Since I was already on the kick of checking out the "based on a true story" themed movie, I decided to keep the trend going. I really should have went with a comedy or something else that wouldn't be so draining. However, at least I chose an option that had some moments of levity in it so it wasn't such a bad choice.
That brings us to "Glory Road". It's the true-life story of Coach Don Haskins of the Texas Western University men's basketball team. He went on a mission to recruit the best players available, regardless of color, which caused him to have a team composed of 7 brothas and 5 white guys. He broke barriers and made history when he started 5 brothas in the NCAA Championship game for the first time in NCAA history AND defeated the heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats.
Many people that have seen this movie don't know it, but his famed win against the Adolph Rupp led Wildcats had even more historical significance than the movie portrayed. Rupp was known for publicly stating that he would never recruit a Black player to Kentucky. Then he goes and loses the championship to 5 brothas. As the movie points out at the end, in a bitter twist of irony for him, he ended up finally recruiting a brotha a year before he retired. Looks like he finally began to see the writing on the wall.
Derek Luke is fast becoming, if he hasn't already, the actor of choice for "based on true story" movies. He got his start with "Antwone Fisher" then "Friday Night Lights", now this. He's gotten the niche of "angry, Black youth" down. Might want to expand a little more now, D.
This movie reminded me even moreso of the knock I get for liking so much 60s/Motown music. I would sometimes think I must have been born in the wrong era since I enjoy that music so much. Then I get a glimpse of all the racism, bigotry and discrimination our folks also went thru during that era and I realize how good I really have it. Sure, it still exists today, but it wasn't near as overt as it was then.
"Glory Road" falls into the trap of hitting a lot of the sports movie cliches. Watching it was like watching bits of pieces of flicks like "Coach Carter", "Remember the Titans" and "Hoosiers". Because of that, it really didn't do much to stand on it's own. It almost relies solely on the legend of similar movies that preceded it as well as the legend of the story it's based on, hoping that would be enough to carry it.
Something else that folks may not have known was that the season in question didn't actually occur during the course of one season. It actually took Haskins three seasons to win the national title. And the year that he won it, he had been starting the 5 brothas all season long. That version isn't as anti-climatic or dramatic as how Hollywood made it. In addition, they had to also condense the story in the interest of time so I won't knock them for that.
They also tried to stay true to the style of basketball that was played in that era. It was pretty accurate for the most part. They lost me on the part when dude threw an alley-oop off the backboard and his teammate caught it for a leaner dunk. Pretty sure they weren't pulling off stuff like that in the 60s.
I did like how Haskins came to the realization that the brothas needed to be playing their way instead of his way if they wanted to win. That realization came in their game against Iowa. And why would Haskins think he could harness them to play his way anyway? I don't know about back then but in more recent years, it wasn't that implausible since Dean Smith for North Carolina had the same philosophy. Jordan didn't really begin to reign until he was gone from UNC and the harness was off. The same can be said for a lot of UNC products.
One of these days, I will do a post on my favorite sports movies of all-time. Although "Glory Road" was a decent flick, it's very doubtful it will make the list. As we say on the hardwood, nice shot, too bad your team still lost.
My rating: C
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