Coach Carter (2005)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Thomas Carter

Writers (WGA):

Mark Schwahn (written by) and
John Gatins (written by)

Release Date:

14 January 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

It begins on the street. It ends here.

Plot:

Controversy surrounds high school basketball coach Ken Carter after he benches his entire team for their breaking their academic contract with him.

Plot Keywords:

Coach | Basketball | High School | Contract | High School Basketball

Awards:

3 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson	...	Coach Ken Carter
Rob Brown	...	Kenyon Stone
Robert Ri'chard	...	Damien Carter
Rick Gonzalez	...	Timo Cruz
Nana Gbewonyo	...	Junior Battle
Antwon Tanner	...	Worm
Channing Tatum	...	Jason Lyle
Ashanti	...	Kyra
Texas Battle	...	Maddux
Denise Dowse	...	Principal Garrison
Debbi Morgan	...	Tonya
Mel Winkler	...	Coach White
Vincent Laresca	...	Renny
Sidney Faison	...	Ty Crane
Octavia Spencer	...	Mrs. Battle

Also Known As:

All Day Long (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content, language, teen partying and some drug material.

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #40973) | Iceland:12 | Norway:11 | Brazil:14 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:7 | New Zealand:M | UK:12 (video rating) (2005) | UK:12A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Coach Carter

Trivia:

The highest opening weekend of any release from an MTV Film: $24,182,961 (week of January 14-16, 2005).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The sports reporter at the game in the beginning of the movie refers to a opposing player as the "Next LeBron James." LeBron James would not have even been in high school when the movie takes place.

Quotes:

Coach Ken Carter: [to the people in attendance at the board hearing] You really need to consider the message you're sending this boys by ending the lockout. It's the same message that we as a culture send to our professional athletes; and that is that they are above the law. If these boys cannot honor the simple rules of a basketball contract...

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Comebacks (2007)

Soundtrack:

All My Peoples

Coach Carter was a good portrayal of a true story

I really enjoyed the movie and was actually inspired by the end of the film. The film was a little corny and syrupy from time to time but it was an overall good, positive film. I have read and heard so many comments about the morals and unacceptable behavior portrayed by some of the characters and in turn viewers bad-mouth the film simply because they do not agree with some of the behavior of the some of the characters in the film. But these people obviously missed the point of the film. Coach Carter was trying to instill values that he thought would help an entire community. The reality is that kids do have foul mouths, have unprotected sex, are faced with hard decisions (to have or not have a baby and selling drugs) everyday.

We should all be so fortunate to have the opportunity to see a movie that features a person that actually tries to deal with these issues without making judgment calls and instead offer resolutions to problems. He offered resolutions to his team's behavior and left it to them to make the right decisions. This was good because they were able to see the consequences of their actions. When they made the right decision, they were able to see the positive consequences. When they made the wrong decision the players were faced with negative consequences and had no one to blame but themselves.

The impact of a person of this magnitude is profound and if some viewers found fault with this movie simply because their reality is a little different at this moment then it was for the characters in this film is very unfortunate for the viewer. Because you never know when you might be faced with a person similar to that in the movie. You just might have to deal with this situation more personally than expected and if this happens what will you do? Because the consequences of your actions in a situation like this will be either positive or negative as well.