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| Director
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James Gartner
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| Starring
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Josh Lucas, Derek Luke |
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| The plot of
Glory Road |
Texas Western coach Don Haskins (Lucas) and his
all-black starting five head to the NCAA tournament. |
Glory Road
Review
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Review by BRIAN
LOWRY :
Disney's profitable
roster of uplifting, fact-based sports movies ("Remember
the Titans," "Miracle," "The Rookie""The
Rookie") has a new hardcourt addition drawn from
a terrific story -- the saga of the all-black Texas
team whose success spurred the integrating of college
basketball throughout the South -- that is, for the
most part, deftly executed. Although doubtless destined
to evoke comparisons with "Hoosiers" and even
TV's "The White Shadow," "Glory Road"
is a slick enterprise buoyed by a Motown-flavored '60s
soundtrack and an appealing ensemble cast. Box office
should be in line with its predecessors and might go
higher, provided today's urban teens can accept basketball
players wearing short shorts.For years, Texas Western
(now the U. of Texas at El Paso) has been the answer
to a college basketball trivia question -- it's the
little school that won the national championship in
1966, sandwiched by UCLA's nine titles over a decadelong
span beginning in 1964..more..
Review By Pam
Grady:
When Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) took over as head basketball
coach at El Paso's Texas Western University in 1965,
the sport was still mainly a white affair. Most teams
only had a few black players at most, and many of those
athletes were simply tokens who rode the bench all season.
But Haskins was a coach hungry to win and he could not
care less about skin color. His actions as he took the
reins of the Texas Western program were simple and direct
and they helped usher in a new era of integration in
basketball. That achievement is what Glory Road celebrates
in this well-meaning, stylish, inspirational sports
drama. Haskins is coaching high school ball when he
gets the call to take over the Texas Western Miners.
This is the chance he has been waiting for, the chance
to prove that he can coach with the big boys, but there's
a hitch. The Miners are on the fast track to Palookaville;
they're a basketball team at a football school with
little money and even fewer perks. Haskins has no chance
of recruiting any top talent to play on his team—any
top white talent, that is. Those players are heavily
in demand at powerhouses like the University of Kentucky
and Duke. But schools tend to ignore gifted black athletes,
a big mistake, to Haskins' way of thinking. His credo
is, "I don't see color. I see quick. I see skill."
And he sets about building a fully integrated unit..More..
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