Rating: 
Summary: The Ultimate Underdog
Review: "Hoosiers" is an excellent movie based, as they say, on a true story. I believe it was the small Indiana community of Milan that beat the big schools to win the Indiana state basketball championship back in the 1950's. No doubt, they're still talking about that today back in the Hoosier State. Someone got the excellent idea to make a movie about it and decided to take the time and do it right. Doing it right meant getting an outstanding screenplay, excellent direction, terrific acting, as well as top-notch film editing.
The movie could have been just a nice, feel-good movie that rah-rahhed its' way from start to finish. It avoided that by creating conflict, uncertainty, and personal shortcomings in its' main characters. We are never quite certain what will develop with the different relationships. About the only character stereotype is the collective character of the know-it-all townsfolk who want to fire the coach for not doing things "their way". There are times when this delving into character development comes close to losing the viewer. The character, for example, played by Dennis Hopper, seems out of place at times. Many of us never quite get used to what his role actually is. However, Hopper gives an excellent performance and probably helps to keep us just confused enough so as not to know what comes next. That's good because even the person who saw the movie without hearing how it turned out could probably guess that we weren't going through all of this just to see our team lose at the buzzer. The thrill of victory is there but it is balanced with an appealing sense of comaradarie that assures us that this team would have lost with class had that been its' fate.
It was just a year or so ago that the State of Indiana dropped its' one tier level of play in the state basketball tournament. No more Milans, no more "Hoosiers", and probably a lot more opportunity for the little schools to bring home a state championship. The one in a million long shot is exciting but it's only this exciting because the odds really are for real. "Hoosiers" lets us feel the joy a whole state felt some 50 years ago. It's not a manufactured feeling in "Hoosiers"; the movie's greatest is that it lets us feel the real thing.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful film and a terrible DVD
Review: First things first - I absolutely love this movie!
However, the DVD has lots to be desired (I have the one disc version, not the two disc special edition). It has almost no features - including not even having English subtitles! If ever a movie had potential for little vignettes it is this one!
How about a little tribute to the real story that inspired it - the Milan miracle?
How about some information about the basketball players that played in the movie yet lost their college scholarships because the NCAA ruled that they were now professionals since they had been paid to "play" basketball?
How about some info about Indiana ending the class basketball system nearly 10 years ago (thus, no more Milan miracles). Don't worry - this is still a hot button issue in Indiana politics. Every campaign many a candidate for governor and the state legislature advocate proposals to eliminate the class basketball syestem (Keith Olbermann of MSNBC made fun of it once because it was even on one candidate's TV commercials but, dang it, to us Hoosiers this stuff is mighty important!)
Maybe a special look at all of those little Indiana gyms that the movie features?
Well, maybe they don't need any of those things (except the subtitles) since I still bought the DVD and I still watch breathlessly to make sure that the last shot goes in and the championship belongs to Hickory once again.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I have enjoyed this film in 1986 and always remember it like one of the best movies of all times. You must have see it!
Rating:
Summary: Hoosiers a real life story
Review: How true-to-life is this immensely popular film? In an article written for ESPN Page 2, Jeff Merron notes a number of differences between the "real" story about a small Indiana high school which wins the state championship and the "reel" story which appears in the film directed by David Anspaugh, with Gene Hackman starring in a script written by Alvin Sargent. (The entire article can be accessed by visiting http://espn.go.com/page2/s/closer/020327.html.) The significant differences noted by Merron include these:"In real life, Milan High School didn't come out of nowhere. The Indians had made the state semifinals the previous season. In reel life: The team that wins the championship is Hickory High. In real life: The team that won the championship is Milan High. There is no town of Hickory in Indiana. In reel life: Hickory wins the title in 1952. In real life: Milan won the title in 1954. In reel life: The previous coach dies, which is a crucial part of the plot -- the team's star player, Jimmy, doesn't play part of the season because he's so upset. In real life: The previous coach, Herman "Snort" Grinstead, who Bobby Plump (the real-life hero) said in an ESPN chat was "the most popular coach in Milan's history," was fired for ordering new uniforms against the superintendent's orders. "In reel life: Coach Dale alienates just about everyone with his independence, and there is a town referendum on whether the school should keep Dale on as coach. In real life: Marvin Wood did face an uphill struggle, because he replaced Snort and changed both his offense and defense. But by the time the Milan Indians were playing their championship season, he had won the town over. In reel life: The assistant coach, "Shooter," (played by Dennis Hopper in an Oscar-nomination performance), is the town drunk and the father of one of the players. In real life: There was no assistant coach." These may be among the most significant differences between "real" and "reel" but invariably, certain liberties must be taken with historical material to increase and enhance the dramatic impact of a film based on (but not limited to) that material. In this instance, Anspaugh, screenwriters Pizzo and Sargent, Hackman, and their associates have a story to tell and they tell it very, very well. As always, Hackman is first-rate, as are Barbara Hershey in her role as the obligatory love interest (Myra Fleener) and Hopper as Shooter, a name so appropriate to the character that nothing more need be said. Yes, this is a "feel good" film among several (e.g. Rudy on which Anspaugh and Pizzo also collaborated later) which have been immensely popular. However, the film has crisp direction, an excellent cast, and a story line close enough to what really did happen in 1954. FYI, here are a few brief passages from the official Web site of Milan, Indiana: "Milan, Indiana, a quiet rural town in the southeastern part of the state, was the scene of one of the greatest basketball stories in history. The rise of the 1954 Milan basketball team actually started the preceding year. In 1953, the team went all the way to the final four only to be beaten in the semi-finals. Then the 1954 season arrived. "In a high school of 162 total students, 73 were boys. A young Marvin Wood was returning for his second year as coach, along with Marc Combs and Clarence Kelly. The core of the 1953 team also returned. From this came the David vs. Goliath championship story. "Although their accomplishments seem to have grown to almost mythical proportions as the story of the greatest underdog in sports' history throughout the years, there was a real team who lived a dream that came to life. Under the leadership of twenty-six year old coach Marvin Wood, the Indians began their rise to the top of the 751 teams entered in that year's tournament, with a record of 19-2. The mighty men of Milan then cruised through the state tournament relatively untested, until the final game against Muncie Central. The Indians were paced in scoring throughout the game by senior Ray Craft. However, Coach Wood's delay tactic game plan would place the ball in the trusty hands of another senior, Bobby Plump. "Bobby Gene Plump, who at-the-buzzer hit the shot that gave tiny Milan High School the 1954 state basketball championship over the Muncie Central Bearcats. Called `the most famous shot in Indiana hoops history,' the real-life event became the basis for the fictionalized movie, Hoosiers. Milan beat Giant Muncie Central 32-30 in the final seconds of the game." Although Hoosiers may differ somewhat from what really happened in 1954, so what? Both the film's story and the Milan team's season affirm the same values which now seem so rare 50 years after Bobby Gene Plump's winning shot. Question: Why are no SPECIAL (rather than cheesy) Features provided with the DVD version? That is disgraceful!
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