Glory Road features coach Don Haskins and his 1966 small college basketball team. Haskins' drive to win with the odds stacked against him leads him to a close bond with his players. The movie brings up significant issues, such as racism, but often pushes past those issues before they are resolved or become too entrenched in the story.
This is a fun basketball movie with excellent acting and a solid story. However, as far as being one of the better basketball movies out there (as in Hoosiers), it lacks that special flavor. With exception to the very last game in the movie, the game montages are flat as the viewer ends up watching numerous lay-up and dunk sequences. Too much of the coaching interaction with players and character development (at least in terms with the characters' relationships and interactions with teammates) was left undeveloped or was not believable. For instance, in one scene, players might despise each other, while in the very next scene they get along like best friends without much elaboration or explanation of what caused the resolution.
Furthermore, the style of basketball in the movie was far too modern to resemble the style of play in the 1960s. Players did not do reverse dunks or dribble between the legs or behind the backs or play with the same kind of flare and flash like they do in modern years.
There were other nuances that were not accurate, though these didn't ruin the movie. For instance, All-American JoJo White (who later had a great career with the Boston Celtics) shot his jumpers one-handed rather than with his guide hand touching the ball. Also, they failed to even mention superstar Elgin Baylor who played for Seattle University and that the game featured against Seattle University was SU's only loss of that season.
Glory Road is a solid basketball movie, but it does not stand up to the best basketball movies of all time.
Glory Road was directed by James Gartner and is rated PG for racial issues, including violence and epithets, as well as for mild language. It's running time is 1 hr. 49 min. and it grossed $42,643,187 in the U.S. Box Office. It was filmed in Louisianna and Texas and stars Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols, Evan Jones and Mehcad Brooks.
Other Similar Basketball Movie Recommendations:
- Hoosiers
- Coach Carter
- He Got Game
- Love & Basketball
- Blue Chips
- "O"
- Pistol: Birth of a Legend
- The Air Up There
- Above the Rim
