Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

jb_campo Hoosiers is one of the best high school sports films ever made. Made me think of Bobby Knight because the story follows a washed up coach Norman Dale (Hackman) who gets one last chance to coach because of a personal friendship with the principal at Hickory HS. Like Knight, Hackman lost his job because of anger problems. He comes to Hickory to seek redemption.Hoosiers excels at so many levels. The cinematography is beautiful and breathtaking, capturing the local community and nature with wonderful shots of being alone in mid America. Hackman also gets isolated when he lets the locals know in no uncertain terms that HE is the coach, not them, and that they better let him be. Hackman delivers a masterful performance with his smiles and easygoing yet tough exterior. He uses charm to get his way, but he uses his tough character to teach the boys that he's serious about coaching them to be great.Barbara Hershey's character is more complex. A local who left and came back. She seems stuck in the mud, at time literally, in this little community, this little school of 84 kids. Never going anywhere. Makes you kind of think of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. Hershey is not as good an actor as Hackman by any stretch, and she had trouble keeping up with him. Also, the screenplay with their relationship left me wondering if that part made any sense. Hackman guides the team with help from a recovering drunk played wonderfully by a young Dennis Hopper as Scooter. He's terrific, and offers another challenge for Hackman to overcome, especially because his son is one of the stars on the team.The team improves when Jimmy rejoins the team after a personal tragedy. He's a star and immediately lifts the entire town. They fight and claw and battle and give it their all. Can they go as far as they are challenged to go?Like MacFarland or Friday Night Lights or other sports comeback flicks, this one will leave you cheering. I think the end could have been a bit longer and more played out. Plus the Hershey/Hackman relationship could have been revised a bit. Otherwise - great film. A classic basketball film that will have you cheering. Enjoy.

classicsoncall Like a lot of sports movies, this one has less to do with the game being represented than it does about relationships, discipline, teamwork, finding the good in somebody, and ultimately, redemption. Perhaps that's why a lot of reviewers who are negative on the picture see it only as a cliché ridden story in which the underdog comes out on top as was expected all along. Gene Hackman makes his character Norman Dale the kind of coach that all high school players of any sport would be proud to know and strive for. One that measures success by the hard work and perseverance that goes into boring, repetitive practice that produces successful shots, kicks, and goals into something that becomes second nature. I was particularly impressed by the scene in which Coach Dale has himself ejected from a game in order to help his assistant coach Shooter (Dennis Hopper) regain a measure of self respect and dignity, a selfless gesture that takes more character than most bystanders at a local ball game might appreciate. That simple sacrifice in turn helps bring an alcoholic father back into the good graces of his own son. The full circle nature of these singular moments have a way of reverberating throughout a school and community at large, and this story shows how it can be done. So once more, a basketball story that's more than just basketball, but about making one's way in life.Also cool to see that Purple People Eater guy Sheb Wooley as the Hickory High School principal. I didn't recognize him wearing a suit and tie and not riding a horse.

evening1 Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that you can't be made to feel inferior without your own consent.Gene Hackman proves the words true as a coach from out of town whom the small-minded dismiss as washed-out and a has-been. He doesn't buy into the put-downs and winds up leading his rural Indiana basketball team to victory in this true-life tale dating to 1954. This may be one of those rare sports films that would interest even to those who don't follow the game. It's fairly easy to understand the court action, and it's enjoyable to savor the pretty scenes of Indiana along the way.Some time is wasted on internecine spats and a few too many cheer-leading scenes but the slow-to-simmer romance between Hackman and Barbara Hershey is believable. I remember seeing this ages ago in the theater. It stands up pretty well to time.

Raoul Duke I expect this review will be a bit controversial to some. I am going to say something that some of you will agree with and well will outrage some as well. What is this magic word that will divide the hopefully two people who see this at some point before this blog disappears, well it is "OVER RATED !!!!!!!!!". I hated this movie. I thought the very 80's theme music sucked, I thought Dennis Hopper who got an Oscar nod for this over acted. I thought the love interest angle involving Barbara Hershey and Gene Hackman was obvious. Every thing from the towns people hating newly arrived basketball coach "Gene Hackman" , to the local phenom stepping up to the figuritive plate just at the right moment, to the incredible and subtlety racist ending was obvious. Have you said the phrase "this thing just writes itself" well the chuckleheads who got the green light to do this must have uttered that constantly as they wrote this piece of garbage. Oh and by the way I know I forgot to say it earlier but "hoosiers" is an Oscar nominated film about a basketball team that wins the big game in the 1950's and was made in 1986. You can skip this one "over rated" "over rated" "over rated"!