Glory Road (2006)

In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.

Director:

James Gartner

Writers:

Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois

Stars:

Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Lucas	...	Don Haskins
Derek Luke	...	Bobby Joe Hill
Austin Nichols	...	Jerry Armstrong
Jon Voight	...	Adolph Rupp
Evan Jones	...	Moe Iba
Schin A.S. Kerr	...	David Lattin
Alphonso McAuley	...	Orsten Artis
Mehcad Brooks	...	Harry Flournoy
Sam Jones III	...	Willie Worsley
Damaine Radcliff	...	Willie 'Scoops' Cager
Emily Deschanel	...	Mary Haskins
Al Shearer	...	Nevil Shed
Red West	...	Ross Moore
Kip Weeks	...	Togo Railey
Mitch Eakins	...	Dick Myers

Storyline

In 1965, the coach of the high school girl basketball team Don Haskins 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 won the 1966 national championship against the powerful Kentucky.

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Plot Keywords:

united states | usa | friendship | national championship | texas | 

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Taglines:

The incredible story of the team that changed the game forever.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for racial issues including violence and epithets, and momentary language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Schin Kerr, who plays David Lattin, is 6'8", 2 inches taller than Lattin. Kerr played Basketball at Loyola University Chicago and professionally in Italy and China.

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Goofs

The final game with Texas Western and the University of Kentucky is televised by NBC. The "Snake" logo from 1959 is shown with the 1979 "Proud as a Peacock" logo. The movie takes place in 1966, so the 1956 "Living Color" Peacock should have been used. Anyway, at the time the Peacock wasn't the logo of NBC and only the "NBC Snake" would've been used. In either case, NBC didn't televise the NCAA Championship until 1969.

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Quotes

Coach Don Haskins: Jason, Don Haskins, Texas Western.
Stevens: Western Union?
Coach Don Haskins: Texas Western down in El Paso. Hey, after the game, when you get a minute I'd like to talk to you about playing for me.
Stevens: Play for you at Texas Western? Thanks, Coach, but I'm partial to winning.

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Crazy Credits

During the credits, an inset shows several of the actual people involved (Don Haskins, David Lattin, Pat Riley, Orsten Artis, Willie Worsley, Harry Flournoy, and Nevil Shed) commenting about the championship game and its implications. Video of that game is also shown.

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Connections

Referenced in Sports Jeopardy!: Episode #2.25 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Green Onions
Written by Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewie Steinberg and Al Jackson Jr.
Performed by Booker T. & the M.G.s (as Booker T. and the MG's)
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

entertaining

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Glory Road

Filming Locations:

Hotel Monteleone Hotel, 214 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,594,734, 15 January 2006

Gross USA:

$42,647,449

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,938,449

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Texas Western Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1