Glory Road (Spoilers Included Throughout This Review)

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Josh Lucas)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

I’m a sucker for a good sports film. They are so euphoric and energetic. Even though the game being played on screen is fictitious and the outcome can be seen from miles away (and even though, at times, the source material is a true story with an already publicized outcome), I still find myself on the edge of my seat cheering with every scored point and cringing at every strikeout, missed touchdown catch, or missed 3 point shot at the buzzer. That’s the mark of a good sports movie—when I feel as euphoric as if I’m in the arena watching a real life game.

File Glory Road in the “good sports movie� category. It’s loaded with energy and left me very euphoric. This film is based on the true story of the 1966 NCAA champion Texas Western University college basketball team. At the start of the film, the team’s new coach Jim Haskins (played with energy and vigor by Josh Lucas) finds himself at the helm of a desperately under-talented basketball team due to the lack of support by Texas Western’s administration and boosters (unofficial benefactors of the team). Coach Haskins has a plan that’s totally out of the box. Since most of the mainstream (White) players scoff at the thought of playing for his tiny little school, he recruits (and sends his coaching staff to recruit) Black players. As with most sports films—and films that deal with racial issues—the players initially reject his offer then reluctantly accept it. What follows next is 90 minutes filled with the obligatory scenes with the players complaining about his training methods; the conflicts—and later the bonding—between the Black and White players; players with grade issues, girl issues and health issues; and the customary “am I doing the right thing� soul searching speech by the head coach. In addition, we’re treated to some pretty exciting scenes of basketball that will leave audiences hanging on the edge of every slam-dunk and 20- foot shot.

We are also shown the team’s seemingly non-stop struggle with racist attitudes and behavior throughout the film. As mentioned before, this film takes place during the 1965-66 basketball season—smack dab in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. The Black players are initially rejected by their home crowd—especially by the aforementioned boosters who can’t understand why Coach Haskins has loaded his team with so many coons/Coloreds/niggers. As usual, once the wins start piling up they have a change of heart. Once they take their show on the road, however, the racism becomes decidedly more violent. One player is viciously assaulted in a men’s bathroom at a restaurant following a game. Coach Haskins gets hate mail loaded with threats. The team as whole gets cursed at, spit upon, and their hotel rooms get desecrated with “Nigger Go Home� spelled on the walls in blood. No matter how many times we see displays of racism against African Americans on screen or in the history books, it still leaves us deeply affected—and, for me personally, sometimes angry and disillusioned at the White race as a whole. I especially get upset when I’m called out for expressing my anger at stuff that happened so many years ago. Then again, I realize (of course) that it’s not one singular race that’s the problem. The problem is that those individuals allowed Satan to infuse them with the spirit of hatred. That’s a very interesting paradox considering, in spite of what their belief system clearly states, the South was known as “The Bible Belt� where the upholding of God’s/Christ’s standards reigned supreme. Thankfully, those in the South who chose to uphold the standards of 1 Corinthians 13 were able to break the spirit of racism and hatred.

Coach Haskins did his part to dismantle that spirit by doing something unheard of at the time: he started and played the entire Black roster of his team during the championship game— something that, according to the film, the White players accepted and agreed to (the actual accounts tell a different story). By doing so, he forced the opponents, the crowds and the naysayers to respect those men not as Black men who could play the game of basketball, but simply as men who could play the game.

Despite the heavy subject matter, Glory Road is, first and foremost, a sports movie—and a darn good one at that. We’ve seen this story numerous times—and, this being a Disney film, that Disney touch is laid on nice and thick. But, in spite of all that, we, the audience, will still clap, cheer, and walk out of the theatre with big grins and warm, fuzzy feelings in our hearts. Speaking of walking out of the theatre—I advise you not to walk too fast. The closing credits feature interviews with the real life Coach Haskins, his players, and their most notable opponent in that fateful game: legendary coach Pat Riley (a member of the Kentucky squad who lost at the hands of Texas Western).

Glory Road is an excellent film—a great way to kick off the 2006 film year. It was as euphoric as a sports film can be and as touching as any true life story can be.

— Overview