Believe in Me

There has been much written about this movie here so I don't need to say much except, in my opinion, this is a GREAT movie and should be seen by many. Especially families and young girls who aspire to play sports. I've watched it twice. The story line, the actors and directing are clearly professional and worthy of much credit for the job they did. The fact that many parts of this are true increases the value of the film. I've been in many high school gyms like those featured in this movie and it felt very real to me; both the crowd reaction, the plays on the court and the sense the you were REALLY watching a high school girls basketball game and not a movie.

When I first heard about this movie what intrigued me most was that it was about a legendary basketball coach from Oklahoma...my home state. At first I thought it might be a Hoosier's formula movie, but after watching it for the first time, I realized that it stood on its own merits as a great story about dedication, trust, and how believing in yourself and having someone else believe in you can transform lives to inspirational levels. It is a moving story where a rag-tag group of small-town girls basketball players begin to believe in themselves because their coach believed in them. It is one of those "stand up and cheer" movies that will leave you feeling inspired...you will find yourself cheering for those girls.

met young actress Anne in Knoxville where she was attending a LadyVols practice after going to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame with her family- such a gorgeous young woman and so down to earth, AND a special actress~ This is an interesting story especially as it is true. Was interested to talk to young people after the movie who had no idea that "girls couldn't play" not so long ago. We have definitely come a long long way!

As far as the acting, they were pretty good but young actress Anne stood out- perhaps because of the deep personal meaning this movie had for her (she is a former player- coached by her dad- sis also former player coached by dad- AND mom and grammama both played!!)

It is clear to see the whole family is special. We all had to run down and see the movie and it is great! excellent time spent~ highly recommend it esp if you are into women's bb or sports herstory~

Before PCSing to Japan, my family and I were delighted to serve as extras in the shooting of this movie filmed, in part, in Clovis and Portales, New Mexico.

We were pleasantly surprised and impressed with the professionalism and yet the down to earth manner in which the cast and crew conducted themselves during the entire "shoot" in New Mexico. The character and demeanor of the entire cast and crew, off screen, is reflected in the heartwarming finished product. This is a film that we can highly recommend for all ages, as it is based upon factual events, exciting and at times riveting in its action.

We anxiously await the public release of this film.

I just saw a screening of this independent film at the Santa Barbara film festival. The screenplay is an adaptation of a novel written for juveniles, Brief Garland, by Harold Keith, which was first published in 1974.

The film focuses on the character of the coach of a girls' basketball team in a small town in western Oklahoma during his first years at the school in 1964-66. He arrives to coach the boys team, but is maneuvered into the coaching job for the girls. Over the course of the film, he learns how to coach the girls, and helps develop a competitive team at a school where girls' basketball had never been supported before.

I watched the film with particular interest because I played high school basketball in 1964-68 in Tennessee, where, as in Oklahoma, we played the six-on-six half-court game that most girls played until after Title IX was passed in 1972. I was disappointed to see that the girls in the film played the full-court five-on-five game, which is slower, messier, and lower-scoring than the half-court game we played. By playing with fewer players, the court was less crowded, and girls had more freedom to drive to the basket. Since defenders made long passes to move the ball upcourt to the offensive team, the speed from end to end was actually faster than the boys' game!!

Had the film's auteur truly appreciated the game that the heroines of the film actually played in the sixties, he may have created an even more exciting film, with less forced editing to simulate speed and grace.

I know, I know, you don't believe me. Oh well . . . .