Heaven Is a Playground is a 1991 American sports drama film based on Rick Telander's 1976 non-fiction book of the same name. It was written and directed by Randall Fried, and stars Michael Warren, D. B. Sweeney, Victor Love, Bo Kimble, Richard Jordan and Janet Julian. Telander himself makes a cameo appearance in the film. The film was released on October 4, 1991 by New Line Cinema.

Plot

Byron Harper operates a non-profit farming system on a playground in the Cabrini Green neighborhood of Chicago with the aim of landing black kids into college basketball programs. He focuses most of his energy on the best prospects, whom he calls his Breds, and ignores the less talented ones. One day, burn-out white lawyer Zack Telander shows up on the playground, willing to play, but Byron believes him to be a drug pusher and throws him out. However, Zack happens to be the only one on the spot with a car, so he helps Byron to rush one of the Breds into a hospital, where he also threatens the clerk with a gross negligence lawsuit in case treatment would not be provided.