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48 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEFORE UTEP, THERE WAS TEXAS WESTERN....!! 2006 ESPY Winner !!, January 13, 2006
Five MOMENTOUS Stars!! A Great Movie!! "Glory Road" tells the true story, with much dramatic license along the way, of one of sport's greatest moments. A moment that changed the face and color of college basketball and rippled across all sports. It's the story of a little known college basketball coach, Don Haskins, and how he came to be the coach of little known Texas Western College in El Paso, Texas. It's also the story of the black players who would be recruited from all around the USA to eventually wind up playing in one of the greatest moments in college basketball: David "Daddy D" Lattin, Nevil Shed, Willie Cager, Orsten Artis, "Wee" Willie Worsley, Harry Flournoy, and of course the late floor general, Bobby Joe Hill. And the other team members played their vital roles also: Jerry Armstrong, Louis Baudoin, Dick Meyers, Togo Railey and David Palacio. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer does a wonderful job of bringing back the singular moment of the all-white Kentucky team under Adolph Rupp (Jon Voigt is a hoot in this role) and Haskin's all-black starting five meeting in the NCAA basketball national championship final game spotlight during some tough racial times for the USA. In fact, Haskins had played this combination of players many times before during the season to little local fanfare, so it was no big deal to him. He just wanted to win. Josh Lucas is great as Don "The Bear" Haskins in this excellent James Gartner-directed movie. It's said that Lucas, in preparing for this role, was driven out into the desert by Haskins in his truck and they just sat and talked (and drank) for many hours discussing how Haskins did it and the way he did it. (This has turned into quite a good friendship since then.) The movie pre-screenings, with all of the living original players on hand, in El Paso are greatly appreciated by all of us who lived through those incredible times and are still here.
In light of today's social freedoms, the movie does a great job of depicting the tough racial times of the 1960's and the events that put Haskins, the team, and TWC on the athletic map forever. Not to mention the huge pot of money that TWC got from participating in the tournament. Shortly after these events, the University of Texas education system made TWC a full partner by the redesignation of the "University of Texas-El Paso" and a boatload of construction/faculty money flowed from Austin to El Paso. I was there and it was a grand moment to be remembered. A great must-see movie not just for the sports but also for the social impact of those times. Hats off again to Jerry Bruckheimer for personally carrying the banner on the national-level TV and radio shows promoting this movie. Five "Slam-Dunking" Stars.
(Notes:
*"Glory Road" won the "ESPY" Award as the Best Sports Movie of 2006.
*The Texas Western College NCAA Championship team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.)
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Portrayal of The "Greatest Upset in College Basketball History", June 30, 2006
"Glory Road" tells the story of the Texas Western Miners, a college basketball team who won the NCAA Championship in 1966. But this wasn't just an ordinary championship, no, for the starting line-up in the championship game was all Black players, a thing that was unheard of in '66. Or better yet, even a black player being recruited by a college team was out of the ordinary. However, the 36 year old coach Don Haskins recruited seven Black players for his Texas Western team (when the season begins, he starts three of those players). The team was barely even thought of in the college world before then, then with the help of the seven black players, they went on to win the championship.
The movie opens with a girls basketball game, and you see that Don Haskins coaches girl's basketball. Later on, he is asked to coach Division 1 basketball, for the Texas Western team (with one drawback; he would have to live in the dorm room with his wife and kids). Then, he sets out to recruit players that would help the team win. When he recruits all Black players, it's obvious that most people (even the Black players themselves) thought Haskins was crazy. Among the players he recruited were Bobby Jo Hill (played exceptionally by Derek Luke), Willie Cager, David Lattin, and Harry Flournoy. His practices for the team were intense and his rules were strict. This would all pay off in the end though, with the Miners winning the championship over Adolf Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats (with Pat Riley, who is a character in the movie, it's weird to hear his name called while he's playing, knowing he's a game-winning coach with plenty of rings).
The movie does depict the racism at the time as well. It wasn't an easy ride for the coach or the Black players on the team. In the first game, the fans clapped for the two starting white players, but the whole arena was quiet when the Black players were announced. The team had racial slurs written in their hotel room during their game. One player was even beat up in a bathroom. Haskins was harassed as well. The racism almost tore the team apart, but with the coach's help they stayed together and changed the course of basketball.
All around, the acting was great. Josh Lucas did a great job as Coach Haskins, completely becoming his character. Derek Luke did great as Bobby Jo Hill. Jon Voight played Kentucky coach Adolf Rupp, but you wouldn't really know unless you read the credits. Nonetheless he did a great job. Mehcad Brooks, Sam Jones III, Schin A.S. Kerr and Damaine Radcliff (who played Flournoy, Worsley, Lattin, and Cager, respectively) all did excellent in their roles. The actors practically become the players. The cast couldn't have been better.
Overall, Disney has released another superb movie about sports underdogs winning it all (I enjoyed Remember The Titans as well). If you like that movie, there's no way you'll dislike this. It is a well-cast, well-directed movie that will satisfy any basketball fan, and will keep everyone watching. It's been said that it follows the cliches of all other similar movies, but don't we always watch them anyway?
The film triumphantly shows how one coach changed the game (and face) of basketball completely. One quote from the film is "You're acting like negroes are gonna be the future of basketball!" and I couldn't help but laugh when that line was said. The importance and significance of that season and the tribulations of the team is wonderfully shown. Don't pass this up.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Familiar Road, August 16, 2006
I am recommending this film because it is a good film. But I especially recommend this film to any of you out there who have never seen "Remember the Titans," "Coach Carter," "Miracle," or "Friday Night Lights" because this is essentially the same movie. "Glory Road" is a very well done parade of sports movie clichés. The gold standard for this genre remains "Remember the Titans," as that film made you feel the racial pressure that the characters experienced, and Josh Lucas is no Denzel Washington.
This film, like all Disney films, has a lot to preach. Above all they want you to work hard and stay in line because if you do then one day you too can experience true glory. The problem I have with this lesson is that to accomplish it the film has to make you believe that the coach can do wrong. So when he busts out his Gestapo tactics we're supposed to eat it up because we know that in the end they win the national championship. We, here in America, pride ourselves on being anti-tyranny, but this film, and all those mentioned above, have coaches that definitely slant towards the tyrannical. Yet Haskins (Josh Lucas) is portrayed as a hero simply because he gets the job done. Being a Detroit Lions fan I've seen these tactics fail miserably, and yet when Marty Mornhinwig got the boot nobody hypothesized that it might be because of his hyper-aggressive style. One lesson that I found to be spot on was that these kids did not need the approval of Texans or racist boosters.
I am a sports fan because I love the unpredictability of it, but sports movies are pretty much anti-climatic by nature. However, I still enjoyed watching the staged drama of this film. Lucas was looking for a star vehicle and at least got a box office victory out of it. More importantly he nails the role and was a lot of fun to watch. I was also glad to see Tatyana Ali get work, although she is quickly reduced to nothing more than a cheerleader. Director James Gartner keeps the filmmaking simple, only occasionally sliding into the fancy. The story basically tells itself and he does nothing to steer it off course. I do question the realism of a few of the scenes. I was especially concerned about the idea that the one game they lost was only because of on court racism. It seems all too simplistic and overly to the point. Also, when Haskins kicks the white kids out of the championship game (just because they're white) they seemed to roll over for him too easily, but I guess that is one upside to running a dictatorship.
In the end this film is about racism, using sports as a backdrop. I know the point is to show how far we've come, but I can't help but think that films like this pick at scabs. We all know that being racist is bad and bad for business, so why tell us again? It is, however, to the films credit that they portray Haskins as an overachiever who was dealt a bad hand, as opposed to a civil rights crusader. Yes, he broke down racial walls, but he was really in it for that national championship. ***1/2
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