“Glory Road” (Walt Disney Pictures)
Could have been another “Hoosiers” – but it isn’t
“Glory Road” is another of those movies where an underdog team overcomes adversities and wins the grand prize. We’ve seen it in “Hoosiers,” “Remember the Titans” and now “Glory Road.” The movie gets all the necessary facts straight but the emotion of the movie doesn’t come into play until the final scenes.
The setting of the film is 1966. This is when Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) was hired by Texas Western, a small school in El Paso, Texas. He had been a girls’ high school basketball coach when he got the job at the college. Not much was expected of him, but he surprised them by recruiting several potential all star players. More shockingly they were black.
The movie chronicles the road to acceptance of these players by the school, the students and the community. There were racial incidents that were horrendous in their viciousness, but the team persevered and finally reached the finals of the NCAA national championship. They played the unbeatable University of Kentucky that was coached by the beloved Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight).
The basketball games in the movie are exciting, and the final contest is emotional. Still the movie does little to make you understand how the team achieved greatness. You don’t get to know the individual players or the coaches in enough detail to make you a part of their victories.
Lucas is pretty bland as Haskins, and Emily Deschanel is a nonentity as his wife. None of the actors playing the basketball players is a standout but this may be more a fault of the writer than the actors. There are several personal incidents shown but they are not tied together enough to make an impression.
The one acting standout is Voight. His portrayal of Rupp is another brilliant cameo appearance by this talented man. He created an uncanny Howard Cosell in “Ali,” played Pope John Paul on TV, and now is Rupp. In each instance he is amazingly true to the character.
The film is rated PG for racial epithets.
“Glory Road” is an impressive film based on its story alone. With a stronger script it could have been a truly emotional experience as well.
I scored “Glory Road” a well traveled 6 out of 10.
