User Reviews

When I heard that a movie was being made about Milan (Indiana) High School's improbable 1954 boys' basketball state championship54, I was excited. Not only because I, like most Hoosiers, love basketball but also because of my family connection to "The Milan Miracle," as it's widely known. One of my uncles, Bob Wichmann, was a member of that team. MHS was by far the smallest school to win the championship in Indiana's 87 years of single class basketball. I was really looking forward to see who they were going to choose to play Uncle Bob!

When I learned around the time of the movie's release that it wasn't going to be be an actual biography but merely inspired by the Milan 1954 team, I was disappointed. Shortly afterward, on my 16th birthday, my maternal grandparents - Uncle Bob's parents - took me to see the movie at a theater. I didn't dislike it but I had a hard time being objective about it because it was something other than what hoped it would be.

But I recently gave "Hoosiers" another shot. I bought its two DVD collector's edition - largely for the bonus features - and saw the movie for only the second time ever and the first time in 18 years, a little over half of my life. The second time, I managed to view it simply as it is as opposed to my original expectations and I enjoyed it much more.

"Hoosiers" in a fictional story about the 1951-52 Hickory High School team. The Huskers are coming off a solid 15-10 season but are now in disarray following the death of their coach and the subsequent departure of their best player, the painfully quiet Jimmy Chitwood (played by Maris Valainis).

Their new coach, Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), arrives after practice for the new season has already begun. Dale is a former college coach who has spent the last 10 years in the Navy and his tenure with the Huskers gets off to a bad start. Two of the team's seven remaining players quit during his first practice - though both end up returning - and he alienates much of the town with his dogmatic philosophy and sometimes abrasive style.

Among those not pleased with Dale is fellow teacher Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey) who thinks that basketball is over emphasized and academics are under emphasized. She and Dale clash a few times early on, which means, of course, that they end up falling in love.

The season starts off badly for the Huskers and a town meeting is soon scheduled to decide whether to fire Dale of keep him. Fleener has discovered that he was fired from his college coaching job for hitting one of his players but doesn't reveal that information and speaks on his behalf. Still, the audience seems largely unmoved.

It looks like Dale is about to be fired but Chitwood enters like the calvary and, speaking for one of the few times in the movie, says that he is ready to return to playing but will do so only if the coach stays. Dale's job is saved and from there, the team improves greatly and becomes a state championship contender.

You can probably figure out what happens in the end, but the movie works the underdog formula to perfection without being overly cliché.

The performances in "Hoosiers" are great, particularly Dennis Hopper's best supporting actor Oscar nominated role as Shooter, the father of one of the players. Hopper does a phenomenal job of acting like a basketball crazed drunk, though I thought it was a bit much for Dale to make him an assistant coach. That is one of a few cases of over Hollywoodization in this movie.

And where I think the movie succeeds the most is in portraying Indiana's unique love for high school basketball. Many non-Hoosiers who see the movie probably think that the residents criticizing the coach on the street, the caravan of cars traveling to away games, the emotional town meeting on the coach's fate and the general hysteria are an exaggeration. That is not the case.

High school basketball in Indiana was an obsession for several decades and still is, though to a lesser extent. Many small towns passionately embraced the local high school team, which was often a point of unity, identity and pride.

One other strong point about the movie, the late, great Jerry Goldsmith's adrenaline pumping music heightens the emotion of the game scenes down the stretch.

The collector's edition DVD set also contains three bonus features that I think are worthy of mention here:

*A 29 minute documentary about the making of the movie, the Milan '54 story and Indiana's love for basketball.

*The 1954 state championship game between Milan and Muncie Central. I'm almost 100% sure that the commentary is done by Tom Carnegie, who was been the voice of the Indianapolis 500 since 1946. Tom was the commentator on the ESPN broadcast of the game last year.

The game footage is far from great but it's not bad and it's good to have any at all. The audio quality is shaky. But it's great to finally have this monumentally historic game easily available.

*Several deleted scenes, introduced by director David Anspaugh and writer Angelo Pizzo. In my opinion, a few of the scenes were unnecessary but many should have been included. One of those scenes gives insight in Buddy Walker's (Brad Long) return to the team and several others give deeper insight into the romantic relationship that developed between Dale and Fleener. Pizzo and Anspaugh said they wanted to include some of those scenes but were told by the movie company to make the movie under two hours.

In conclusion, I now greatly enjoy "Hoosiers" as fiction and its new collector's edition DVD set is a great buy for any sports movie fan! 8/10.

Hoosiers (1986) Director: David Anspaugh Watched: 8/20/18 Rating: 8/10

Gene Hackman delivers one of the most unassumingly impressive performances in his career. The authority and restraint with which he conducts his role as Coach Norman Dale is nothing short of award-winning. His character perfectly exemplifies how a great coach can either bring an ineffectual team to victory or be the downfall of an all-star group of players.

Another high school underdog team comeback inspirational sports film? I about I was convinced this was so. Fortunately, I was shown that biases and preconceived notions are- well, exactly that.

What makes "Hoosiers" succeed is balance. Unlike most other sports films, there is an equal caliber of character and story development both on and of the court (or diamond, field, rink, track, etcetera). The off-court stories could have used some more closure and back story, yes. But they undoubtedly excelled in adding necessary dimension to the characters, which in turn engenders affinity and empathy for them on the court. This is what ails many potentially great sports films: If the audience does not care about the players, how can we care about the game?

Indeed, "Hoosiers" is about much more than basketball. Yes, most of the film takes place on the court. But it exemplifies how a team sport- a way of life in a small town- can be the center around which so many relationships are based. How- with the most ideal turn of events- it can serve as the magnet that pulls together otherwise antagonistic or insouciant parties. Especially meaningful of these relationships are between Norman and Shooter, Shooter and his son Everett, Norman and Myrna, Norman and Cletus, and Norman and Jimmy.

**** Spoilers ****

The Kobe Bryant team could learn a lot from this film. I am referring to teamwork, of course. I could quote this film's aphorisms and maxims on teamwork- or I could describe scenes like Coach Norman benching an recalcitrant player despite the fact that it left only four players on the court, but watching this film in its entirety would be the best way to truly grasp its importance.

Despite the cliches that are present (Ollie, the team's "only a body" shortest player making the winning foul shots in the game that qualifies them for the finals, giving the town alcoholic a second chance), "Hoosiers" manages to avoid contrivance and- for the most part- remains sincere. In fact, moments in the film can send chills down your spine. (The scene that comes to mind: Norman handing the reins over to Shooter at a pivotal point in the game and seeing the sheepish assistant coach slowly come to life- from utter self-doubt to celebrating with the team in victory- and then the cherry on top, his son expressing his pride). As much as I did not want to be lured by the inspirational score, I was. And in that last game- at the winning shot that served as the poster child for teamwork- I caught myself clapping. And, yes, while watching alone.

Though the outcome is predictable, the way in which the story is told still holds some surprises. Unfortunately, much of this is sensationalization by Hollywood. Hickory never existed, in fact. It is based on Milan.

A very rare event for someone as adamant about authenticity and truth as I am, I actually found myself not wanting to know how inaccurate this film was. I wanted this Coach Norman Dale to be real. I wanted this idealized comeback from an underdog middle-of-nowhere Indiana high school team to have really occurred. I wanted this to be proof that teamwork and hard work really wins. And some of it is true. But only some of it.

"Hoosiers" is by no means perfect, but is an exemplary sports film that is not only emboldening but entertaining to watch, basketball fan or not.

I'm no armchair sportsman and I've never played basketball, but to enjoy "Hoosiers" you don't need to meet those requirements. "Hoosiers" is simply great, superbly acted drama. The story is standard underdog material, but with a terrific cast including Gene Hackman, Dennis Hopper and Barbara Hershey, it soars. It is refreshing to see a sports movie in which the players are not a bunch of arrogant, obnoxious, beer-swilling yahoos whose only ambition off the court is to get laid. No, these high school boys from a very small town are a sorry lot whose spirits are revived by a coach (Hackman) on the last legs of his checkered career. Dennis Hopper, who plays the embarrassing, alcoholic father of one of the players, is a revelation here as a man given yet another chance to prove that he isn't a terminal loser. The film is comprised of many games, and in the hands of a hack, it might have become tiresome. But director David Anspaugh works hard to inject great dramatic tension into every game and is ably assisted by Fred Murphy's beautiful photography and Jerry Goldsmith's extraordinary score, a mix of electronic and strong orchestral elements. The film has an extremely emotional build and powers along like a steam train. Hackman, a long way from fine work such as "Prime Cut" and "The Hunting Party", is simply ultra-solid and commanding. A marvellous film about being given chances. I suggest you give it one, too.

This is a sweet, gentle fairy tale, full of nice writing and subtle performances. The good kind of sports movie, it mostly allows the game to serve as a tool of the story. If the end is not difficult to guess, still it is a thrilling emotional journey. This is quite a trick with a handful of clichés as your plot points; but pros can pull it off, and there are many jobs well done on this production.

The photography is in a lovely muted palette, and the design is exquisite. The Midwestern landscape has rarely been quite so Norman Rockwelled by a movie. The games look like old Life Magazine Ektachrome prints come to life. The town and especially the school are straight out of the American collective memory.

Barbara Hershey is complex and fascinating; the ball players break your heart; Gene Hackman wisely does not try to be likable, instead bleeding loss and hope from his scuffed leather jacket. My dad always liked Dennis Hopper as a wasted father figure - "Rumble Fish," "True Romance," "River's Edge," this - so it's hard for me to fault "Hoosiers" for trading shamelessly on the inherent melodrama of the situation. The relationships are economically revealed, conservatively developed, and satisfyingly hokey without very often becoming unlikely.

There are only two things really wrong. One is the "Airwolf" synthesizer score that crashes in the 50s heartland like a flying saucer on crack. Two is the equally dated easy-out of a series of montages instead of a third act. Come on. That's using condiments as food. Because of this hurry, several scenes in the second hour are more scaffolding than story.

But when it's good it's very good, which is most of the time; more often, I think, than David Anspaugh's other Sports Underdog Who Achieves Momentary Greatness movie. I mean "Rudy," not "The Game of Their Lives," which I'm not likely to see because I'm an American and could care less about real football.

What's the best sports film of all time, you ask? Well, it's debatable, but I'd rank HOOSIERS high up there. Coming out in 1986 (the dated decade!), HOOSIERS still holds up remarkably well thanks to really great cinematography and set design. It really looks and feels like 1950s Indiana, even today. Without overdoing the period piece aspect and focusing on small town life and hometown values, HOOSIERS is a top-notch movie. In particular, the film is incredibly fast-paced.

All credit goes to the great Gene Hackman, who plays dejected, displaced, and disgraced Coach Norman Dale from a big-time college program, who must take a downgraded high school coaching position as head coach at Hickory High School, the Huskers. Hackman exudes credibility as a no-nonsense, firm, yet sensitive man at the crossroads of his coaching career and his life. This actor could do it all by just being himself! Coach Dale arrives in the small town of Hickory, Indiana circa 1951 and immediately faces disdain and uncertainty upon his arrival. The small towners see him as a big-city guy who looks down on them and won't fit in. The locals question his coaching tactics and even challenge his authority directly at times. But Dale sticks to his guns and instills discipline and toughness into the promising basketball team. In particular, Dale shows particular interest in Jimmy Chitwood, a pure shooting guard who at first is not on the team, but then decides to re-join them on the condition that Coach Dale stays.

Dale also has an initially rocky relationship with local Myra Fleener (well played by Barbara Hershey), who isn't very crazy about basketball and thinks education is more important. Best Supporting Actor nominee Dennis Hopper plays town drunk Shooter, whose son is on the team. Hopper almost steals the show, but I still think this film belongs completely to Hackman, especially with 20+ years of hindsight.

Special mention should also go to the young men who played the Hickory Huskers. Really a band of unknowns who I don't think any have become famous since this film, the fact that real teens (and basketball players) played these characters helps make HOOSIERS all the more authentic.

Of course, you have the obligatory happy ending, but it all fits into this gem of a sports film. Really, it doesn't get much better than HOOSIERS!