Glory Road (2006)

Josh Lucas
Derek Luke
Austin Nichols
Evan Jones
Sam Jones III
Emily Deschanel
Tatyana Ali
John Voight

Directed by James Gartner

Plot: For Don Haskins, the dream was always about winning: winning with guts, heart and grit; winning with self-respect; and winning even when the odds were completely stacked against you. What Haskins didn't know in 1966--when he was just a small-town family man trying to make an indelible mark in his first job as a collegiate basketball coach--is that his underdog team's incredible victory would transcend sport and change not only his life and the lives of his players, but the country itself. Haskins and his scrappy Texas Western Miners were unwittingly about to revolutionize basketball and the American landscape. It was still a time of innocence in the United States, yet the country was on the verge of major social changes when Haskins decided to play an all-African-American opening lineup at the NCAA championships against the all-white juggernaut of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Haskins did it to win. But his bold decision would help break down barriers of segregation that affected every segment of society and set a new course for the future as his team did the one thing they could to prove themselves to a watching world: the played their hearts out

Review: I am not a huge sports film fan, but I am a sucker for an underdog story. This film is both of those things and a great film. I knew this film got good reviews and did well, but I still didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised and loved this movie.

The story is touching and very well told. The performances in this film are excellent all around. One of the things I usually worry about in sports movies is how they handle the actual sport. This film makes you feel like you’re in the game and puts you on the edge of your seat waiting for the outcome. Even though most people know the outcome of this film, I still found myself wondering if they could pull it off.

The other big thing that pulled this movie together was the bond felt between the players. Watching them was like watching an actual basketball team. The racism issues were dealt with excellent. I was worried that it would overshadow the story, but found that it is the story. You could feel the tension and fear that these players felt during this time of their lives and I found myself cheering them on and praying nothing bad happens to any of them. There is no one performance that out shines any other, because I feel they were all perfect.



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