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Summary: Jimmy grew up to be Larry Bird
Review: The reason that this movie appealed to a broader base audience is because it is about more than just putting the ball in the hoop. It brings to life the humanities and shows how important sports is philosophically and societally. It teaches discipline and sacrifice and brings out the best and the worst in players and spectators alike. I was raised in Anderson, IN and believe me when I tell you that this movie accurately captures the mania of small town ball that still exists. Back then, when they were the only game in town, teams like this were a community obsession. James Dean played on a Championship Team much like the one depicted in this movie.
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Summary: HOOP DREAMS...
Review: As I have a daughter who plays division one, women's college basketball, I confess to being a big fan of the game. I love hoop films, so I jumped at the opportunity to watch this one, having heard that it is a great film. Well for once, the word out on the street is on the money.This is a superlative film, beautifully directed by David Anspaugh, about a great basketball coach whose initial coaching career was derailed by his Achilles heel. It is a story about the effect that one can have on the lives of others. It is a story about being given a second chance. It is a story about hope. It is a story about redemption. It is a story about community. It is a story about overcoming all odds. Quite simply, it is a film that will not fail to capture the viewer, heart and soul. The setting for the film is the nineteen fifties and appears to be based upon a true story. Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) has a skeleton in his closet and is given a second chance at coaching. Buried deep in the cornfields of Indiana is the small town of Hickory, which has a very small high school with a basketball team called the Hickory Hucksters. Coach Dale takes this team and tries to ensure that the players are all grounded in the fundamentals of the game, as their idea of basketball had been just to point and shoot. He wants to make it a team of which all can be proud. His hardline approach meets some initial resistance that causes his best player to leave the team, but even he eventually returns to the fold. This is not, however, just a film about a basketball team's struggle to make it to the state championship. This being a small town, Coach Dale, as an outsider, runs into some small town politics that threaten to run him out of town. Cooler heads prevail, and he is given his chance to be all he can be. While what he does with the team is remarkable, it is his interaction with others in the town that is even more so. He begins a relationship with the high school's assistant principal, Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey), and brings some passion into her otherwise lackluster existence. He takes Wilbur 'Shooter' Flatch (Dennis Hopper), the town drunk and estranged father to one of the team's key players, under his wing and gives him a new lease on life. Along the way, Coach Dale even manages to give the town a basketball team of which it can be proud. He and the team put the town on the map. How they do it is the crux of the movie. Gene Hackman is simply sensational as the coach, a man who wants his life back and is given a second chance to grab for the brass ring. He infuses his character with a toughness and, simultaneously, a tenderness that makes him three dimensional. Dennis Hopper gives a truly remarkable performance as the drunk who finds his way out of the bottle long enough to take stock of himself. When Coach Hackman, seeing that he has a lot of knowledge of basketball, extends him a helping hand and affords him an opportunity to regain his self-respect and repair his relationship with his son, he responds in a way he had never thought possible. Hopper gives a performance of a lifetime, infusing his character with just the right amount of pathos, vulnerability, and hope. His is truly a bravura performance. Barbara Hershey, as always, gives an excellent performance, impressing upon the viewer the internal conflicts with which her character is struggling. The rest of the supporting cast contribute with fine performances, as well. This is a great film on many levels and one that is well worth having in one's personal collection. Bravo!
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Summary: Dear rednecks, there "IS" life outside the county!!!
Review: I love this movie and it is an excellent sports film, but I have to delete one star for that crowd of hicks that can't keep their noses out of the coach's gym and let him do his job. Basketball is a sport, it has nothing to do with national politics, its not important to world history, its a game, it's meant to be fun! I could relate to fans of national basketball, but these people are all wrailed up over the highschool team. And this type of mayhem doesn't just exist in the movies; people are actually this crazy! Get a life!!!
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Summary: One of the best ever, along with being the best sports movie
Review: You can take all the glitz and glamour that you want. Hollywood can take 100s of millions of dollars, to load a film with special effects and digital characters, yet they can never buy the heart of this little story about a high school basketball team. Even the most hardened of cynics will find themselves pulling for the Hickory Huskers by the end of the film. Sure the movie is sappy. Sure you will notice that the Huskers' best player misses a shot maybe three times in the entire film, but by the end of the film you won't even care. Some movies seem to have the ability to become transcendant above the subject that they are attempting to address. When you are done watching this film, you will remember Gene Hackman's amazing performance, playing every bit the coach, you will remember the stirring story of a father restoring a relationship with an estranged son, but so much more than that, you will remember the heartstrings that this film seems to pluck at whenever it chooses. If you have seen this movie, there is no need to explain it. If you haven't, pick it up right now. You will find that once you have see it and own it, Hoosiers will become one of the most often played movies in your collection.
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Summary: Outstanding
Review: This movie is set in Indiania in the 1950s, where basketball is king of everything (somethings have not changed). An unknown coach comes to town to take over the failing team and everyone soon realizes that he is a force to be reckoned with. while combating his own team (initially) and the townsfolks (initially) he lays down the law, my way or the highway and builds the team into an outstanding group of players and young men. In the face of much adversity the coach keeps pushing, even to the point of employing a drunken town joke as an assistant. Gene Hackman shines as the new coach and Dennis Hopper does a great job as the formally drunken assistant coach. The movie is about reaching your dreams, about having morals, a strong constitution, working together, personal transitions, family, friends and community. It's an outstanding movie that should be required viewing for everyone, even if you don't like basketball or sports.
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Summary: "I Love You Guys"
Review: Indiana small town basketball in the 1950's was not so different from small town basketball in my hometown in Washington State. This movie took me on a trip to a time I cherish. Even the gym looked like our gym. It took me back to what it feels like to win against all odds. It is about teamwork, conflict, addictions, work, and luck -not to mention skill. Hackman and Hershey are grand as the coach and teacher who opposes him. He wins the team, the town, and the teacher. But I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it. From the opening scene where a 1950's car(can't remember the make) comes at dawn on empty roads to the sleepy town of Hickory to the closing moment when a small boy is seen shooting baskets in an old gym and we hear Hackman say, "I love you guys" I was captivated. I have seen it now at least ten times. I am always caught up int he fever of the game, in the struggle of the characters, and always I take that trip back to my own high school. It's 1951 and the boys are coming out to warm up. My heart skips a beat. Good movie!
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Summary: Awesome Movie!
Review: One of the greatest sports movies ever! A must have for any collection!
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Summary: Greatest Of All Time
Review: This movie could be the top sports movie of all time. Hackman is great, and if you don't buy it, you are truly missing out.
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Summary: Proud to be a Hoosier
Review: I would be very surprised if not every Hoosier saw this movie. This movie makes me proud to be a Hoosier!!! This movie portrays what Indiana basketball used to be (before class basketball was instated..which IMO..an awful mistake). This movie is fun to watch cause it's fun to recognize some of the schools that they played. This movie shows the rest of the country and the world just how CRAZY we are about basketball. This is a basketball state..plain and simple. I'm 23 years old and even when I was in high school...going to the games was so much fun. One year, the girls won the sectional and we cancelled the last two periods of class to have a dance and watch the game in the cafeteria. They don't call it "Hoosier Hysteria" for nothing. Everytime this movie comes on, you can't help but sit down and watch it. It's touching and heartwarming. I recommend it to anyone!!!
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Summary: Hoosiers Great!
Review: This is a great movie! It especially hits close to home because I am from southern Indiana and I knew some of the towns discussed in the film. As a side note, this is very loosely based on a true story. There was a small town that one the state championship in 1954 and the name of the school was Milan. Also I heard during the filming of the show as a joke Gene Hackman threw a chair onto the court during rehearsal to imitate the famous incident by Bobby Knight. The show epitomizes what Indiana is about and that is basketball. If you ever live there you will qickly discover how important high school basketball is to everyone. This movie captures that atmosphere very well. It's an optimistic movie that may get you misty eyed at times and will leave you cheering.
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