Air
Synopsis: In 1984, a sneaker company makes a sales pitch to new NBA player Michael Jordan. (Streaming on Amazon as of August 2023)
Air –excuse me, Air: Courting a Legend– is like the greatest Nike commercial ever. Air is a blow-by-blow of how Nike got Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever, on their roster. Basically, they lured him with a shoe. And a lot of money. But back to the shoe… this is not just any shoe. Perhaps it’s the greatest shoe ever. Excited yet?
It’s 1984 and Michael Jordan is a 21-year-old college b-baller who has been picked third in the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. Michael is guided by his parents Deloris and James, into the professional phase of his athletic career. Ms. Jordan is particularly influential.
Nike, based in Oregon, is a running shoe company helmed by Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), aka Shoe Dog, that has recently gone public. They have a small basketball division that lags far behind the reputation and profits of Adidas and Converse. We’ll hear a lot about how the brand is an underdog and has no street cred.
Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) is an executive in the b-ball division, scouting talent to promote their various athletic shoe styles. His work is the center of his life. He’s a schlubby guy who seems to live and breathe basketball. When he’s not going to high school and college games looking for recruits, he’s gambling. Thankfully, alcohol isn’t a vice of his. If Air was not based on a true story, his character would probably be a boozer with a few ex-wives. Thankfully, junk food seems to be his only vice. Well, that and the gambling.
When Damon* is in the Oregon office, he sulks through a meeting where the marketing director, Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), presides over a whiteboard with the names of the recent NBA draft picks. With a budget of $250 K, Nike can’t afford above a number five pick to promote their sneakers. Instead, they’ll spread the wealth among three players lower on the list. The other guys don’t seem to have any preferences because they don’t seem to watch much b-ball. But Damon does; his office doubles as the VHS archive of players’ game tapes.
A downcast Damon heads home to junk food and his player tapes. Over and over, he watches a North Carolina freshman player sink the game-winning shot of an NCAA championship game. You know who it is, right? He has an epiphany: Jordan is The One.
The next morning, he rushes into the office and enthusiastically recounts his revelation to Affleck. He wants to spend the whole budget on Jordan and, instead of having him promote an existing shoe, he wants to build the shoe around Jordan. “He is the shoe,” he proclaims. Meta!
Affleck is skeptical. He tells Damon -the audience, actually, because he would already be aware of this – that things are precarious right now. Nike has just gone public and he is beholden to the board of directors. Affleck tells him to proceed with caution. Just a quick aside here– every other movie out there seems to star Damon and/or Affleck! Maybe they should make a movie about how two cocky Bostonians made a name for themselves in Hollywood whilst maintaining a legendary bromance. Back to Air…
Chris Messina plays David Falk, Michael Jordan’s sharky agent. We first meet him when Damon calls, asking for a meeting with the Jordan family. Sharky Agent is sitting in his office, his expensively shod feet up on his desk. Whenever an assistant walks in to place papers on his desk, he glances at them like he owns them. Apropos of nothing, he proudly informs Damon that he has no friends, just clients. So sad…Damon could tell him the riches of having a friend like Ben Affleck. Anyway, Sharky Agent smirks and tells Damon that Jordan is not interested in Nike. “Don’t call them,” he orders before hanging up.
Damon doesn’t call the Jordans, instead, he flies to their home state of North Carolina and then drives to their house, blaring 80’s music along the way. Be prepared to be assailed by the mostly icky songs of the decade. He gets a standoff-ish reception from Jordan’s parents, Deloris (Viola Davis) and James (Julius Tennon). Michael’s mom is polite and confident. James is friendly, but doesn’t want to be involved in business negotiations. Damon makes his pitch that Michael will get personal attention that neither Adidas nor Converse will provide. Deloris agrees to a meeting at Nike offices in Oregon.
An excited Damon returns to Oregon and heads straight to Nike’s head shoe designer, Peter Moore (Matthew Maher), telling him, “I need the greatest basketball shoe that’s ever been made.” As he exits, Shoe Designer calls out, “When do you need it?” Camera swings to Damon, “Monday.” Okay, so something that would normally take months. Impossible? Damon says the shoe is for Michael Jordan. My God, the audience knows he will be the GOAT.
Over a few high-pressure days, the Nike team’s mettle is tested. They need to impress the Jordans like no client before!
On Monday, the Jordans arrive and meet the Nike players, including the Athlete Relations head, Howard White; as played by Chris Tucker who makes the most of his lines, coming off as sincere and, no surprise, funny. Affleck blunders into the meeting, trying to impress while also paying homage to the Jordan family.
The Shoe is revealed. In the history of shoes, Air Jordan has an exalted place. At least according to the movie, which keeps pointing out how groundbreaking it was that the shoe had less white on it than any other NBA sneaker before. Look, dammit! See all the magnificent RED!
What follows is a pièce de résistance. Damon veers away from the planned pitch and foretells Michael Jordan’s future. You have to see it to believe it. Damon prophesizes that Michael the GOAT, shall change the effing world. He’ll also be attacked and betrayed. A little like that guy from Nazareth a couple thousand years ago, Jesus.
And if you love shoes, you will be really satisfied when Damon drifts back to The Shoe, explaining that it will embody Michael Jordan’s greatness. You’ll basically feel how a Christian would feel if they were gazing at Jesus’ sandals. Damon is on the point of collapse when he utters that the existence of Michael Jordan and The Shoe will give meaning to our lives.
Jeesum Crow, talk about the opiate of the people. But instead of religion, the opiate will be Michael Jordan. And His Shoe, of course. Which can also be your shoe for $64.99. Not an unreasonable indulgence for a fan’s entry into Basketball Heaven as practiced at United Center, the Chicago Bulls arena.
*Calling these real-life people by the actors who portray them. Sonny Vaccaro= Matt Damon. Phil Knight= Ben Affleck
P.S. Anyone with a couple hundred bucks can keep practicing the faith in 2023, with the average cost of a Nike Jordan shoe at $145.
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