Customer Reviews

Passing Glory

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

TNT has often called itself the best movie studio on telivision. PASSING GLORY would suggest that maybe it is. This is a first rate production. The performances are gripping. The basketball sequences are thrilling. I have rented this movie over and over again. It is truly a classic. This is a small gem that no one should miss.

This made for TV movie is based on a true story. It's 1965 in New Orleans and St. Augustine's Catholic High School (boys) does an admirable job of educating young men from the black community and preparing them for life ..... in the black community. They know their place and their limitations. They were turned down by a vote of 185-11 to be a member of the Louisiana State High School Athletic Association so they must continue to compete against other black schools. They have never played a white school in their history. They can only wonder how their championship teams would compete against the white champions. This is all about to change when Father Verrett, a black priest from Baltimore is transferred to St. Augustine. He grew up in New Orleans but has tasted freedom in the North. He doesn't have the patience to be passive while the white community decides the fate of the black community. Father Verrett turns the school, students and parents into an activist community that is willing to take on the system, albeit pretty reluctantly, having already experienced the retaliation of some whites. The film builds to a climax of the first ever racially mixed high school basketball game in New Orleans. Another terrific film about the struggle of black Americans for the equal rights guaranteed to all citizens but at that time only available if you had the correct skin color. The acting is excellent and the screenplay was written by an actual member of the 1965 team, veteran actor Harold Sylvester. Magic Johnson was an executive producer. An overlooked TNT gem.

I love basketball and history, so when these two elements are mixed together, I'm automatically hooked. This movie tells the story of the 1965 St. Augustine High (black school) Purple Knights and their trials and tribulations to play against the Jesuit High (white school) Eagles for the New Orleans high school basketball championship. Prior to that blacks could not play for the city title. They could only sit home and wonder "what if". The acting by Andre Braugher and his supporting cast was superb, but i wasn't feeling those accents that Travis and Boo had. I've live in New Orleans, and black folks don't talk like that. Other than that, it was a good movie.

Based on a true story, the mixture of morality, sports, and quality acting and directing makes for a winning combination, especially for teenage viewers and the young at heart.

I can't get enough of watching this movie. It was well-written, well-acted, and even though it was easy to figure out the outcome of the final game, that really isn't the point. The point was that the game happened at all. I am actually in the movie (yes, I am an extra-sitting next to one of the parents during the final game), so I saw it first-hand many, many times in real-life during filming. Yet, I still find myself watching it once again to see the story yet one more time. This should be required viewing for high school kids.

If you got a heart, I'm certain this movie will touch it. I got this movie on a whim, mainly because I'm a Daniel Hugh Kelly fan, and it was descently priced. Plus, the storyline seemed pretty good. Boy, was I surprised- it was a whole lot better than I thought. It was packed with a lot of good acting all the around. Based on a true story, where just about everybody pulls together at the end and cheers unitedly and breaks color lines at a time when it seemed impossible, and left you at the end with that good feeling that movies like this sometimes inspires.

This movie produced by Turner was originally made for TV. It has a couple of recognized actors and has a good positive message for kids older than 8 - definitely a "G" movie with a good moral lesson. Now, for the whole truth, my son and I were extras in the movie when it was filmed here in Atlanta and so, it made sence to get a DVD version since we only had a VHS version. You can buy it for not much more than you can rent it for and show it to your kids or grand kids (it's for parents too!)

I Loved this movie, simply because it showed a start of breaking rasism, and that's always a great start and fight to the finish, do you agree!