Glory Road (2006)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

James Gartner

Writers (WGA):

Chris Cleveland (written by) &
Bettina Gilois (written by)

Release Date:

13 January 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Winning changes everything.

Plot:

In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.

Plot Keywords:

Texas | College Basketball | Basketball | Coach | College

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Josh Lucas	...	Don Haskins
Derek Luke	...	Bobby Joe Hill
Austin Nichols	...	Jerry Armstrong
Jon Voight	...	Adolph Rupp
Evan Jones	...	Moe Iba
Schin A.S. Kerr	...	David Lattin
Alphonso McAuley	...	Orsten Artis
Mehcad Brooks	...	Harry Flournoy
Sam Jones III	...	Willie Worsley
Damaine Radcliff	...	Willie 'Scoops' Cager
Emily Deschanel	...	Mary Haskins
Al Shearer	...	Nevil Shed
Red West	...	Ross Moore
Kip Weeks	...	Togo Railey
Mitch Eakins	...	Dick Myers

MPAA:

Rated PG for racial issues including violence and epithets, and momentary language.

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Malaysia:(Banned) | USA:PG (certificate #42056) | Germany:6 | UK:PG | Italy:T | Finland:K-3 | South Korea:All | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

The technical adviser for the basketball scenes was USC head coach Tim Floyd, who was chosen because of his closeness to the film's subject, Don Haskins. During the 1980s, Floyd was Haskins' top assistant coach at UTEP (formerly Texas Western). His father, Lee Floyd, was a longtime coach and also a former Texas Western basketball player.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the semi-final game you can see the real lights (turned off) behind the ones that were actually used to film the shot. This shot was filmed in the Lakefront arena in New Orleans.

Quotes:

Cafeteria Worker: Taco? Nacho? Burrito?
Orsten Artis: [Blank Stare]
Cafeteria Worker: Taco? Nacho? Burrito?
Orsten Artis: No, I'm looking for el hot dog-o.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Comebacks (2007)

Soundtrack:

Kaw Liga

Formulaic but still scores

In 1966, a coach of a girl's basketball team comes to Texas Western College and recruits seven black players to lead them to the top.

Right from the trailers and the posters, you probably know how "Glory Road" is gonna go: an underdog NCAA basketball team must face great odds to win the championship. It's a sports movie based from true events (read: based) with a Hollywood tag plastered over its forehead that features reluctant heroes overcoming their problems and giving it all for the game. Nonetheless, the movie achieves more than that.

While this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney movie plot is typical (remember the Titans?), the underlying socio-political theme effectively presents the ills of racism - a problem with no easy way out of (ask Paul Haggis). The key characters of the game are dealing with discrimination and the only way they can get back is to win. Of course, a little research told me that some of the details about the real events were changed for cinematic purposes. It's completely fine by me as long as the end product justifies the means. And boy it does. The performances are also good. Josh Lucas gives a terrific performance as Don Haskins, the head coach of the team that featured the first all-black starting lineup in US NCAA history.

"Glory Road" is a formulaic yet an enjoyable film. It's a movie that gives itself away as soon as one character says "I want to play, Coach!" Still it has charm and excitement that comes from seeing it for what it is. It's predictable, yeah, but it's not much different from seeing a replay of a game where your favorite team won.