thomas Hardy (John Gallagher Jr.), who tries to keep a level head and treat Von as if he is anyone else. He senses that he will get this kind of attention for the rest of his life and trying to give the kid a sense of normalcy. Von appreciates this.
Von gets along well with Chris, who is admittedly a bit jealous of the attention Von gets. He is hoping to get offered a scholarship by a college to play and is a bit annoyed at Von’s nonchalance towards his future decision. Chris is currently getting over a long term break-up while harboring a crush on Von’s on-again-off-again girlfriend Cameron. Cameron tells them that her parents are heading out of town that night and she is holding an impromptu party.
The word of the party spreads and eventually reaches the freshman, including Denni and his best mate Elliott (Ed Oxenbould), Cameron’s younger brother. Denni knows that freshmen aren’t invited but asks Elliott anyway, given that it is at his house. Elliott says there’s no way. Cameron would kill him if he brought anyone over. He’ll just be up in his room playing video games, anyway. Denni won’t take no for an answer.
Erin Lamb (Diana Silvers) drives into Burnt Prairie, her hometown. Erin is a college sophomore majoring in journalism and Mayor Lamb’s daughter. She pitched her college newspaper to do a profile on Von Murphy and they approved.
Von is excused to leave campus during lunch to meet with Erin for her interview. She starts by getting the obvious out of the way first: where does he think he’ll be going after this? He is coy about his answer and says that he is not leaning any which way yet. At this point it is down to Kentucky, Indiana, Purdue, or, of course, the NBA.
They start to get into how he and his family moved here the year before from Chicago because of his dad’s job. She asks what kind of adjustments have taken place. He says that it is far different from where they were before and it has taken some adjusting to being one of the only black families in town.
She asks if he ever thought about attending a prep school instead but he says that he never wanted to feel like he was better than everyone else so he always turned those down. Von breaks from the interview to ask her about her personal life, specifically talking about the mutual friends they have. He says they seem to get along well and it would have been cool had they been at BP High at the same time. She tries to get the interview back on track but Von says that he has to go back at school soon. He tells her the location of a party later and says that he’ll be there if she wants to get more content for the interview. She says she can’t go to a high school party but Von turns up his charm and asks what else is there to do in this town?
Cal and his wife Rose (Kristin Chenoweth), a local pastor, talk over their weekend getaway - which she is hoping will repair their marital woes. Sick of his wife, Cal grabs his cocaine from his closet but decides against it and puts it back. They tell their kids to behave while they’re gone. After Rose heads out to the car, Cal tells Cameron where he is recently-stocked alcohol cabinet is and says that if she has to a party, to just make sure that Elliott doesn’t drink. She thanks him and hugs him goodbye.
At the party, loud music plays as most of the juniors and seniors at the school are at Cameron’s house. Elliott and Denni are in Elliott’s room, plotting how to join the party (which makes Elliott nervous). Downstairs, Von flirts Cameron as Chris looks on from afar. Erin enters the house to everyone’s surprise except for Von, who knew she’d come. He excuses himself from Cameron to go talk to Erin. She is angered but he says it is to continue the interview.
Erin encounters Von in the hallway and they resume their conversation from earlier. He offers to get her a drink but she says she doesn’t, prompting him to ask her how she is getting through college and they both laugh. It is a bit loud where they are so Von says they should go into one of the bedrooms for some peace and quiet. Cameron catches this in the corner of her eye and watches them to go into the room. Erin asks him if playing basketball professionally has always been his dreams and how he feels about being so close to achieving it. It soon becomes clear that that passion is surprisingly absent. He’s a gifted athlete and good at basketball so he plays it because that’s what it is expected of him.
Elsewhere, Cameron gives in to Chris’s flirtations and starts flirting back - Von’s wishes be damned. They start to make out prompting her to ask if he wants to go to the basement. As she walks down the stairs, she discovers Denni and her brother sneaking themselves some drinks. Before she can fully explode, they are already out of there - running out of the house and down the street. Denni asks Elliott why is running from his own home and Elliott doesn’t know but it feels like the right choice.
Von drops his head down and starts talk about how he is scared of the expectations laid upon him. He doesn’t really care about being the best but instead is sticking with it because it is the easiest path for him to help his dad and brother financially. He doesn’t want his dad working in a factory all his life but he knows it’s too late to work his way up any other career path at his age. So basketball it is. But unlike other jobs, this one could fall apart in an instant. What if he can’t cut in the big leagues? What if he has a career-ending injury?
He starts to softly cry as he says this before asking if they are still on the record, because he doesn’t want that to be included in her profile of him. She asks him if there is anything else that he is passionate about but before she can finish the question, his hand is stroking her cheek.
Erin felt an attraction to him the first time they met but she tried to maintain a professional demeanor – one that she is finding hard to locate at the moment. They start to make out and she climbs on top of him as he sits on the bed. He starts to unbutton her top but pulls back and says she can’t do this – not now, at least. She’s sober, he’s drunk, it doesn’t feel right. He promises that he consents but she maintains that she has to go – he is her interview subject after all. Before she leaves, he takes her hand and asks to see her again. She promises that he will, prompting him to smile.
As Erin leaves the party, she runs into Chris and things are immediately awkward between them. Chris is surprised she is here (or even in town) but before he can say anything, she says she has to go. She sits in her car and adjusts her mirror so she can see Von in the upstairs bedroom. She bites her lip smiling. She then sees him fraternizing with Keith – the cook from Mac’s – who was a few years older than her but has stayed in Burnt Prairie after graduation.
Erin is jolted awake by ambulance sirens whizzing past her bedroom window. Coach Carpenter by a ringing phone. Marvin by a loud knock on the door. Upon answering the door, he takes a moment to regain his alertness but can’t believe what he is hearing from the police officer. He can’t seem to get a ringing out of his ears and asks the person on the officer repeat what they just said: Von was found overdosed in the master bedroom of the Montgomery household.
Chad Taylor has already made its case as one of the best writer (if not the best writer) that LRF has to offer and he once again delivers a great script, albeit long, that introduces to an interesting setting and an engaging story (especially after what happens at the end)
While I appreciate the story and overall feel of the series, it's easy to get confused in the high number of characters that are introduced, which is what happened to me and it kind of prevented me to appreciate it to its fullest
Burnt Prairie doesn't rely on flashy visuals or set pieces to make its point and instead rely on its cast to carry the load and with Chad Taylor's script and its inspired casting, it's easy to be captivated.
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