During the civil rights era of the mid 1960s, a young basketball coach at a small, Texas university gave African-American athletes the chance to start on a Division I team and prove that they too had a right to be there. The coach was Don Haskins; the team was Texas Western; and the film that tells his story is Glory Road.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Glory Road is an uplifting family film similar in style to another family favorite (and Bruckheimer production), Remember the Titans. The story begins as Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) receives an opportunity to move up from high school girls basketball to coach Division I basketball as Texas Western. He soon learns the difficulty in recruiting top players to a remote Texas university that’s low on funds and low on expectations. He turns his attention to black athletes, a talented group of young men who had always been overlooked by other schools. He then proceeds to teach these players the importance of discipline, education, and equality.
Although an uplifting story with some excellent game footage, Glory Road is simply too familiar. Every thematic element of this story has been told before in countless other films: a young group of black players must overcome bigotry and hatred to prove to themselves and the world that they can beat the odds. It’s a re-hashing of Remember the Titans - this time with basketball. The frustrating thing about this film is that they treat racism as a one-way street. While watching the special features on this DVD, I came across an interesting interview with Don Haskins. As he reflected upon that team of 1966, he said the thing that hurt the most was that black leaders would send him hate mail accusing him of exploiting his black players. This was an element of the story not even mentioned during the film. So while I understand the importance of learning from our past, I often wonder how much healing this sort of film can accomplish in the area of race relations when old feelings are once again brought to the forefront.
Another weakness in the plot was that the season just seemed to easy for the team. I always compare basketball films to Hoosiers, which I feel is one of the best ever made, and in that film, the season is an uphill battle all the way. Not so for the young Texas Western team. As soon as the season starts they win and they keep winning. This is when the filmmakers inserted the overused and cliche “we’re on a streak” montage, complete with superimposed newspaper headlines.
Aside from the thematic elements of the story, I felt that the technical aspects of the film were great. The cinematography was rich in color during scenes on campus or on the court, providing a sense of warmth and nostalgia. The colors were colder and more muted during scenes when we see the black players at home, playing on the streets and working in the mills. It’s as if the colors of the film were telling the viewer, “Texas Western is where these young men belong. It’s where their home is. It’s where they find hope and a sense of commraderie among their fellow black teammates.”
The court footage was intense, realistic, and exciting, but the use of the play-by-play announcer in voice-over was irritating. He kept telling the audience exactly what they were seeing on screen. For example, in one shot, Haskins calls over one of his players to talk to him, and the announcer says, “It looks like Coach Haskins wants to talk with Bobby Joe Hill.” It’s as if the writers knew they failed to create well-rounded and meaningful athlete characters, and so the viewer would need extra help to keep all their names straight.
Overall, the movie had its strong points, but too much of it was cliche and predictable. This is one that will be easily forgotten in the years to come.
Bottom Line: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
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