Camino a la gloria

Glory Road is a very entertaining movie if you are will to overlook its many inaccuracies. The movie would make the viewer think that Coach Haskins came to TWC and recruited a national championship caliber team in his first year as a collegiate coach. The truth is that Coach Haskins had been at TWC for 3 or 4 years before the national championship year and that there were several black players already at TWC including Nolan Richardson. Haskins also recruited Jim Barnes before the championship year and teams that Barnes played on may have been better than the championship team.

The film also take too many liberties with the games that were played during the championship year. The first game of the year was not a nail biter as the film shows but almost a 50 point blowout. The film shows that Iowa led TWC most of the game. The Iowa game was never close and certainly was no buzzer beater. The fact is that TWC only played a handful of games that were close that year, most notably against New Mexico and then in the NCAA Tournament against Cincy and Kansas.

The most disappointing inaccuracy shown in the film was the final game against Kentucky. Kentucky only led briefly in the game and TWC had as much as an 11 point lead in the 2nd half. TWC was not behind when Bobby Joe Hill stole the ball twice in the first half. The two steals allowed TWC to expand its lead to 5 points and set the tone for the rest of the game. I know the producers of the movie had to have a more exciting finish to keep the audience excited but the truth is that the game was never much in doubt. If anyone has seen the actual game film that exists, you will see a poorly played offensive game by both teams and an outstanding defensive effort by TWC. The movie should have paid more time on Coach Haskins' three guard strategy to counter Kentucky's fast break offense.

Glory Road is an inspirational movie but not a very accurate movie if you know the history of TWC. See the movie if you want to watch a feel good movie but not if you are looking for sports fact.

This 2 hour movie is pretty lackluster for the first 50 minutes or so. Then it picks up and the intensity builds and builds right to the end. It's simply one of those great sports movie that's really well done.

This is the story based on one of the most historic series of games in basketball history. A "minor" coach hired is hired to coach an equally "minor" Texas basketball team - but decides to do something different. He hires black players to play ... the year is 1965.

Because it's based on true events it has an immediate interest value. The fact that it deals with the colorblind "win or lose" dictum of sports coupled with racial tensions makes it all the more potentially interesting.

The movie delivers the goods: great performances and a lot of sports suspense. However, you have give it chance - the first one forth of the show is kind of slow.

For basketball fans and general audiences alike - this is a good movie worth checking out.

First off, it was just too similar to remember the titans, but I liked that movie two. The only thing that bothered me about this movie was that removal of some important facts.

Texas Western had three Black Players on the team already, upon Don Haskin's Arrival. Don Haskin's wasn't the sole person leading a movement to recruit black players. In their conference, they played many teams with black players.

Loyola-Chicago, while not fielding 5 black starters, fielded four of them and won the championship in 1963. So even though Texas Western was the first team to win with all black starters, other primarily black teams have won prior.

At the end of the movie, they talk about how people felt black players could never be as good as white players. Even as the movie shows, the all-American player they went against (I believe he was from University of Texas) was Black. The NCAA recognized that player as one of the best players in the sport.

Again, it was a good movie, but I felt a little let down that they manipulated the story a tad for the sake of entertainment.

In 1965, the coach of the high school girl basketball team Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) is invited by the Texas Western Miners to be their coach. Despite the lack of budget, Haskins sees the chance to dispute the NCAA and moves with his wife and children to the college dormitory. He recruits seven talented and rejected black players to play with five Caucasian players and formed a legendary team that wined the 1966 national championship against the powerful Kentucky.

"Glory Road" is an engaging film with a great message based on a true story. In a period when the racism was explicit in the USA, Don Haskins challenged many people with his team of black players implementing discipline and training and winning the NCAA against all the odds. The film shows the difficulties and prejudice the players were submitted and how they superseded all the relationship problems proving that they were equal to (or even better than) the white players. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Estrada para a Glória" ("Road to the Glory")

Josh Lucas stars in "Glory Road," a 2006 Disney film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

The film purports to tell the true story of Don Haskins, the basketball coach led the Texas Western Miners to a National Championship victory in 1966.

From what I know, there is a lot of dramatic license taken here, though it remains an inspiring story, and the basketball game played at the championships was very exciting. Also, at the end of the film, there are interviews with the real-life players and with Haskins himself as the credits are rolling.

Haskins recruited players with no regard to color, forming a team with 7 blacks and 5 white players. He wasn't the first person to have black players on a team. I think what made him stand out were the numbers and the fact that at the championship, the starters were black and everyone on the Kentucky team was white.

The film shows Haskins as an extremely tough coach, and his insistence that there be no "showboating" However, during a losing game (and I have no idea if this is true) one of the black players told Haskins that they should be allowed to play "their game" which included some showboating, I guess. Haskins said okay and the team went on to win.

In the championship game, they went up against Kentucky, coached by Ed Rupp (Jon Voight) who is portrayed as a racist. However, he went on to draft black players and is considered one of the greatest coaches in college basketball.

Josh Lucas plays Haskins, and he does a great job as a tough, determined coach. He was the reason I rented this film as I liked him on his ill-fated TV show, The Firm. He really carries this movie. Jon Voight, Emily Deschanel (Haskins' wife) have small roles as the focus is on the team players.

The actors on the team all did a wonderful job. The film shows the hatred and prejudice against them but also the eventual acceptance. In the film, there are problems within the team when the new players first arrived, though I understand that wasn't really the case.

Like all of these underdog films, it's inspiring with exciting, moving, and dramatic moments. Recommended.