A by the numbers sports film, Glory Road tells the story
of Don Haskins and his remarkable Texas Western Miners who beat the odds and
racial hatred to become part of one of the most important games in NCAA history.
Under Haskins’ leadership, the Miners would go on to redefine basketball,
and prove that African Americans are better basketball players than they are
given credit for.
THE MOVIE
You can’t get more typical than an underdog sports movie. The underdogs
face oppression, taunting and low expectations to band together as a team and
fight their way to the top. While there are some spins on this formula, the
refreshing Friday Night Lights, the brutal Any Given
Sunday, and the incredible Rudy. While it is pretty
hard to mess with this formula and result in a poor sports film, there have
been countless. Glory Road is not among these films, but it
never reaches the heights of Friday Night Lights. Instead,
the story of Don Haskins and his Miners are told in average Hollywood fashion,
very much like its producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s film Remember
the Titans.
Like Remember the Titans, Glory Road’s
main tension comes from its race relations. There is tension first between the
team, and then, as the team becomes a surprisingly success between the team
and the rest of the NCAA fans. Haskins is brought to Texas Western from high
school woman’s basketball. When asked to rebuild his team, Haskins struggles
to find funds to recruit players. After being shunned by one of the top high
school players, Haskins begins to recruit the best players he can: seven of
which wind up being African American. Facing a challenging school, and a team
that can’t coexist because of color, Haskins finds unique and intense
methods to challenge his team and bring them to the next level. Eventually a
synergy forms between the cultures, and the team’s style of play- Haskins’
defensive team and the African American’s energetic and offensive play.
Glory Road is held together by strong performances by Derek Luke, an
entertaining and barely recognizable Jon Voight and Josh Lucas. It is Lucas
that is the heart, soul and power of this film. While his performance is nothing
new, it is strong and presents a strong minded, unique coach that seemed to
care more about the statement his team was making than winning. Lucas has a
charisma that catapults the film forward, making even the harshest challenges
of Haskins toward his team seem for the best.
Ultimately, Glory Road is a decent, entertaining sports flick
that if you’ve seen once, you’ve seen numerous times. Yet, the strong
performance by Josh Lucas as the legendary coach warrants a look at the film
for sports fans.
SOUND AND VISION A nice enhanced widescreen version is coupled with a Dolby Digital
Surround Sound presentation for a nice package. While the audio is a bit underwhelming,
the crowd sometimes is not as encapsulating in the basketball scenes as it could
be. The audio is decent, but could be better. There are also French and Spanish
tracks and French and Spanish subtitles.
The widescreen version is good, but sadly is not anamorphic. Another upsetting
aspect of the visual presentation is that some bleeding is present. The red
color tones in the background become undefined at moments, distorting the visuals
in the background and at times becomes distracting to the foreground of the
image.
PACKAGING AND LAYOUT Glory Road is presented in the new style of Disney DVD amaray
cases. Like universal, Disney has adopted the side clips that seem to have no
real influence upon the protection of the DVD. Nonetheless, it is there and
basically inconsequential. The art of the DVD is a nice photoshop job combining
some of the nice shots from the film with an image of Josh Lucas as Haskins.
Plastered over the top of the package, in text nearly as large as the “Based
on a True Story” statement under the film title, is “From Jerry
Buckheimer-Producer of Remember the Titans.” While it
is expected that Remember the Titans would be used in the marketing
of this film, does it really need to be that large? Nonetheless, it is placed
fairly unobtrusively toward the top of the DVD, and does not interfere too much
with the nice cover artwork.
In a rare inclusion, there is a nice “Scene Selections/Bonus Features”
insert in the DVD. This replicates the art from the film and on the flipside
advertises some other Disney DVDs. The art of the disc replicates the front
art of the package, focusing on Lucas commanding his troops on the court. With
what seems to be a growing norm for Disney, the artwork is placed right on the
disc, distorting the color and images, and revealing the DVD barcode below.
This style is a bit jarring, and creates a duller image than regular printing
on a disc could.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Like most recent Disney releases, there are a few featurettes accompanied by
some commentaries. Some, especially the “In Their Own Words” featurette
are nice and provide a different look at the film and its topics.
• Legacy of The Bear: Highlights of Coach Haskins’ Career- The title
says it all. Haskins career is shown in a few key clips, intercut with interview
footage. This runs about four minutes and could actually bear to be a bit longer.
• Surviving Practice- This is a look at Haskins’ training regime
that is the main focus of the first act of the film. It is nice and entertaining,
providing a real-life alternative to the work in the film.
• In Their Own Words: Remembering 1966 – is a nice, in-depth walk
down memory lane with the members of the ’66 Texas Western Miners. It
is interesting to see these characters from the film as true men, all grown
up and recounting their tales of success. What could have been a simple praising
of the film results in an insightful, alternative approach to the work of Haskins
and his team. There are anecdotes shared, strategies and memories discussed,
and a few nice moments with Haskins himself. Watching Haskins talk, one can’t
help but compare Lucas’ performance to the mannerisms of the hall of fame
coach. What results is an image of a nice, feel good film that was not striving
for exactness, but simply entertainment. This runs a perfect 22 minutes in length.
• Deleted Scenes- Included in a separate menu, the deleted scenes are
nice, but are nothing special. They would have simply acted to lengthen the
films nice running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. Still, these are always nice
to see included.
• Two Audio Commentaries- Each set of commentary provides its own spin.
The first, from director James Gartner and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer deal the
production process and anecdotes from shooting. This is a nice commentary, that
is entertaining for those who want a look at the films production (something
not really covered in the other extras.) The second commentary track is of the
films writers, Chris Cleveland and Bettina Gilois. The two discuss adapting
Haskins and the Miner’s story for screen, some liberties that were taken
and the more broad strokes of the Miner’s miracle story. This is a serviceable
track that doesn’t repeat too much from the director and producer track.
It is nice to see both tracks split, so that the different discussion points
are highlighted and explored over a nice amount of time.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
A standard sports film, with the normal amount of Disney extras, Glory
Road is an entertaining, but unspectacular film. While some may say
to “rent, not buy” if one is a fan of sports films, then this is
a nice addition to a collection. For those mildly interested, a recommended
“rent it” would suffice, as Glory Road is better
than more than half of what lines the video shelves at the local Blockbuster.
With the charismatic performance of Josh Lucas, and the entertaining work of
Jon Voight, this is a by the numbers sports film that captivates for its near
2 hour running time.
Overall Film Score: B
Overall Sound and Vision Score: B-
Overall Packaging and Layout Score: B
Overall Special Features Score: B Overall DVD Score: B
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