Air Bud (1997) on Netflix
After his father dies, Josh Framm, twelve, moves to Fernfield, Washington. Practicing basketball alone behind an abandoned church, he meets a Golden Retriever that can play the game.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb5.4/1021,731 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes48%
Trailer
Plot summary
Josh Framm is twelve when he moves with his mother Jackie and his younger sister Andrea to Fernfield, Washington, after his father dies. He has no friends in the new town and does not sign up for the school basketball team, so he shoots baskets by himself on a makeshift court behind an abandoned church. There a runaway Golden Retriever comes to him, a dog that has escaped from Norm Snively, an abusive owner who works as a clown. Josh finds that the dog can play basketball, names him Buddy, and takes him home, and Jackie agrees that he can stay until Christmas. At school Josh befriends Arthur Chaney, a retired pro player who works as the maintenance engineer, and with Chaney's encouragement Josh tries out for the Timberwolves, the team coached by Joe Barker.
Cast
- Norman Browningas Buck Willingham
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Air Bud (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Air Bud was inspired by a real Golden Retriever named Buddy, owned by Kevin DiCicco, who had been featured on America's Funniest Home Videos and David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks".
- Made for $3 million, Air Bud grossed $29 million worldwide and led to a sequel, Air Bud: Golden Receiver, in 1998, and to a franchise that includes the spin-off series Air Buddies.
- Kevin DiCicco reportedly disliked the title Air Bud and had wanted to call the film Buddy, but a film with that title had been released two months earlier, so the name was changed.
- US distribution rights to the film were initially acquired by Miramax Films, but it was instead moved and released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.
