Looks pretty good. I too hope they didn't overdo the sappyness. I preferred Friday Night Lights to Remember the Titans. I didn't really like Titans. This looks like a movie that would make me want to go right out and buy the book. Is there a book?
There's an autobiography by Don Haskins (with Dan Wetzel) by the same name that came out in November. It has much more to offer than the movie, especially since the movie took a TON of historical liberties. Saw the movie last night and enjoyed it despite the liberties (which are too many to list here). And if you haven't caught the flick yet, be sure to stay for the credits. About halfway through them they start showing interviews with the real Don Haskins, several of the TWC players, and Pat Riley. And speaking of Don Haskins...do y'all remember the scene where Moe Iba is recruiting in New York and he's speaking on the phone to Haskins who is in a gas station in the middle of nowhere? Well, the oldtimer gas station attendant who asks him if he wants to get his car filled up was none other than the man himself, Don Haskins, in a cameo role. Go UTEP! Go Texas Western! GO MINERS!!!
See, now I'm not so sure I want to see the movie. Why do movie makers feel the need to take so many liberties with stories like this? Stories that would be just as good (if not better) if they were historically accurate. Do they think we're too dumb to enjoy the story without all the extra Hollywood fluff? It's almost insulting. I loved the movie Friday Night Lights, but it would have been so much better had they stuck to the book (which I've read twice). Boobie was hurt during a scrimmage, not a game. Permian lost to Marshall on the road that year, but the movie has them beating Marshall at home. That loss was a big part of the story told in the book, but the movie just dropped it from the whole story. The Permian/Carter game was a semi-final game, not a final. Permian lost 14-9 on a cold rainy day in Austin, not in a shootout in the Astrodome. I just don't understand why movies can't be more historically accurate.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=merron/060112 This shows some of the differences between the movie and real life. It doesn't list everything that I caught, and some of the things it lists aren't exactly right, but it's a start...
It was actually Pat Riley that got dunked on at the beginning of the game (in real life) - haven't seen the movie yet. He was an All American at UK and scored over 20 ppg ... He later was a first round pick of the Rockets! I've seen it compared to Remember the Titans and Miracle. I got no problem with that.
More on the coaches... Q: Re: "Glory Road" and coach Don Haskins. Thought you would be interested to know that Mr. Haskins received roughly $375,000 for the movie. The players received about $7,500 apiece. When Haskins found out how little the players received, he insisted that his portion be divided evenly amongst all. Everyone then received roughly $37,000, including Mr. Haskins. What a man. Leta Mohrman, El Paso, Texas A: His decency is clear in the movie. I also heard from Rob Reed of Bloomington, Ind., whose father, Neil, was the assistant to Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp at the time of the famous 1966 NCAA championship game. Rupp (played by Jon Voight) comes over well in the film, his wife extends kindness to Mrs. Haskins, and the end titles observe that the next season, Rupp recruited the first black player in Kentucky's history. There was more to it than that, Reed writes me: Rupp and his father "were trying to integrate the team, much to the chagrin of segregationists of all types, including the board of trustees at the university (who eventually forced out Rupp on the pretense of his being at retirement age, despite his having the best win/loss record in college basketball history)." There were death threats, Rob Reed writes, and the FBI was called in; there is a television news documentary about this period at www.wkyt.com. Reed closes: "It's a wonderful thing to have pride in the raw honest courage of one's father."
Dammit, ima_drummer, how dare you think for yourself? Aren't you aware that movie companies TELL you what you're supposed to like?
Damn, the movie is not out yet. My friend brought it over during a practice for his team and they were watching it. From the looks of it, I thought it was on old movie. Damn bootlegs....LOL!!
I saw the movie this past Friday night and thought it was really good. I have always been a historical buff about the NCAA tournament, so I have known about this game for a long time. The guy who plays Bobby Joe Hill is the same guy that played Booby Miles in the Friday Night Lights (that's for ima). It is also interesting to note that David "Big Daddy" Lattin was really the only player off that Texas Western team to play several seasons in the NBA. That Kentucky team not only had Pat Riley but they also had Louis Dampier (one of the best guards to ever play in the ABA), Tommy Kron (who played some for the Hawks), and a guy more known these days as a great broadcaster in Larry Conley.
saw the movie last week.........i thought it was pretty good and somewhat accurate at least. of course there are some cheesey things that happen with the players that probly werent real, but i guess thats how we are supposed to get attached to them. i saw a "making of" thing on tv also and they asked jerry bruckheimer what the main historical discrepancy was, and he said that the events in the movie mostly occurred over a couple years, not all in one. almost all of the basketball plays seemed relatvely possible for the timeframe except for one off-the-backboard alley-oop jam. i checked the real stats for the final game and the points and everything matched up pretty well with the movie so that was cool.
Except that kentucky NEVER lead in the second half of the game. In fact, after TWC went up 12-9 after Bobby Joe Hill's two steals and buckets in a row, Kentucky didn't have a lead the entire rest of the game. But I guess that wouldn't have been dramatic enough for a Hollywood film...
For those of you asking about the dunks and alley oops if those were actually plays they did back then.... Yes, they did allow dunking. IIRC, it was only after Lew Alcindor (Kareem) came to UCLA and started playing on the varsity team (which was the next season, the '66-67 season) that they outlawed dunking. I don't know how long that ban lasted but I do know that the 3 years he was at UCLA, dunking was not allowed. Could you imagine if they had that rule today?
