User reviews

In 1966, a coach of a girl's basketball team comes to Texas Western College and recruits seven black players to lead them to the top.

Right from the trailers and the posters, you probably know how "Glory Road" is gonna go: an underdog NCAA basketball team must face great odds to win the championship. It's a sports movie based from true events (read: based) with a Hollywood tag plastered over its forehead that features reluctant heroes overcoming their problems and giving it all for the game. Nonetheless, the movie achieves more than that.

While this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney movie plot is typical (remember the Titans?), the underlying socio-political theme effectively presents the ills of racism - a problem with no easy way out of (ask Paul Haggis). The key characters of the game are dealing with discrimination and the only way they can get back is to win. Of course, a little research told me that some of the details about the real events were changed for cinematic purposes. It's completely fine by me as long as the end product justifies the means. And boy it does. The performances are also good. Josh Lucas gives a terrific performance as Don Haskins, the head coach of the team that featured the first all-black starting lineup in US NCAA history.

"Glory Road" is a formulaic yet an enjoyable film. It's a movie that gives itself away as soon as one character says "I want to play, Coach!" Still it has charm and excitement that comes from seeing it for what it is. It's predictable, yeah, but it's not much different from seeing a replay of a game where your favorite team won.

"Glory Road" tells the true story of Don Haskins, the basketball coach for Western Texas College, who in the mid 1960's, broke the color barrier in the NCAA by being the first to feature a majority of black players on his team. The movie chronicles the obstacles he and his players faced, as well as their ultimate triumph when the team won the national championship in 1966.

"Glory Road" worships at the altar of just about every underdog-sports-movie cliché one can imagine, yet the viewer can't help getting caught up in its story anyway. The scenes in the first half of the movie definitely have a familiar ring to them, as we see the coach first alienating his players with his hardnosed tactics, then winning them over by building comradeship and showing them how much they can accomplish when they work together as a team rather than as individuals. However, as with "Remember the Titans," "Glory Road" is more interested in examining the social background of its time period than in merely telling yet another sports-oriented David and Goliath tale. The second half of the film concentrates more on the overt racism the team members face and the surprising courage they and their coach demonstrate in confronting it (could this really be set a mere 40 years ago?). The young actors are uniformly excellent, but it is Josh Lucas as Coach Haskins who delivers the powerhouse performance here. And director James Gartner manages to keep the film moving at a fast clip, never allowing it to get bogged down in message-mongering or overt preachiness.

Almost in spite of itself, "Glory Road" turns into a genuinely inspiring story about courage and determination in the face of societal pressure and incalculable odds. And that's pretty much what sports stories, familiar though they might be, are really all about.

This 2 hour movie is pretty lackluster for the first 50 minutes or so. Then it picks up and the intensity builds and builds right to the end. It's simply one of those great sports movie that's really well done.

This is the story based on one of the most historic series of games in basketball history. A "minor" coach hired is hired to coach an equally "minor" Texas basketball team - but decides to do something different. He hires black players to play ... the year is 1965.

Because it's based on true events it has an immediate interest value. The fact that it deals with the colorblind "win or lose" dictum of sports coupled with racial tensions makes it all the more potentially interesting.

The movie delivers the goods: great performances and a lot of sports suspense. However, you have give it chance - the first one forth of the show is kind of slow.

For basketball fans and general audiences alike - this is a good movie worth checking out.

Whether you are a fan of basketball or not, this film touches on so many different topics. A show about real life, portrayed by some dynamic actors. Oh my, Josh Lucas, the coach was amazing on film as well as the "real coach" he portrayed. How wonderful he was to be "color blind" when coaching the game of basketball, down in the south where there was so much cruelty and prejudice.

This was a heartfelt movie where often, I got upset to see how cruel people would be to others, just because of the color of their skin. I am "white" though not white like this screen, lol, and raised in Los Angeles during the late 60's/70's and just never understood why people would not like you, without even knowing you just because of your looks/race.

Anyway, go see the movie, it is great! The beautiful tatyana ali who was on since a child Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I almost did not recognize her.....she did such a marvelous job acting in the role of Tina!

First off, it was just too similar to remember the titans, but I liked that movie two. The only thing that bothered me about this movie was that removal of some important facts.

Texas Western had three Black Players on the team already, upon Don Haskin's Arrival. Don Haskin's wasn't the sole person leading a movement to recruit black players. In their conference, they played many teams with black players.

Loyola-Chicago, while not fielding 5 black starters, fielded four of them and won the championship in 1963. So even though Texas Western was the first team to win with all black starters, other primarily black teams have won prior.

At the end of the movie, they talk about how people felt black players could never be as good as white players. Even as the movie shows, the all-American player they went against (I believe he was from University of Texas) was Black. The NCAA recognized that player as one of the best players in the sport.

Again, it was a good movie, but I felt a little let down that they manipulated the story a tad for the sake of entertainment.

I was a Texas Western graduate in 1966 and attended the school all four previous years that Don Haskins ("the Bear") coached the basketball team. Of course, Coach Haskins came to TWC in 1961 and built his team over 5 years, not in one year as the movie tells it. I went to every home game in 1965-66 and remember every one as if it were yesterday. I watched all of the away games that were televised, including all of the games the Miners played in the NCAA tournament. Even though the producers of "Glory Road" took considerable artistic license, the story is mostly true. Here are some facts. The Miners blew away fourth ranked Iowa during a holiday tournament that season. It wasn't even close as the movie depicts it. The great comeback was against New Mexico in the "Pit". When Hispanic guard David Palacio came in to play in the second half, the team seemed to settle down and came from a 20 point deficit to win in overtime. The incredibly close game, and probably best game in America that year between the true best college teams in America was the Regional final between third ranked TWC and fourth ranked Kansas (not #1 Kentucky and #2 Duke in the final four semifinal), when Jo Jo White made that last second basket in overtime with his foot on the base line. The Miners went on to beat Kansas 81-80 in double overtime. Then the Miners beat Utah in the first game of the final four. If white player Jerry Armstrong hadn't defended against Utah's great Jerry Chambers, a black player, the Miners probably wouldn't have made it to the championship game against Kentucky. Chambers was beating every defender badly, including Lattin, Shed, and Flournoy, until Armstrong was put in to cover him. Chambers finished with 38 points, mostly in the first half and was the tournament's MVP.

Coach Haskins is beloved by every El Pasoan, whether living in the city now or not, and is a true American treasure. It's wonderful for the rest of the country and the world to finally learn about "the Bear" and his great 1966 Miner team that El Paso has known and loved for 40 years. It's much more than a basketball story, it's a story about tolerance and what hard work and discipline can do through the leadership and determination of a great coach and human being.

The acting was superb, especially Josh Lucas' performance as "the Bear". His performance was spot on. The young actors playing on the team were outstanding. The early tensions shown between the black and white players in the movie did not exist according to the real players on that team. The book "Glory Road" is a must read, because it tells the true story told by "the Bear", Don Haskins, himself. I also recommend David Lattin's book "Slam Dunk to Glory". The producers should have shown the real life characters, including Coach Haskins, Pat Riley, and some of the actual 1966 players earlier in the credits, because most of the audiences leave the theater without knowing they're going to be interviewed. I thought that was the most interesting part of the movie. The movie and the story deserve a perfect 10. I hope it wins some awards.

Glory Road is a very entertaining movie if you are will to overlook its many inaccuracies. The movie would make the viewer think that Coach Haskins came to TWC and recruited a national championship caliber team in his first year as a collegiate coach. The truth is that Coach Haskins had been at TWC for 3 or 4 years before the national championship year and that there were several black players already at TWC including Nolan Richardson. Haskins also recruited Jim Barnes before the championship year and teams that Barnes played on may have been better than the championship team.

The film also take too many liberties with the games that were played during the championship year. The first game of the year was not a nail biter as the film shows but almost a 50 point blowout. The film shows that Iowa led TWC most of the game. The Iowa game was never close and certainly was no buzzer beater. The fact is that TWC only played a handful of games that were close that year, most notably against New Mexico and then in the NCAA Tournament against Cincy and Kansas.

The most disappointing inaccuracy shown in the film was the final game against Kentucky. Kentucky only led briefly in the game and TWC had as much as an 11 point lead in the 2nd half. TWC was not behind when Bobby Joe Hill stole the ball twice in the first half. The two steals allowed TWC to expand its lead to 5 points and set the tone for the rest of the game. I know the producers of the movie had to have a more exciting finish to keep the audience excited but the truth is that the game was never much in doubt. If anyone has seen the actual game film that exists, you will see a poorly played offensive game by both teams and an outstanding defensive effort by TWC. The movie should have paid more time on Coach Haskins' three guard strategy to counter Kentucky's fast break offense.

Glory Road is an inspirational movie but not a very accurate movie if you know the history of TWC. See the movie if you want to watch a feel good movie but not if you are looking for sports fact.

In 1965, the coach of the high school girl basketball team Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) is invited by the Texas Western Miners to be their coach. Despite the lack of budget, Haskins sees the chance to dispute the NCAA and moves with his wife and children to the college dormitory. He recruits seven talented and rejected black players to play with five Caucasian players and formed a legendary team that wined the 1966 national championship against the powerful Kentucky.

"Glory Road" is an engaging film with a great message based on a true story. In a period when the racism was explicit in the USA, Don Haskins challenged many people with his team of black players implementing discipline and training and winning the NCAA against all the odds. The film shows the difficulties and prejudice the players were submitted and how they superseded all the relationship problems proving that they were equal to (or even better than) the white players. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Estrada para a Glória" ("Road to the Glory")

Josh Lucas stars in "Glory Road," a 2006 Disney film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

The film purports to tell the true story of Don Haskins, the basketball coach led the Texas Western Miners to a National Championship victory in 1966.

From what I know, there is a lot of dramatic license taken here, though it remains an inspiring story, and the basketball game played at the championships was very exciting. Also, at the end of the film, there are interviews with the real-life players and with Haskins himself as the credits are rolling.

Haskins recruited players with no regard to color, forming a team with 7 blacks and 5 white players. He wasn't the first person to have black players on a team. I think what made him stand out were the numbers and the fact that at the championship, the starters were black and everyone on the Kentucky team was white.

The film shows Haskins as an extremely tough coach, and his insistence that there be no "showboating" However, during a losing game (and I have no idea if this is true) one of the black players told Haskins that they should be allowed to play "their game" which included some showboating, I guess. Haskins said okay and the team went on to win.

In the championship game, they went up against Kentucky, coached by Ed Rupp (Jon Voight) who is portrayed as a racist. However, he went on to draft black players and is considered one of the greatest coaches in college basketball.

Josh Lucas plays Haskins, and he does a great job as a tough, determined coach. He was the reason I rented this film as I liked him on his ill-fated TV show, The Firm. He really carries this movie. Jon Voight, Emily Deschanel (Haskins' wife) have small roles as the focus is on the team players.

The actors on the team all did a wonderful job. The film shows the hatred and prejudice against them but also the eventual acceptance. In the film, there are problems within the team when the new players first arrived, though I understand that wasn't really the case.

Like all of these underdog films, it's inspiring with exciting, moving, and dramatic moments. Recommended.

Even with never having seen "Remember the Titans," "Coach Carter," "Miracle," or even "Hoosiers," etc. etc. I can still tell that "Glory Road" is a pretty much by the numbers "based on a true story" intended to be an inspirational moment of sports history.

The best moments are those that are unique to this individual portrait of an ambitious small college basketball coach who makes the somewhat cynical decision just to win by exponentially integrating NCAA games through the recruitment and playing of black players in the early '60's. The tour of Northern and inner city neighborhoods, such as Gary, Houston and the South Bronx, and how he cajoles them and their families in to coming to El Paso is both entertaining and sociologically revealing of class issues at the time. I particularly liked a comment that the best job possibilities a black basketball prodigy had at the time was to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

But there are only the most trivial token efforts made to put any of this in historical context with brief flashes of TV news about the civil rights movement and the Viet Nam War, with passing references to black power, Martin Luther King and Elijah Mohammed. We hear lots of Motown music and occasional gospel which I guess is the source of the title that other wise eluded me (but "People Get Ready" twice?), though very little country or Latin music despite the Tex Mex locale. We do get some rueful acknowledgment that this is a side light sport in Texas compared to football, as we saw in "Friday Night Lights."

We get some of the usual threats scenes with racists of the period, both alumni supporters and on the road in the South -- though, oddly, none in El Paso. There is one more unusual scene where the white players somewhat uncomfortably try to participate in a black majority party; some of the best dialogs are these gingerly getting to know you black/white interchanges. Otherwise we see very little of their college life, but then playing college ball really is a full-time job.

I was hoping for some ironic awareness that as well as seeing this story as a great civil rights victory of some kind that a coach was playing all-black starters and winning against larger schools with only token black players that this might have been the moment in time when somehow the message all started to go wrong: is this when the wheel turned so that education became a farce --and the only classes we see them in do seem to be dumbed down jock courses-- and all that mattered would be the human and other bling and signing to the NBA from high school? The sop is the brief glimpses we get of the real participants during the credits as we see an interview with the real legends, including coach Pat Riley, who lost to this team in college, and see pictures of the real players with brief descriptions of their career and family paths, many as teachers, including working as coaches from high school to professional leagues. How did it get from them to kids graduating with no non-basketball skills and no moral compass?

Josh Lucas is personable as always, but he is the garden variety inspirational coach. If he said "son" one more time, rather than referring to a player by name, I thought I'd scream. Emily Deschanel has almost nothing to do in a virtual traditional First Lady role as his wife who tolerates living in a boys' dorm with their little kids.

Derek Luke is the stand out among the players. Their court action is very convincing.

Jon Voight, with prosthetics, is marvelous in a virtual cameo as the nemesis, Coach 'Adolph' Rupp, of the Goliath they face in the finals. Of course, the credits hasten to add that Rupp later expanded his black roster and coaching staff.

I know very little about basketball so I appreciated that all the games were narrated by sports broadcasters.

Per any Bruckheimer produced movie, it is very loud.

Looking back to this somewhat innocent experience as some bright shining moment doesn't change that the NCAA still needs to cleanse its soul. It's sad to see what colleges could have done with these opportunities for young black men.

Glory Road reminded me of Miracle: They both start with a coach assembling a team, and end with that team doing something seemingly impossible. Notwithstanding one scene with mild violence, this is an excellent movie to take the kids to see; not only is it "safe", but its message is valuable.

The director (not Bruckheimer as another review mistakenly wrote), James Gartner, does a artful job of depicting the intensity of the basketball games...particularly the final game against Kentucky. Josh Lucas does a superb job as Coach Haskins; the audience immediately identifies with him.

Overall, I give the movie an 8 out of 10.

this is a Disney movie 'based on real events',which means the events and the characters are real,but there was probably a lot of dramatic license taken to make it more interesting for audiences.although a lot of times i find Disney movies of the 'based on a true story' genre overly schmaltzy and preachy,i didn't find that here.it is an a inspirational story,don't get me wrong.but it's more restrained than usual.this is really,odd,since it is a Jerry Bruckheimer production.i liked the movie,for the most part.i found the dramatic moments more interesting and entertaining than the basketball sequences.most of those i found underwhelming,except for the last one.of course,the movie is predictable.it is after all an underdog story,so i wouldn't fault anyone for that.the acting is good for the most part.the only thing i would say in the regard is that Josh Lucas,although good in his role as the basketball coach,doesn't always come across as having as much passion as his character should have.that could just be me though. i also didn't that this movie was quite as exciting as other movies of the genre.these are just minor issues though.it's still a good movie,though. for me,"Glory Road" is a 7/10

Living in El Paso TX waiting for friends to finish their time serving in the Army at Fort Bliss leaves me a lot of time to study local culture and history in this border town, and I spend a lot of time going to the movies.

Recently, Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer made a film based on a true story about a small time basketball coach who, in 1966, took the lowly Texas Westerns to the NCAA championship. Called "Glory Road" tells the story of Don Haskins -- the first college basketball coach to integrate his team with African-American players causing an immediate firestorm of controversy. The film explores Haskins's struggles, along with those of his team as they battle for ultimate victory.

Did you like "Remember the Titans?" I mean really like it? Because producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the Walt Disney Corporation have plowed through the annals of sports history to serve up almost the exact same story, this time taking their dubious intentions to the world of college basketball. I wasn't a fan of "Titans;" I found the film an insufferable, simplistic creation that made a mockery of real-life racism in the 1960s and "Road" simply reheats the same stew.

Bruckheimer has chosen James Gartner to make his directing debut with "Road," and the newcomer seems like an apt choice, since this a film that doesn't require much direction. "Road" is formula at its most poisonous, with Gartner mechanically visualizing the Crayola script, regardless of how ridiculous the film gets.

"Road" is grabbing at inspirational and heart-warming messages, but the screenplay is entirely obnoxious, plugging up any honest thrill of this story with appalling caricatures of Caucasians (who wave Confederate flags at the final game), one-dimensional supporting roles (Emily Deschanel, as Haskins's wife, is given nothing to play), and bestowing immediate sainthood on any black character within striking distance.

The script even gives one player a heart defect for him to overcome, just to jackhammer home the point that these guys had everything against them. There is simply nothing resembling real life in the film, just basic cable motivations and infantile storytelling that somehow lucked itself into a big screen release pattern and budget. I can't fault Bruckheimer for softening the story, but in his pursuit to make a film that has vicious mass appeal, he's bled the humanity and emotional weight completely out of this significant historical achievement.

If it wasn't for Josh Lucas's performance as Haskins, there wouldn't be anything in "Road" to recommend. Lucas has the perfect idea to ignore the rest of the movie, and focus deeply on the scorching passion Haskins has for the game. Lucas is completely authentic in the role, and adds to the electricity of the repetitive game sequences with his fiery courtside demeanor. Of course, he still has to deal with the script's obsession with never-ending inspirational speeches (a Derek Luke specialty) and grotesque paint-by-numbers plotting, but he's good here, against all the odds.

What really angers about "Road" is the absence of a true team portrait for the Texas Westerns. By only focusing in on the black members, Gartner has done a great disservice to the other athletes who helped define the team's winning season. "Road" provides the faintest of characterizations for these players, only calling them in to continually diminish their role in the team's importance, or to use them as cartoons to help underscore their differences in skin color. What a shame. To confuse matters more, "Road" closes with a real snapshot of the winning team. In the picture, we see the whole squad, standing together proud and victorious, bringing on one and only thought: who were those white and Hispanic dudes?

The true story of the Texas Western University Miners (now called the University of Texas at El Paso) who defied all odds in 1966 by being the first NCAA basketball team to start five African-American players (led by Derek Luke of "Antwone Fisher" and Mehchad Brooks of "Desperate Housewives" fame) and ultimately winning the national championship. New coach Don Haskins (played superbly by Josh Lucas, one of the most under-rated actors in film right now) has trouble recruiting when he first arrives, but finds players in places like Detroit and Brooklyn. In the civil rights torn south though, getting African-American ball players was highly controversial and even potentially dangerous. It ends up being fitting that the team would meet up with Adolph Rupp (impressive transformation as usual for Jon Voight) and his University of Kentucky Wildcats for the championship that year as UK was one of the last major colleges to integrate its basketball team. Socially important story and highly educational for youngsters who may not be familiar with the importance of this stage in contemporary U.S. and sports history. Great sequences and styles in the tradition of sports classics like "Hoosiers", "Remember the Titans" and "Friday Night Lights". 5 stars out of 5.

I loved the movie. It's a basketball movie about a small west Texas school that wins the NCAA tournament. The catch is they are all black and play an all white team, Kentucky. The movie depicts the struggle this team has with racism both within and outside the team. It kind of reminds me of "Remember the Titans", "Rudy", "Hoosiers", or "Miracle". David vs. Goliath or underdog does good. As a Kentucky basketball fan, I almost found myself rooting for Texas Western. The movie is based on a true story but there are some liberties taken. The scene that disturbed me the most was during the championship game. Behind the bench, Kentucky fans were waving the Confederate flag. I can assure you this did not happen during the real game in Cole Field House. None of the stars on the flag represent the state of Kentucky as Kentucky was not part of the Confederacy. I realize this is Hollywood and the film makers were trying to emphasize racism in this movie, but their point had already been made repeatedly throughout the movie (especially the scene in the Commerce, Texas motel). This was an unnecessary smear to the University of Kentucky and the state. If not for this, I would rate this movie among the top sports movies made. Other minor errors in the movie include Texas Western coach Don Haskins being hired before the historic '65-'66 season, when in reality he was hired 4 years prior. Also I don't think

the Iowa vs. Texas Western game was televised. All in all it was a good movie that parents could take their sports minded children to.

I thought this movie was great. I took my son, his friend, and my daughter and they are all under the age of 11. My youngest son was learning about Martin Luther King, Jr in school and he wanted to learn more about segragation. I thought this movie would be great for him to see. He learned so much about teamwork, friends and working toward a goal. I was impressed with the movie. Josh Lucas was great in this film. I recommend it to anyone. The movie did a great job showing the injustice the West Texas basketball team got while they were on the road. It was hard to watch that but it made you come away from the movie thinking more about the world and how we can all be a little nicer to people. I am glad that they made this movie about such a wonderful basketball team.

Fine feel good docudrama about the Cinderella team that shocked the collegiate sports world in 1966 by coming from obscure underdog to win the NCAA basketball championship against the legendary Adolph Rupp's heavily favored Kentucky team. The important subtext here is that in building his winning team, Texas Western coach Don Haskins was the first coach in the South to recruit black players.

His team came from inner city ghettos in Detroit, South Bronx, and so on. In the championship game, he fielded a starting lineup that was all black, against Rupp's all white players, a first in college basketball history. Of course, in the north, things had been different for years: Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain had dominated college basketball in the 1950s and led the pro sport in the 60s.

But in the deep south, and Haskins and his players had to endure one hate-filled encounter after another. All of this, plus other problems (players' personalities, health and academic woes), are depicted here. Josh Lucas is splendid as Coach Haskins. Lucas appears to have graduated from the Paul Newman School of Acting. His face in profile is like Newman's, especially the bridge of his nose, but, even more, Lucas's head tilts, confrontive stares and manner of touching his face with his hands are about as Newmanesque as you can get.

But that's all right. Lucas makes these gestures his own in a good turn. With a very old looking Jon Voight as Adolph Rupp. Be sure to stay through the end credits to learn the fates of the players and coaches. This film is a purely formulaic sports success movie, but it is very well done indeed. My grade: low B+ 7.5/10

It's a good movie. You will like it. It is true that Texas Western was the first team with 5 black starters to win the NCAA BUT.........the Loyola Chicago 1963 Champions had 4 black starters. Came from 10 down in the NCAA title game to beat Cincy........played SEC champion Mississippi State after that team had to fly out at night to avoid a court order grounding the team. This really happened. Where is the courageous story of these men, and their coach, whom I had the pleasure to meet, George Ireland? It doesn't subtract from the entertainment value of Glory Road, but why can't Disney tell the truth about the team, Coach Haskins, and just about everything in the film. They were a great team, and Coach Haskins was legendary as well. The truth was, as many have pointed out, there were none of these close games in the beginning..Coach Haskins did not come from coaching a girl's team to the NCAA Championship in one year. It's a great story just as it really happened. It's a shame that the only recognition Loyola gets is that Texas Western beat them (in a newspaper headline) and seen in the top ten rankings that year. They both deserve credit. So does Mississippi State for their courage in coming to play Loyola. This really happened, and it's a great story. Where is it?

I loved it. It was the best sports movie since Hoosiers! Great actors, and a great story! I got to go the the 95.5 Beat premier in Atlanta. Great premier! Dave C. was great! Josh L. is a cross between Matthew Mccaughney and Kevin Costner. John Voight performance was sub par, but reminds me of his character in Varsity Blues. I recommend this film for the whole family. The movie is based on a true story. During the credits, they interview the real life basketball team. Pat Riley remembers playing them when when was on the University of Kentucky's basketball team. It really hits home. So go grab some popcorn and a coke and enjoy this movie.

Glory Road will go down in my book as one of the greatest basketball movies of all time. Glory Road tells the amazing story of the underdog Texas Western basketball team, with history's first all-African American starting lineup of players, who took over the nation and surprisingly making it to the NCAA tournament title game in 1966. In 1962 Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) - a player who had big dreams to play basketball in college that eventually disappeared because of a knee injury- went West to El Paso, to take the Head Coach position at Texas Western University, a school not known for its basketball program. His new bosses don't offer much to Haskins besides low salary and the family is even forced to live in the same dorm as his players, but they don't expect much in return. After arriving at Texas Western he started to make a few changes. The next few scenes of the movie are a series of short clips from the players. These shorts scenes give the audience a back ground view of these players to see where they come from and what makes them the way they are. Haskins knows he has no chance of recruiting the best white players to come to small Texas Western, so he and his assistant coach flew out north to find African Americans who are happy to have scholarships and a chance to play D-1 college basketball. He was looking for the best players he could get, even though Texas Western was an unknown basketball school. In these times black athletes were often overlooked by major schools, and because Coach Haskins didn't care, he recruited more black players than the typical university would back in those days. One famous quote Haskins tells one potential player in one scene was, "I don't see color. I see quick. I see skill." It's qualities like those that motivate Haskins in his drive to produce a winning team. And win they did eventually, but not until Haskins teaches his players halfway, allowing them to incorporate some of the flashy moves that don't fit into Haskins' strict ideas of how the game is played; old school fundamentals. The team eventually comes together as one and they experienced lots of racial abuse throughout the movie because of having an all-black starting lineup. In Texas at that time, we learn, college basketball teams had been integrated, but there was an "informal rule" that you never played more than one black player at home games, two on the road or three if you were behind. They make a unbelievable run through the NCAA tournament and beat the number one ranked basketball team of Kentucky. Now this movie isn't about just the underdogs playing in a basketball game; which makes this sports movie different from most. It's about racism in American sports, and how coach Haskins and his players from Texas Western University made a remarkable moment in history I believe can be comparable to when Jackie Robinson was picked up by the Brooklyn Dodgers. After Texas Western played in the the 1966 NCAA championship with an all-black team on the court and went against an all-white Kentucky team coached by the hall of fame legend Adolph Rupp, rules were rewritten. Haskins and his team wrote the "emancipation proclamation of 1966," said NBA coach Pat Riley. "Glory Road" is an effective sports movie, but where it succeeds is as the story of a chapter in history, the story of how one coach at one school arrived at an obvious conclusion and acted on it, disregarding the racial rules of the 1960s. I believe he opened college sports in the South to generations of African Americans; even the ones still playing. Since this movie was based on a true story, the end credits tell us what happened in later life to the members of that 1966 Texas Western team, we realize that Haskins not only played for a NCAA title but made a contribution to the future that is still being acknowledged. There are also some humor scenes in this movie that may make you smile, when the black players get drunk in a Hispanic bar or when the white teammates are invited to a very crowded black party. The funniest parts of the movie are the teasing and razzing that goes on during practices and team outings. Chris Cleveland, the writer who adapted the movie from Don Haskins' autobiography and consultation with the real-life players, should get some credit for making dialogue both believable and entertaining. Unfortunately, a few problems keep the movie from being creditable. One problem is the timing of historical inaccuracies that the movie puts in for dramatic effect. For example, Haskins did not actually play in the championship until his fifth season at Texas Western, but the movie has him playing it in his first. Then, there were plenty of black players in college ball before Texas Western, but just not in the southern leagues; the film doesn't show this. In the final game, the movie has Texas Western trailing after the half, when Kentucky never regained the lead after halftime. And in the previous victory over Kansas, the movie overlooks that Kansas had three black players other than JoJo White, and that his famous shot where he stepped out of bounds was not the final shot of the game. Even though I believe most people didn't know these facts, I still think that they could have put these situations in the movie to make it more realistic. In conclusion, Glory Road is a great movie to see especially if you're a sports-drama movie fan. The fun scenes, great story line, and amazing actors makes this one of the movies that you won't get tired of watching for a while. Even though the historical references are a little "stretched", they don't take away the good aspects of this film.

In 1965 Fort Worth, Texas, Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) coaches high school girls' basketball. He gets recruited and moves his wife Mary (Emily Deschanel) and young kids to Texas Western College in El Paso, Texas. It's a shoestrings program with no ambitions. Nobody wants to sign with the losing team until Don sees a black player named Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke). He ignores the unwritten rule of playing one at home, two on the road and three if you're losing. Don starts recruiting both blacks and whites. He insists on coaching traditional basketball. There is racial tension within and outside the team. They overcome many hurdles on their way to reach the NCAA championship.

This is the standard sports movie overcoming racial inequality. I guess that can be counted as a negative but it doesn't have to be. This is well-acted with some good characters. It can come off as cliché but all that means is that people keep telling the same story over and over again. There's a reason why storytellers keep going back to the same well. It touches something within our humanity.