Rating of
3/4
Glory Road review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 12/08/11
Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) from the Texas Western College in El Paso recruited talented black players and had to undergo grueling practices. Haskins enforces some rules and ensured everybody was treated equally regardless of race. The disciplined and tough coach plays all black players as the starting five in the NCAA Championship with 2 black reserves. Their fellow white teammates accept their roles, which in effect makes history. Nicknamed the Bear, the story and message of the film was bigger than the Hall of Famer Don Haskins. Aside from the racial discriminations/pressures, desire, team effort the true to life flick also represents discipline and trust in people. A roller coaster of emotions were felt from this reviewer who loves the sport, laughter from the comedic scenes, shocked by the racial slurs and acts to the innocent papers and insightful from the way the team carried themselves despite of the detrimental situations the black players experienced.
The only reservations I had were the lack of realism in terms of how the depiction of Haskins demeanor in terms of coaching and the fallacy of racial slurs in the hotel rooms. As stated on the special features, he always gets a technical every game. Its direction was fluid and soundtrack apt while the script was fantastic. Lines from the legendary coach: “Your dignity's inside you. Nobody can take something away from you, you don't give them.” “You got a real talent son. Don’t throw it away.” The game sequences were believable and actors seemed sincere with the portrayals. The DVD's special features is likewise entertaining with actual athletes such as Tim Hardaway and Pat Riley share their sentiments. Glory Road’s legacy is not only carries the values of the coach, but it also showed how monumental the team was in the NCAA in terms of the biggest upset and having 5 colored starters (technically playing 6 the whole game since 1 got injured), which was evolutionary in terms of respecting people and viewing them as equals.
