Okay, after hearing the hype for years about how good a rah-rah-for-the-underdog movie Hoosiers is, I decided to watch the thing for myself on TV tonight. It was okay, but certainly not the gem I was hoping it would be.
But I’m not posting here to discuss the quality of the film. I’ve got a question concerning one scene that left me scratching my head up to – and after – the movie’s end.
A little less than halfway through the movie – a little before the town meeting vote business – there is a scene where the coach is drilling the team in the HS gym. At the end of the scene the camera pans to an inconspicuous spectator sitting in the top corner of the stands who has been observing the action in silence. He is a white middle-aged man in a medium-gray suit. Who was that guy? I expected him to be some pro scout, or a big time newspaper reporter. But, as far as I could tell, he never made a reappearance. Then again, the whole movie was filled with middle-aged white men who all dressed in typical midwest 1950s garb, so maybe he was introduced earlier and I never took notice of him.