My Take on the Movies
A Mini-Review of
GLORY ROAD
By: A. L. “Toni” Anderson

My first film of 2006 is Glory Road, the true-life story of Coach Don Haskins’ incredible 1965-1966 season. He begins the film coaching a high school girls’ basketball team, and ends by leading the Texas Western Miners to the NCAA championship, in one short year. In the Texas of the mid-1960s (as across the South), college basketball is a white man’s sport. Coach Haskins, however, recruits the best available players from all over the Eastern U.S., and is quoted as stating “I don’t see color. I see quickness; I see skill.” In the final game of the championship series, he starts an all-black team, the first ever in an NCAA championship series.

The film was written by Chris Cleveland and directed by James Gartner, both in their first mainstream endeavors.

Josh Lucas (An Unfinished Life – 2005) stars as Coach Don Haskins. He is supported by Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher - 2002), Mehcad Brooks (Desperate Housewives), Al Shearer (Punk’d - 2003), Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince), and too many new faces to count. The University of Kentucky team (which is defeated by the West Texas Miners for the championship) is coached by Adolph Rupp, a nearly unrecognizable Jon Voight (whom I first saw in 1972’s Deliverance), in prosthetics and heavy make-up.

The story is as fast-paced as a professional basketball game, and is backdropped by the soundtrack of my youth. Throughout the film, I had to restrain myself from singing along to hits by Stevie Wonder, Junior Walker and the All-Stars, The Miracles, Curtis Mayfield — and the list just goes on.

No one of the players is showcased, each having his own set of individual talents, but some small part of each player’s story is briefly recounted. One player struggles with geology, but is soon shown the value of study and good grades. One player’s challenge is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but he plays his heart out nevertheless. One player is initially too timid to give his all to his position, but he is more afraid of what his father will think than of getting hurt, and he overcomes his fear to become an integral part of the team.

The road is not a long one, but it is filled with hurdles — extreme racism, loneliness, poverty. At the end of the road is all the glory anyone could ever ask for.

The film concludes with interview clips of some real-life players of the 1965-1966 championship series, including Pat Riley of NBA coaching fame, who starred on the defeated Kentucky team.

The tagline of the movie is “Winning changes everything.” Certainly the championship win of the majority-black 1966 Miners led to black players being accepted at previously all-white colleges, and eventually to near domination of the NBA by black players. In my humble opinion, the film is itself a winner. If you have any interest in basketball, I recommend you see it.

[© 01/21/2006]