Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their their stories in their own words.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

The Silence (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 119 minutes.

Not for children.

Two girls go missing 23 years apart to the day, the first we see brutally raped and murdered by Peer (Ulrich Thomsen) while his companion Timo (Wotan Wilki) watches in shock. Thus begins a singularly unsatisfying psychological mystery, as the story picks up 23 years later after a similar disappearance of a young girl in the same spot. There don’t seem to be many normal people in this movie, as it concentrates on the psychological makeups of everyone. One of the investigating detectives, David (Sebastian Blomberg) is a weirdo who was recently widowed and is goofy throughout the whole movie. Joined by Jana (Jule Boewe), his pregnant colleague, they are helped by Krischan (Burghart Klaussner), a retired detective of the first unresolved case.

This movie has good and bad in it. The good is that it concentrates on the victims’ parents parents (Katrin Sass gives a particularly good performance as the mother of the first girl murdered, as do Karoline Eicchorn and Roeland Wiesnekker as the parents of the second) and the horror they have to endure, sadness that never leaves them. The bad is that it concentrates on the victims’ parents and the horror they have to endure, which makes for a terribly depressing two hours.

This is directed by Swiss-born Baran bo Odar in his debut, adapting the novel by Jan Costen Wagner. Unfortunately, bo Odar needs a lesson in pace because this drags on and on, moving slower than molasses. But he does get fine performances from the entire cast.

Most murder mysteries treat the murder cavalierly without showing how horrible the crime is and the effect that it has on survivors. Movies made like that are often a pleasure to watch because they are exciting and mysterious and the psychological and emotional effects of the murder are ignored.

So this is a rare film that shows the murder and makes the audience feel the pain. That’s all to the good. The problem is that one cannot say that one has spent an entertaining two hours when leaving the theater after watching this because it is so unremittingly depressing. In German. Shows for one week at the Los Angeles Nuart starting March 8.