Ralph's Movie Reviews: GLORY ROAD

Saturday, January 21, 2006

GLORY ROAD

Fact based sports drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Josh Lucas: Don Haskins, coach of the Texas Western University Miners basketball team
Red West: his senior assistant, Ross
Evan Jones: his younger bespectacled assistant, Moe
Derek Luke: the team’s most talented player (and lady’s man), Bobby Joe Hill
Mehcad Brooks: Harry Flournoy, wanting to do well to make his “momma” proud
Damaine Radcliff: Willie "Scoops" Cager, playing despite a medical condition
Al Shearer: Nevil Shed, struggling with his own self doubts
Sam Jones II: Willie Worsley, the team’s shortest player at 5’7”
Jon Voight: Adolph Rupp, legendary winningest coach of the conference leader Kentucky Wildcats

REVIEW
Predictable in terms of the outcome of the game, the movie brings to mind issues that have been previously glossed over. At the same time, it shows how one man changed the game of basketball back in the mid-sixties by not accepting the "informal rules" regarding black players.

CLASSIFICATION

for racial issues including violence and epithets, and momentary language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
While walking off the court, Bobby Joe Hill stops abruptly when Coach Haskins calls his name. He turns around to face the Coach and he is midway between the free throw circle and the centre circle. He remains immobile while they are talking. But when the camera pulls back, we see now he is somehow almost completely inside the free throw circle.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.