15) Hoosiers

Hoosiers (1986)

Director: David Anspaugh

Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper


I'm a big basketball fan and have seen my fair share of basketball movies (Blue Chips, The Air Up There, Space Jam, Eddie) but I'd always heard that Hoosiers was supposed to stand head and shoulders above everything else as the best basketball movie ever, and was generally one of the best sports movies (it ranked #4 on the American Film Institutes top 10 sports movies of all time behind Raging Bull, Rocky and The Pride of the Yankees). I picked up the DVD for not much a little while ago but had never got around to watching it. Wanting to watch a movie this afternoon and wanting something a bit lighter I figured now was as good a time as any.

The film was released in the UK under the title Best Shot under the belief that people from outside the USA wouldn't know what a Hoosier was, which was a fair enough call as I had to look it up (a Hoosier is demonym used to refer to people from the state of Indiana).

Inspired by a true story, Hoosiers chronicles the unlikely rise of a high school basketball team from the small town of Hickery to the Indiana state championships. Norman Dale (Hackman) is a coach with a checkered past, he was banned from the NCAA for physically assaulting a player, who is brought in to replace a much loved coach who has recently passed away. Dale encounters opposition from all sides but his focus on discipline, fundamentals and team work not only make his boys better basketball players, but changes the lives of those around him.

Hoosiers is more than just a David and Goliath sports movie. It is a classic redemption tale. For Norman Dale the appointment at Hickory is a chance to put his past behind him and rebuild his credibility. Dale's appointment of the basketball-savvy drunkard Shooter (Hopper in the role that earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination) as his assistant coach gives him a chance to redeem himself both to the town and his son who have long lost respect for him. Even two players who initially turn their backs on the team following Dale's appointment as coach are given the chance to come back.

Gene Hackman is compelling in the role of Norman Dale. Dale is a man with incredible pride in what he does, but at the same time is bitterly disappointed in himself with his past indiscretions looming large over him. He plays the part so perfectly it is hard to believe that he only got it because Jack Nicholson was unable to make the scheduling work. The fact that Hackman was able to give so much power to what could easily have been a simple, nothing-to-write-home-about performance demonstrates what a great talent he is and reinforces what a shame it is that he no longer graces our screens (and what a disgrace it is that his last screen appearance was Welcome to Mooseport!).

Hoosiers has it's fair share of corniness, as you would expect in an underdog sports movie, but the fact that it is based on the real life events of the Milan Indians, a small town high school which managed, against all odds, to win the 1954 Indiana state championships, allows you to be forgiving of that. Hoosiers is a classic piece of Americana.