I’ve never been much of a sports
fan, so I usually lean away from sports movies.
I’ve been to multiple sporting events to cheer people on, but I never
get very worked up. Yet I’m passionate
about the arts and the “artsy” projects with which I’m involved, so I can
easily identify with another person’s love for a favorite sport and/or athlete.
I saw Hoosiers (1987) when it was first released, and while I have truly
enjoyed other movies featuring various sports, Hoosiers has remained my favorite.
Part of the reason, I think, is because it is a film that features basketball, but is about so
much more. This movie has a lot to say
about small towns and the people who live in them, about passions that run deep
and nearly consume people, about how we treat outsiders with different ideas,
about overcoming past mistakes. It has
everything to do with human nature and wraps it within the story of a single
season of basketball in the life of a tiny high school team.
Gene Hackman is perfectly cast
as Norman Dale, the newly transplanted basketball coach in Hickory,
Indiana. He’s a former college coach who
spent the last ten years in the navy, and something about his age and vague
background causes a number of folks to judge him quickly and harshly, including
fellow teacher Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey).
The good ol’ boys are rankled by this outsider’s coaching methods and do
everything they can to have him removed.
A few people, however, catch on
to what Coach Dale is trying to do, including Shooter (Dennis Hopper), the town
drunkard who knows “everything there is to know about the greatest sport ever invented.” Shooter’s son is on the team, which is barely
large enough to be called a team. The
boys are fighting an uphill battle, especially since the school’s star player,
Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis), has decided not to play.
What Coach Dale brings to the
team is a strong sense of discipline.
Some team members catch on more quickly than others. Eventually, as the team learn to trust their
new leader, they learn that a tiny team in the middle of nowhere can become
winners. One of the people who
appreciate the coach’s methods is Jimmy.
Are we really surprised when Jimmy changes his mind and decides to
rejoin the team? The decision, when it
comes (right on time), is borderline predictable. What makes it effective, though, is how and
why Jimmy makes his choice. Jimmy has
less dialogue in the movie than any other character, and yet in one scene we
learn quite a lot about his values and inherent decency.
This brings me to the part of
the movie I love the most. There is a
lot of footage of basketball games.
These scenes are photographed well, with clear direction, great sound
design, and an energetic score from Jerry Goldsmith. But the heart of the movie is found within
the personalities displayed on and off the basketball court. We wouldn’t care so much about the Hickory
Huskers if we didn’t get a feeling of who they are as individuals. We learn the most about Norman Dale, and a
bit about Shooter and Miss Fleener, but we get wonderful moments with all of
the characters, just enough to make us feel like we know the people of this
small town.
Let’s consider a few
moments. I like the scene when Norman
appears for his first practice with the boys and tells good ol’ boy George
(Chelcie Ross) that his “coaching days are over.” George’s response is almost instantly
hostile, yet look at how Gene Hackman delivers the next line (“Is that some sort
of threat?”). He says it quietly, but
there’s an intensity to it that shows he won’t be bullied.
The scene when Norman invites
Shooter to be an assistant coach to the team is tricky. Hackman and Hopper make it look easy as both
men wade through uncomfortable truths.
There are really two payoffs to this scene. It’s not when Shooter, in his best suit,
shows up sober at the next game. The
first payoff is after Coach Dale intentionally gets himself thrown out of the
game (again) in an effort to let Shooter use his knowledge on a coaching level,
and under Shooter’s direction the boys win the game. The payoff moment is the look on Shooter’s
face after they’ve won and his son says, “You did good, Dad.” The second payoff is a quiet scene between
father and son in the hospital where Shooter is recovering from alcoholism.
One of my favorite moments in
the movie is in the second-to-last game, when Ollie (Wade Schenck), the
smallest member of the team, has to make a couple of foul shots. An opposing player makes a snide comment to
Ollie, but Ollie’s teammate Merle (Kent Poole) steps up and offers words of
encouragement and support. This is, to
me, why they are a team of winners. Once
Coach Dale earns the respect of the team, the respect they have for each other
begins to grow and shines through in challenging moments.
The moment in the movie that
really captures what I think is being symbolized in the story is just before
the final game, when the boys and their coaches have one last locker room
chat. For me, the best part is when
Coach Dale says, “I love you guys.” That
kind of camaraderie and affection can manifest itself in all kinds of
enterprises when a group of people, however big or small, face challenges
together. It’s that sense of what teamwork is really about: support, mutual respect, looking out for each other,
never giving up. In the case of Norman
Dale and his relationship with not only the basketball team but the people of
Hickory, I think the word “team” is synonymous with “family.”
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