Note: This article was originally published in Technician on January 13, 2006.
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'Glory Road' - well traveled
Struggling underdog team? Check. New coach? Check. Intense sports showdowns? Check. Racial discrimination? Check. Budding romance? Check.
Are you feeling inspired yet?
In its latest flick, Glory Road, Disney uses all those cliches and more in its quest to make yet another true-story sports movie about a team triumphing over obstacles that will make you feel warm and fuzzy enough to spend your money on it.
The film follows Texas Western coach Don Haskins in 1966 as he takes the first all-black starting lineup to the NCAA championship. Think Remember the Titans, but with college basketball, and not as good.
Indeed, the film seems content to steal situations and characters from every other sports movie in recent memory, as if combining them together will somehow make the story even more dramatic. There are unresolved subplots lifted from everything from Coach Carter to Finding Forrester. As a result, the characters are flat and the plot feels old and tired. And you know what? It is. When was the last time you saw a sports movie that wasn't about a team that "changed everything" in one way or another?