The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

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The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh is an American sports/fantasy comedy film that was released in 1979. The PG-rated movie was directed by Gilbert Moses and co-produced by David Dashev and Gary Stromberg. It was released by Lorimar Pictures and distributed by United Artists (now part of Sony Pictures, which owns the rights).

The movie has attracted a unlikely cult following to this day, most notably for its disco-inspired decor/setting and soundtrack that was infused into the film, as well as the appearances of many NBA stars (including lead actor Julius Erving) and the rising careers of Debbie Allen and Harry Shearer.

Contents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh told the story of a struggling professional basketball team, The Pittsburgh Pythons, whose continuous losing streak and lack of talent made them the laughing stock of Pittsburgh. This resulted in several players asking to go elsewhere in the league, except for the star player Moses Guthrie, mostly because he is the highest paid player on the team and is not liked by the teammates.

Sensing that the team really needs a miracle, the team's ball and waterboy Tyrone Millman decides to turn to his favorite hobby, astrology, as a way to turn around the team's fortunes. He brings his idea to an astrologer named Mona Mondieu, where they come up with the perfect concept: A team comprised of players who were born under the astrological sign of Pisces (matching the star sign of Moses Guthrie), thus the 'birth' of "The Pittsburgh Pisces!"

Although Moses and Tyrone's mother Toby (for whom Moses had feelings) thought that Tyrone's idea was out of his mind, they warmed up to the concept, not knowing that this 'concept' would really take off due to an unlikely group of mismatched players, whose combination of teamwork and astrology from Mona would pay off as they went from laughing stocks to a powerhouse to reckon with on the road to the league championship.

  • Singer/actor Cher was originally cast as Mona Mondieu, but she backed out at the last minute.
  • During the scene where the timeout took place, the Pisces were trailing Los Angeles 91-101, but when the game resumed the Pisces made ten field goals, which means that they should have won the championship with a double-digit lead.
  • Although the movie did not license NBA logos, several players did appear in the film playing for fictional teams with the same location and colors as their real NBA teams.
  • At the time of filming, Erving was a member of Pennsylvania's real life NBA team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Several years later in 1982, in a case of art imitating life, he was joined by a real player named Moses (center Moses Malone) and defeated the real Los Angeles Lakers (also with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
  • Had the filming begun a year later, it would have been possible that Magic Johnson would have been part of the Los Angeles team.
  • Another generation's Philadelphia sports star, Donovan McNabb lists the movie as his favorite in his official team website biography

  • The call letters of WTAE, KQV and WDVE are mentioned in the film.
  • WTAE, which served as the 'fictional' TV station in the film, featured a Sports anchor named "Murray Sports", who was inspired by WTAE's then-real-life sports anchor Myron Cope.
  • Connie Hawkins, who plays himself as member of the Los Angeles team, was an alumnus of the defunct Pittsburgh Pipers of American Basketball Association. The Pipers renamed themselves the Pittsburgh Condors in 1970, a year before Erving joined was drafted into the ABA. By 1972 the Condors ceased operations.


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