Le grand défi

Gene Hackman gave his usual Oscar-winning performance while Dennis Hopper was simply outstanding. What can you say about a feel good movie like this. I've always enjoyed happy ending and this was one of the best. It almost made me feel like I wanted to be a basketball fan in Indiana in 1951. This movie left me feeling that I wanted to watch it again (I've already seen it five times). That's what great movies do to you, they force you to keep coming back. For me, Patton and The Sting were like that. I've seen Patton 15 times and The Sting at least 10. That's why I purchased Hoosiers instead of renting it. I've recommended it to my friends so they can derive the same satisfaction from it that I did. It helps to be a sports fan but not necessarily because this movie was a metaphor for life. It was truly a David versus Goliath-type story.

This film is primarily about Basketball, but don't let that fool you, I have no interest in the game but I was yanked into it and was feeling the passion of the coach, players and the town all the way through.

The underlying thread is of forgiveness and second chances. You never really know what was behind the need for these second chances, but that doesn't matter, you feel for these people, and a lot of that is to do with Gene Hackman.

One of my favourite actors, Hackman pulls off a fantastic performance here, with an amazing backup from Dennis Hopper. What a combination.

Passion, guts, determination, and without too much of a sickly taste in the mouth. A lovely film to watch.

A movie that defines the idea of the underdogs rising to meet the challenge of greatness, Hoosiers gives the audience something to cheer for. A tough-as-nails coach with a heart of gold, a team of farmboys with dreams of making it to the state finals, a small town pinning their hopes on their little high school - the movie has it all. It is well-paced, and is not overladen with side-plots and frivolities. There are no doped-up, foul-mouthed players, no need for gratuitous "party hearty" shots of the players behaving like hedonists or abusing their opponents. Some sports movies may trade in that stock and be considered "great" for it; this film doesn't and it's better for it. Superbly cast, superbly acted, and superbly executed. A worthy addition to the library of any sports film fan.

"Hoosiers" is a film that feels like it was made during Hollywood's Golden Age. The movie is somewhat based on the true story of a small Indiana high school that defied the odds in 1952 and won the state basketball championship. Gene Hackman is the mysterious, hard-nosed coach that must win at all costs. However, he has a secret from his past that could tear the team apart. Hackman does some of the best work of his storied career here. His character is reminiscent of his Oscar-winning turn in "The French Connection" some 15 years earlier. Barbara Hershey is super as usual as one of the school teachers in town. Dennis Hopper shines the most in his greatest screen role. He received his lone Oscar-nomination here by playing a drunken father of one of Hackman's players. "Hoosiers" is very similar to "The Last Picture Show" in its ability to show small-town life at its most realistic. It is also a film that will have the whole audience cheering, ala "Rocky". Easily the best basketball film ever made and one of the best, and most under-rated, films of the 1980s. 5 stars out of 5.

This movie is authentic nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the mid-west in the 50's and 60's. It's what life looked like when I myself "came down to this planet" in the late 1940's and experienced my teens in the 60's.

The old school with high ceilings and gleaming wooden floors, the gyms with the gold-toned wall-tiles, even the hospital scene with the nurse in her starched white uniform -- all evoke a peculiar beauty that you no longer find today.

There is even a scene where a young teen girl yells "NO!" to an unjust referee call, and her pointy glasses and pony tail look so much like me back then, it feels like a glimpse into a parallel dimension.

I'd say this is a must-see experience for people my age -- although all ages can thoroughly enjoy the basketball action.

I'm glad for the social progress since then. But there is a "peculiar beauty" from those times that is starkly missing today.