But these problems pale in comparison to those they confront once they start winning. Certain states in the South don’t much appreciate being beaten by what they consider a “black team” and their fans resort to much more than name-calling to show it.
Eventually, Haskins decides he’s had enough of the bigotry and starts a history-making lineup that will forever change the face of college basketball.
Though director James Gartner goes to the “heartstrings” well a few too many times with a few too many young men, his players still manage to amuse and move us. Watching as one athlete’s mother arrives to make sure he makes the most of education and as another player tries to order food he’s never heard of in the campus cafeteria will have the whole family rolling.
Walt Disney Pictures
Lucas gives a strong, inspiring turn as Haskins: a bear of a man whose temper is as big as his laugh (frankly, I can’t imagine how the film would have turned out had Ben Affleck, the actor originally cast as Haskins, not started demanding more money and been dropped from the project). And the always-impressive Jon Voigt rips into his part of legendary Kentucky head coach Adolf Rupp with an arrogance that intimidates the audience as much as the Miners.
Even the actors playing the athletes, several of whom are virtual novices, provide nuance and unique spirit to their somewhat thinly drawn parts.
So what about those pesky “facts” I alluded to in the first paragraph? Unfortunately, once I discovered them, I discovered a much more complex and inspiring story than that relayed in Glory Road.
There the racism the team experiences is more subtle and more personal. There, solutions to social problems are found in success, not statements. And there the men who overcome them don’t need a white coach’s charity, only his unbiased assessment of their skills. In short, there resides the kind of movie that could never be called formulaic.
All said, Glory Road is a well-told, if predictable, film. Its only sin is that it could have been a much better one.