Glory Road (2006)
Directed by James Gartner
Written by Chris Cleveland, Bettina Gillois, Gregory Alan Howard
Starring Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Jon Voight
Release Date January 13th, 2006
Published January 12th, 2006
Filling the yearly niche of the inspirational sports movie is the historical record of a true turning point in the history of collegiate basketball. Glory Road is the story of the 1966 West Texas University Miners who upset the powerhouse Kentucky University Wildcats to become national champions. The victory was notable because Western coach Don Haskins started five African Americans, a first for any college basketball team. If the movie were as relevant as its inspiration we might have a real winner here. Unfortunately a director for hire, working under the auspices of the Bruckheimer regime, only turns out a formula picture that hits the notes of importance and never becomes important on its own.
In 1965 Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) was coaching girls high school basketball somewhere in the dust bowl of Oklahoma when he was offered the head coaching position at tiny Texas Western University. Though the job was low paying and Haskins and his wife (Emily Deschanel) would have to live in the men's dorm, with their two young children, the job was his first chance to coach Division 1 men's basketball. He could not pass up the opportunity.
Packed off to the scorching hot oil fields of El Paso Texas, Haskins had no plans on making history. He simply wanted to put a winning team on the court. The fastest way to improve the Texas Western Miners team was to do something that few other programs in the country were willing to do. Actively recruit several African American players.
By 1966 college basketball had long been integrated but there was a basketball equivalent of Jim Crow laws in place, off the books. As described by the teams long time trainer Ross Moore, (Red West) teams, especially in the south, had African American players but usually no more than one. If a team had more than one black player they were only allowed to play them one at a time unless the team was losing. Having more than two African Americans on a team was simply unheard of for a southern school.
Haskins actively recruited and ultimately acquired seven African American players including a pair of high school superstars, Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke), and David Latin (Schin A.S Kerr). Texas Western first made history for being the first NCAA division one team to have more African American players than Caucasian but, of course, as history tells us, there was plenty more history to be made. As the season went on, and team and coach melded to each other's style of play, the team was nearly undefeated and finally faced off with the legendary Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight) and his Kentucky University Wildcats for the national collegiate basketball championship.
Glory Road is a typical Disney/Bruckheimer sports film. Like The Rookie and Remember The Titans before it, Glory Road has a particular formula to execute and anything else is merely extraneous. The key to formula filmmaking is not necessarily to subvert the formula, though that would be welcome, rather it is to improve upon the formula with casting and execution. Unfortunately director Rod Gartner is unable to capitalize on either of those elements.
Gartner sticks to the job at hand which is simply moving Chris Cleveland's very basic script to the screen with minimal innovation. While the basketball scenes are impressively shot and edited and move with great speed and skill, when Glory Road leaves court it's all about tugging the heartstrings. Scenes in Glory Road play like signposts instructing the audience to sigh here, laugh here, or cry here. The script banks on the real life importance of this story to give the movie gravity and in the process never earns that gravity on its own.
The story of the Texas Western Miners of 1966 is a sports and cultural landmark deserving of an enshrinement on film but if deification is Glory Road's only ambition we might as well be watching an ESPN documentary on the real team and players and save the movie theater ticket price.
A year ago Coach Carter filled the role of the obligatory inspirational sports movie. The difference between that film and Glory Road however is that where Glory Road assumes its importance from its true story, Coach Carter earned its importance with stronger characters and better storytelling. It definitely helps that in the lead role Coach Carter had the weighty presence of Samuel L. Jackson while Glory Road lives with the less impressive Josh Lucas.
Watching Josh Lucas I get the impression of Hollywood trying to sell me something. Since his breakthrough performance in the dreadful romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama Lucas has been given a couple of opportunities to become a movie star and has demonstrated that he just doesn't have it. It's not that he is a bad actor, his performance in the little seen indie Around The Bend demonstrates his real talent, what Lucas lacks is star presence.
The rest of the cast of Glory Road struggles as much as Lucas. The young actors who make up the team are thinly drawn and fit the formula roles required of a formula film. There is the funny one, the troubled one, and the loner. With so many characters and only so much screen time the caricatured players tend to blend into one another and become forgettable.
In the role of Coach Haskins' wife Emily Deschanel seems terribly miscast. Like her more independent minded younger sister Zooey, Emily Deschanel carries an innate intelligence and presence that, in this case, overwhelms her tiny underwritten and ultimately insignificant role. Casting Deschanel in this role is a mistake not because she isn't a very talented actress, it's the opposite of that. Because Deschanel is so talented we expect more from her and are greatly disappointed that the filmmaker does not take full advantage of her talent.
Glory Road, like most uplifting Hollywoodized histories, takes liberties with its subject. While Texas Western was the first team to win the national title starting five black players, it should be noted that in 1956 San Francisco University lead by Bill Russell won the title with four African American starters. I don't mean to diminish the importance of the true story of Texas Western but as scripted the film can seem false by implying.
