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. Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said, "I used this book as an inspiration for the biggest win of my career when we ended UCLA's all-time 88-game winning streak in 1974."

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. Click the Book to read the players telling their stories in their own words. This is the book that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information.

Thumbnails August 07

by Tony Medley

Rescue Dawn (9/10): Although too long, this is a beautifully photographed, exciting, high tension Vietnam War POW-escape through the jungle film, expertly directed by Werner Herzog, highlighted by brilliant acting by Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. And it’s all true!

Talk to Me (9/10): Even though Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Elijofor give Oscar®-deserving performances in this biopic of irreverent 1960s ex-con radio talk show host “Petey” Greene, Taraji P. Henson’s riotous over-the-top performance as Greene’s flamboyant girlfriend, stole the show for me.

Goya’s Ghosts (9/10): Award-winning director Milos Foreman presents a fascinating, brutal soap opera of the dying days of the Spanish Inquisition in the days of Napoleon with a terrific performance by Natalie Portman. Not for everyone and not really about the painter Goya, but I was fascinated.

Live Free or Die Hard (8/10): When you go see Bruce Willis in a Die Hard movie, you know what you’re going to get, an indestructible hero, John McClane (Willis), who is going to get the bejesus kicked out of him, will escape from innumerable impossible situations, and will always have a smile and wisecrack when things look darkest. No matter how impossible his situations, McClane keeps coming...and wisecracking.

No Reservations (5/10): Hard to believe that a film with gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones in almost every scene is hard to watch, but this weak romance starts slow and ends slower. Not a comedy, there are more tears than laughs as 10-year-old Abigail Breslin shines brighter than Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. For women only; most men will go nuts sitting through 101 minutes of this thing.

Interview (5/10): Because of forced and contrived dialogue I squirmed a lot during the first half, despite the ravishing beauty of Sienna Miller. As the film descends into darker territory, it gets more interesting and the last half hour of this 86-minute film did manage to keep me awake.

License to Wed (5/10): Notwithstanding the presence of the beautiful and talented Mandy Moore, this is yet another Robin Williams vehicle that is stunningly insipid.

Molière (3/10): Director Laurent Tirard squanders a terrific opportunity to educate people about 17^th Century French playwright Molière (who raised satire to a higher level) by, instead, telling a fictional story in the style of Molière, omitting anything factual. Incredibly, he makes Ludivine Sagnier, one of the sexiest of European stars, appear about as enticing as an anteater! This movie is a waste of time, talent, and money. Molière’s life deserves a good biopic, not a lightweight fictional farce like this. In French.

Two Days in Paris (1/10): This has two unattractive, unlikable protagonists, Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg, a low moral tone, not much humor, no chemistry between the stars, and a few gratuitous political cheap shots that will please writer-director Delpy’s friend, Ethan Hawke. Opens August 12.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (1/10): Unless you’ve read all 3,816 pages of the first six books and/or endured the many hours of the previous movies, this is incomprehensible. The person sitting next to me had read the first two books and had seen the first movie but was still in the dark after an hour. Maybe you have to be 12-years-old. I’m not.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (0/10): Anyone who thinks that being a film critic is not work should sit through this oh, so politically correct film without being able to scoot; a clumsy, unfunny diatribe for tolerance that is noteworthy for its intolerance, poor taste, and lack of humor.