… is my “feel-better” movie.
God! I love that scene where little #13 makes that sissy foul shot!
And my favorite line?
“The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass every day, but it seems to me that you’re overdue…” (or something to that effect!
)
AnyWAY… it made Gene Hackman “real” for me.
I don’t know what my point is with this post, but I know I got one!
Quasi
Best movie ever.
I could watch that thing every day. Of course, since I can play the whole thing in my mind I don’t really need to.
Run the picket fence, but don’t get caught watching the paint dry.
Strap, God wants you on the court.
And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen.
You gotta make 'em chuck it from the cheap seats.
And, I have no idea how many times I did that dribbling between chairs drill when I was 10 years old. Good grief, just give Jimmy Chitwood the ball and watch magic happen.
I love the fact that the whole movie is about the coach getting the players to trust him and work as a team, passing four times per possesion, never take a quick shot, etc . Then in the last timeout he calls a play and the players just stare at him. So he basically says “OK just give it that guy and get out of the way.”
“I’ll make it.”
Whenever I see that part, that ol’ lump starts formin’…
Kudos also to Mr. Hopper for his portrayal of Shooter!
There is also something about the lighting in the film that makes it special for me. I can’t put my finger on it, but for some reason it makes it as if I’m standing within the movie itself, not watching it on a screen.
Maybe some of you cinema gurus can explain it?
Quasi
Okay, I’m having a mental block here … what flavor gum was the other team’s star chewing in the final game?
If you’ll recall, the coach (Hackman) asked one of his players to guard another player closely: “I wanna know what flavor gum he’s chewing.” Later, the player fouls out, and there’s a brief (but utterly wonderful) scene as he comes to the bench and sits down. Hackman just looks at the kid for a moment, and then the kid says " ." (The flavor of the gum.) Hackman nods, slaps the kid good-naturedly on the knee, and gives a little half-smile. Beautiful moment-within-the-moment scene.
I wanna say it was Dentyne.
This is one of my “feel-good” movies, too (the other is Searching for Bobby Fischer).
It was indeed Dentyne. No one’s mentioned the music. Hoosiers has a good-enough-to-buy-the-score soundtrack. Listen carefully and you’ll hear it in one or two trailers/commercials a year, esepecially underdog sports movies.
Interesting trivia: Though exaggerated for dramatic purposes, it’s essentially a true story. A tiny small town school (Milan) did indeed win the Indiana state basketball championship in 1954. The actual ending of the championship game did involve giving the ball to the team’s star (Bobby Plump), but was actually more dramatic than in the film. With the game tied at 30 (Milan played a spread, slow-down offense, trapping on defense, and patiently waiting minutes at a time for huge Muncie to make a mistake), Plump took posession of the ball and perfomed a one-man stall for the final two minutes, sinking a jumper from downtown with 3 seconds to go.
…but the reason was that I was watching the movie and couldn’t answer till now. Anyway, you score two points for that correct answer (guess).
Interesting story, Six. Thanks!
Quasi
Good cinematography. The exterior shots in of the Indiana countryside are gorgeous.
I happened to have just bought this on DVD last week and watched it tonight. First time I’ve seen it in years. It really holds up; great acting, really well shot, and a wonderful script. It’s a shame about the soundtrack, though. A synth-pop soundtrack might have seemed like a good idea in 1986, but oh god, it seems out of place now.
I just love the scenes showing the vast caravans going to all of the games. As a basketball player with small town connections I know just how true that is and just how excited a town can get over a team doing really well.
At the same time, I also understand how everyone in the town thinks they know what is best when it comes to the team. That movie really hit the mark on all counts and that’s why I think it will remain at the top of the sport movie pantheon.
I think it’s because they went for a very natural look when they lit the scenes. The interiors aren’t dazzeling bright. Look at Shooters house or even the games. And of course the exteriors don’t go for dramatic sunsets. It’s all grey winter skys.
This is definetly one of the best sports movies.
Mullinator, I have to agree. As you can see, I live in Indy - where the state finals take place each year. The finals were just this last weekend, and there were several teams featured on the news. One of the teams came from a small town of about 1,700. They bought 2,000 tickets! The mayor mentioned he might have to shut off the one traffic light.
Unfortunately, a story like Hoosiers can never happen again. A couple years back, they divided the high schools into divisions, with a total of 5 state champions each year. The playoff system in the movie harkoned back to a time when there was only one winner in the state each year, and the final round of playoffs lasted only one weekend - the first two games were played on the same day.