August 3rd, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Glory Road is one of the best movies I have seen this year and it had to be on DVD. This is an inspirational “based on a true story” movie in the likes of Miracle, Remember the Titans etc. It potrays a true David vs. Goliath story about an underdog “unknown” basketball college team (University of Texas at El Paso) who beats the #1 ranked NCAA team (Kentucky) in the nation against all odds, racism and controversy. It was set in the 1960s where racism was at its highest, and shows how Don Haskins (who would eventually be a Hall of Fame coach winning 719 games) disregarded skin color and played “his best players”.
One of the first coaches to disregard race in team selection, he paved the way for the rest of the NCAA to increase its draft, recruitment of more African Americans in colleges and in the rest of college/ professional sports. It was sad to see how racism created the seperation within the general community but very satisfying to see how they “proved everyone wrong”, how big their hearts were and excelled in the end.
Interesting trivia from imdb.com… Ben Affleck was originally set to play Don Haskins, but pulled out of the project due to scheduling conflicts… Former coach Don Haskins was cast as an extra in the film as the gas station attendant… Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich was offered a part in the movie, but had to turn it down due to schedule conflicts.
Memorable quotes from the movie:
“Coach Don Haskins: You’ll play basketball my way. My way is hard.”
“Coach Don Haskins: Hey, hey, Winnaker, Winnaker, do you want me to get you a skirt? I’ll get you a skirt if you keep playing like a girl!”
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, this movie stamps a loud statement to everyone (as all his movies do). If there is one movie that should be in your DVD collection, this is it.
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