Sadly Over-hyped

Fantastic!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

"Norman Dale" (Gene Hackman) was a college basketball coach for 10 years until an incident force him to leave and subsequently join the Navy. Now, 12 years later, he has returned to the profession he loves by accepting a coaching position for a high school in Indiana. However, the people in this small town take basketball extremely serious and they aren't nearly as enthusiastic to his new methods as he would like. To make matters even worse he only has 6 players on the team with one key holdout named "Jimmy Chitwood" (Maris Valainis) deciding not to play the entire season. That being said, when the team gets off to a rocky start everyone in town begins to call for his scalp. But he remains determined in spite of everything that has gone wrong. The question is whether he can turn things around before he gets fired. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that having spent a little time in Indiana this film did an excellent job of capturing the basketball climate as well as presenting the small town atmosphere there during that particular time also. Truly excellent. Additionally, along with the aforementioned Gene Hackman, I also liked the performances of Barbara Hershey (as "Myra Fleener") and Dennis Hopper ("Shooter") as well. In any case, this is one of those few movies that I can watch over and over again and I have rated it accordingly. Definitely above average.

A coach with a checkered past (Gene Hackman) and a local drunk (Dennis Hopper) train a small town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the championship.Although I am not one who cares for basketball or sports films (they all seem to follow the same general plot), this one does have some good things going for it. Namely, Gene Hackman, who never makes a bad movie (or at least never plays a bad role). And Dennis Hopper, who is something of a wild card and is appropriately cast as a drunk.Beyond that, it is just a feel good movie. Nothing too heavy, sort of the thing you expect from the 1980s. And that is just alright.

Hoosiers is a movie about a coach who makes a comeback with a Hickory high school team.In my opinion this movie was touching, but very, very, repetitive. The whole movie was about the coach getting ejected from the game, and Hickory winning every game. The rest of the movie was good. I personally liked the story line of the underdogs coming back.I am giving it a 5.5 out of ten.If it was not so repetitive I would give it an 8. But overall a pretty good movie.You should really give it a chance if you are a sports fan, and like underdog stories.

It's 1951 and Gene Hackman is an ex basketball coach who has spent the war years and then some in the Navy. He's hired by a small-town high school in rural Indiana to care for their team. The team members are a little self satisfied, having been runners up in some small-time contest a few years ago. Hackman finds the town unfriendly. They liked their last coach and resent him. He brings new ideas to the game -- no more zone defense but rather man-on-man. But he's determined to see these boys whipped into shape and win Big Time.I ask you, the discerning viewer, does he succeed? Barbara Hershey is a teacher hostile to Hackman. Does he win her over? Dennis Hopper is a disgusting drunk but he knows everything about the local teams and how they play basketball. Does Hackman hire him as Assistant Coach? Does Hopper overcome his demons? Is Hackman fired by the town but saved at the last minute by a revelation of some sort? Does he improve the team's spirit. Does he make them want to fight like dogs? Does this get them to the Big Tournament at the state capitol? Does the music on the sound track swell with triumphant fanfares? Are you kidding? I couldn't predict all of the obstacles that would crop up in the screenplay but, once presented with them, pretty much knew exactly how they'd be solved.Maybe part of the reason I found it so tiresome is that I'm not a fan of basketball. But I don't follow baseball either and always enjoy "The Natural." And I'm a lousy pool shooter but think "The Hustler" is a near masterpiece.On the plus side, the cinematography by Fred Murphy is very good indeed, and so is the location shooting. When the distracted Hackman first arrives in Hickory, Indiana, it LOOKS like the beginning of school in September. It's misty, people's breath steams, the ground is littered with tannic leaves. And, as the season progresses, the branches become bare and patches of snow appear in the shadows. If you were driven to find a small farming community dominated by an over-sized white church and an elderly brick high school, you'd want to come here.But how is it possible to take any of this seriously, as the writer and director seem to expect us to? It's a heart-warming write-by-the-numbers story of dispiritedness turning to success. It seems to be aimed at the kind of audience represented by the gangly pituitary cases we watch on the court. The harder you pray, the harder you play.Ho hum.