Glory Road (2006)

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:

Prosthetic ears, cheeks, and nose was added to Jon Voight to make his angular face more rounded like Coach Rupp.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Lattin picks up his fourth foul in the Championship game, Coach Haskins takes him out of the line-up. But after the next basket by Texas Western, you see him running back down the court. it's not until later, with two minutes to go, Coach Haskins puts Lattin back in the game.

Quotes:

Coach Don Haskins: [while recruiting Orsten Artis] Brother, without a little work I don't think you can get past an old timer like me
Orsten Artis: Get past you... I will go past you, through you, over you, under you, around you. As a matter of fact I will spin you like a top, twist you in a pretzel, eat your lunch, steal your girl and kick your dog at the same time... pshh get past you.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Comebacks (2007)

Soundtrack:

Last Night

conventional but entertaining sports flick

"Glory Road" tells the true story of Don Haskins, the basketball coach for Western Texas College, who in the mid 1960's, broke the color barrier in the NCAA by being the first to feature a majority of black players on his team. The movie chronicles the obstacles he and his players faced, as well as their ultimate triumph when the team won the national championship in 1966.

"Glory Road" worships at the altar of just about every underdog-sports-movie cliché one can imagine, yet the viewer can't help getting caught up in its story anyway. The scenes in the first half of the movie definitely have a familiar ring to them, as we see the coach first alienating his players with his hardnosed tactics, then winning them over by building comradeship and showing them how much they can accomplish when they work together as a team rather than as individuals. However, as with "Remember the Titans," "Glory Road" is more interested in examining the social background of its time period than in merely telling yet another sports-oriented David and Goliath tale. The second half of the film concentrates more on the overt racism the team members face and the surprising courage they and their coach demonstrate in confronting it (could this really be set a mere 40 years ago?). The young actors are uniformly excellent, but it is Josh Lucas as Coach Haskins who delivers the powerhouse performance here. And director James Gartner manages to keep the film moving at a fast clip, never allowing it to get bogged down in message-mongering or overt preachiness.

Almost in spite of itself, "Glory Road" turns into a genuinely inspiring story about courage and determination in the face of societal pressure and incalculable odds. And that's pretty much what sports stories, familiar though they might be, are really all about.