I have to tread lightly, because I'm not sure how
much I'm allowed to say that's critical about this movie. I'm a lifelong
basketball fan when went to IU. Perhaps Breaking Away is the only sports
movie that's been more beat into me by my surroundings. However, I'd
categorized Hoosiers as more good than great. Gene Hackman is great at
being likably prickly. His focus on basketball fundamentals has the Bobby
Knight-loving part of me weak in the knees. I'm a sucker for a good underdog
story too. And, Dennis Hopper's "alcoholic father trying to do
better" role is hard to root against. This movie has some iconic moments.
Obviously, the scene when he has them measure how far the basket is from the
floor is a pantheon sports movie moment. This movie is an ideal sports movie in
that it has stakes and setbacks without the ending ever being in doubt.
It's not perfect though. My biggest issue is that
the basketball just isn't that exciting. David Anspaugh was a first time
director and his D.P. (Fred Murphy) was a journeyman cinematographer. They
really just don't capture the excitement of a basketball game. To be fair, it's
1950s basketball, when athleticism wasn't even a word. What's happening on the
sidelines in the movie were always more interesting than what was happening on
the court. Also, and this is admittedly pretty picky, is the team's turnaround
really that impressive? They were mediocre. The best player in the state joins
the team. Then they win the state championship. It's been proven often that one
player can dramatically affect a basketball team, especially at lower levels. I
feel like this undermines how good Gene Hackman's character is as a coach. I
mean, Lebron James has made a lot of coaches look really good.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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