Glory Road
Review by Mark Moring | posted 01/13/06

 
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It's 1966. Things are really heating up in Vietnam. Star Trek makes its TV debut. John Lennon declares the Beatles "more popular than Jesus." And relatively unknown Texas Western College is about to enter the history books—simply by putting black players on the court.

That's the premise of Glory Road, the story of the '66 Texas Western Miners, where rookie coach Don Haskins, a 35-year-old white man, dared to fill out his lineup with mostly African-American players. The team went on to win the national championship (that's no plot spoiler, by the way; the studio's official synopsis says so in the very first sentence), where Haskins made a bold statement by starting five black players in the title game against all-white Kentucky. It was an unprecedented move in a sport that, till then, was played mostly by whites at the major college level. In a decade where radicals were making the news, Haskins joined them in the headlines for his own brand of radicalism.

Josh Lucas plays Texas Western coach Don Haskins
 
One scene in Glory Road that typifies the film. It's late in the season, the team is on a roll, and during a shootaround in the gym, forward Willie Cager (Damaine Radcliff) collapses to the floor, holding his chest. We learn that Cager has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart—a condition he'd known about since high school, but never told Haskins (Lucas) for fear that he wouldn't be allowed to play.

Glory Road is a lot like that. It's a movie with a big heart, about young men showing a lot of heart, with a storyline that goes straight for the heart. It's the latest in Disney's successful string of inspiring films based on true sports stories—Miracle, Remember the Titans, The Rookie, and, most recently, The Greatest Game Ever Played. Some of those were forgettable, but others, like Titans and Rookie, are among the better sports films ever made. Count Glory Road among the latter.

But "inspiring" doesn't necessarily mean "warm and fuzzy." Like Remember the Titans, this is a story about breaking barriers in a climate of intense racism, and depicting those tensions is sometimes disturbing. When the Texas Western players return to their hotel after one road game, they find their rooms trashed, red paint splattered everywhere like so much blood, and hateful messages on the walls: "Niggers Die" and "Coons Go Home." There's a scene of three white men beating up a black player in a restroom. There's a scene where angry players discuss carrying guns and knives to protect themselves. There's a scene where Haskins' wife opens one of many threatening letters calling the coach a "nigger lover."

Derek Luke is excellent in the role of Bobby Joe Hill
 
The hateful sentiments even come from within their own community. Officials at Texas Western (now the University of Texas at El Paso) and Miners boosters are among Haskins' critics, voicing their concerns—often undiplomatically—over the new coach's decision to bring in seven black players. Even the players know the score; while being recruited in inner-city Detroit, Bobby Joe Hill—who would go on to become the Miners' star player—told Haskins he didn't want to be the "token Negro" who sits the bench. But Haskins, declaring "I don't see color, I see skill," promised Hill that he would play—and that there would be other African-Americans on the team as well.

As in Remember the Titans, it's a joy to watch the black and white players learn to overcome their differences and stereotypes, ultimately forming a camaraderie that will not only forge lasting friendships but also a more immediate goal—playing great basketball. Director James Gartner (not James Garner of Rockford Files fame) captures both—and more—with aplomb. The basketball action is exciting and believable, and the scenes of the building relationships are handled well—and with humor. When one white player says he's confused over the blacks' use of the word "bad," they explain that in their lingo, "bad" really means "good." The look of consternation on the white kid's face is priceless as he says, "Well, if 'bad' means 'good,' then what does 'good' mean?" Yuks all around.

Jon Voight, as Adolph Rupp, addresses his all-white Kentucky team
 
It all cranks up to an exhilarating conclusion as the Miners stun the college basketball world en route to the national championship. And even though we know they're going to win it all, there are enough twists along the way to keep it exciting—all the way down to the final buzzer against Kentucky, one of the teams dominating the college game in those days.

Lucas is convincing as the young and determined Haskins, ready to do things his own way—tradition be darned. Derek Luke, terrific in another great sports movie, Friday Night Lights, turns in another fine performance here as Hill. And Jon Voight sufficiently scowls his way through the role of the "villain"—Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp, representing the old-school way of thinking, that college basketball is a game for white boys.

Rupp is portrayed in such a way that he might be a racist; he doesn't use derogatory terms, but there are enough glares and snide comments to make us wonder just how prejudiced he really was. Sports Illustrated once connected Rupp to the KKK, but some have disputed the accuracy of that report and others depicting Rupp as a racist. Voight said the script made Rupp out to be worse than reality; Rupp's son, former players and others say he wasn't a racist. Haskins, now 75, says he doesn't think Rupp was treated "that badly" in the movie.

David Lattin (Schin A.S. Kerr) following instructions to 'dunk it down their throats'
 
But my biggest quibble isn't how Rupp is portrayed. It's Haskins. For the most part, he's depicted as a coach committed to discipline and teamwork, and as a brave trailblazer who doesn't give a rip what people think about his bold decisions. Fine. But before the title game against Kentucky, Haskins makes a call that deserves to be questioned. All season long, his starting lineup included both blacks and whites; he played the guys who, regardless of pigmentation, gave the Miners the best chance to win. But on the eve of the national championship game, Haskins tells his team he'll not only start five black players, but will not play any of the whites, period. Sounds like Haskins let his righteous anger get in the way of fairness to his team, just for the sake of making a loud sociological statement. I think the decision to start five African-Americans was fine, but outright benching his white players, including kids who had played a big role in getting him that far, was unreasonable. I don't "blame" the filmmakers for that; they're merely telling it like it is. But I do hold the filmmakers accountable for portraying that as a good thing, wrapping the scene with heart-swelling music and a sappy "go get 'em, guys" sentiment from one of the white players.

In the championship game against Kentucky, Haskins breaks character again. All season long, he'd told his players to stick to the fundamentals, to quit the hot-dogging street ball, and not show off by dunking. In response to the racism, he had told the team that "the best way to shut them up is to win." But in the pregame huddle before the title game, he glares down the sideline at Rupp and tells his players to "dunk it down their throats." Whatever happened to simply letting the victory do the talking?

But those are minor quibbles. Overall, Glory Road is, like its main characters, a winner from the opening tip to the final buzzer; it's Remember the Titans on the basketball court. Count it right up there with the best of Disney's fine sports flicks.

Talk About It   Discussion starters
1. If you were an African-American player in the 1960s, how would you have reacted if Coach Haskins recruited you? What did he say that might have convinced you to play for him?

2. The team endured all kinds of threats and even attacks. How would you have reacted as one of the black players? As one of the white players? Did the team handled it well? What might they have done differently? Does Christ's command to "turn the other cheek" apply? What would that look like?

3. Coach Haskins tells the team that in response to racism, "The best way to shut them up is to win." Do you agree? Why or why not? Did it work? The movie's tagline is, "Winning Changes Everything." Did it? What if they'd had had a losing season; would their efforts have been for naught?

4. What did you think of the decision to only play African Americans in the title game? Why did he make that decision? Was it fair to his team? How would you have reacted as a white player? As a black player?

5. Is racism still as much of a problem in the U.S. today as it was then? How has it improved? In what ways is it still the same?
 

The Family Corner For parents to consider
Glory Road is rated PG for racial issues including violence and epithets, and mild language. A couple of scenes almost warrant a PG-13 rating: The players find their hotel rooms trashed with red paint splattered, blood-like, on the walls with the warnings "Niggers Die" and "Coons Go Home." Another scene depicts three white men beating up a black player, who emerges with a bloody face. There are a number of racial epithets, but otherwise the language, for the most part, is relatively tame. There's a scene at a party which features some drinking, but no serious misbehavior.

Photos © Copyright Walt Disney Pictures

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