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Visitors Review

Harvey S. Karten 2013-05-18 13:44:08

A fine, family-friendly pic about a white coach who demands perfection from his mostly black basketball team.

2013-05-18 09:10:30

Love Josh Lucas

This review is from: Glory Road (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) Love Josh, but not crazy about a lot of his movie choices. This film is one I watch over and over and it can be watched by basketball/sports fans of all age groups. Hardly any profanity, violence and definitely no sex. The subject matter, race, is dealt with in a comfortable manner, IMHO.Unfortunately, it's not available to download, so I had t/buy the physical DVD.

2013-04-21 16:22:23

GLORY ROAD - WHY SO EXPENSIVE

Im sure that this movie is a great view and quite inspiring but why is it soooo darn expensive ? At 29.99, I believe I could get a TV series on DVD?

luckyjen810 2013-04-21 01:55:45

great film, very entertaining

This is film is very entertaining and even those who don't like sportsmovies will like this one. This is just one way to shed some light onthe history of minority athletes in sports. I believe it's a great ideafor movies to show different perspectives on life. The actors are allgreat in this film. While Derek Luke is wonderful, I'm beginning tothink he might be typecast. . .he was in Friday Night Lights as afootball player. Either way, the acting from on the unknown actors aregreat considering they haven't really been in anything else. Someoneposted on how angry there were about finding out that some of thehatred scenes were made up or whatever. Please, maybe it wasn't everreported by people from that time, but don't deny that it neverhappened. Movies and shows these days use the phrase "inspired by atrue story", so producers and directors don't get in trouble forinaccuracies For those who keep griping about the inaccuracies, I sayif you want all the facts, then go watch a documentary. This is amovie. . .JUST A MOVIE. A great one nonetheless.

Bill Muller 2013-04-17 08:23:39

By knocking the edges off Glory Road, Bruckheimer has turned a raw, compelling story into bland pudding.

2013-04-17 05:26:55

Glory Road - Fact and Fiction

For several years now, I have been anxiously awaiting release of the movie, "Glory Road", about the 1966 Texas Western basketball team that won the NCAA championship. I had played basketball at Texas Western 3 years before Coach Haskins arrived and followed them closely over the years. I had played against a Coach Haskin's team in high school and had almost went to Oklahoma State University, where Coach Haskins had played. Over the years, I had attended numerous Texas Western reunions and Coach Haskins' birthday celebrations. I was very excited to see a movie about a school and a man I deeply respect. I wasn't sure what to expect, since most movies "based on actual events" are pretty loose with the facts. Initially, I found myself caught up in details and being critical of almost every scene. It seemed that 90% of everything I saw was totally inaccurate. The court where all the practice took place wasn't anything like the actual old Memorial Gym - we didn't have seating, a high ceiling, etc. The dorm in the movie wasn't the actual athletic dorm - they had used the dorm building next door. The cafeteria wasn't co-ed - it was for male ball players only. The family didn't walk down hallways with athletes running around in towels - the players lived on the 2nd and 3rd floors and the coach's quarters were on the 1st floor. Coach Haskins had coached a high school girls team, but that was his very first coaching job and he had several subsequent coaching jobs, all very successful. The movie leads you believe that Coach Haskins showed up and the next year, won the national championship. The 1966 team wasn't the first time he had taken Texas Western to the NCAA playoffs - they had been in the tournament previously in 1963 and 1964, losing in the Midwest regional. And it took him 4 years to recruit and develop the team. Black ball players weren't anything new to Texas Western - in fact, it was the first Division 1 school in a Southern State to have black scholarship players and that was way back in the early 1950's. I played with 2 black players, who both happened to be from my home town of Amarillo and one of whom was selected for the "Little All America' team. Texas Western hadn't been a national powerhouse team, but they had a history of some excellent teams over the years and had won the tough Border Conference several times. El Paso wasn't some backward, bigoted Texas "cow town" - it was large, very cosmopolitan and with a long history of multi cultures and races. The first game of the 1966 season against Eastern New Mexico wasn't anything like the movie version, barely winning, players with heads hung low, etc. - it was total blow out, with the Miners winning by 51 points, 89 - 38. And their only loss of the season in Seattle wasn't because the team didn't play together with black players not passing the ball to the white players, etc. This movie version was pure Hollywood bunk. It was lost due to home town officiating. It was so bad, that the president of the University of Seattle sent a personal letter of apology to the President of Texas Western saying that he and the university were embarrassed that such a thing had happened. Ironically, the following year, these same 2 teams played each other in the Midwest NCAA regional with Texas Western winning 62 - 54. As I continued watching the movie, I was really becoming discouraged and was thinking it was going to be another Hollywood farce. But then I started thinking about the primary message of the movie. Winning the national championship game with all black players changed college and professional sports. And what the team went though to accomplish this was not overstated. I watched the movie several more times and although the movie folks took a lot of "liberties" in an effort to get the main theme across, I enjoyed it more each time. My only real complaint is that the movie didn't even scratch the surface on what Coach Haskins is all about. He is bigger than life, tough as nails, a total task master and totally down to earth. And talk about competitive - he did things in practice and in games that make Bobby Knight look like a girl scout. And Bobby Knight just might agree - they are the best of friends and decades long time hunting and fishing buddies. If you have an opportunity to watch the movie, please do so. It is a piece of history that we should never forget.And if you want to know about the REAL Coach Haskins, Texas Western (UTEP) and the championship team, read the book "Glory Road". It's a solid "5 star" read.

disdressed12 2013-04-14 23:52:33

less preachy and schmaltzy than most Disney movie in the 'based on a true story'genre

this is a Disney movie 'based on real events',which means the eventsand the characters are real,but there was probably a lot of dramaticlicense taken to make it more interesting for audiences.although a lotof times i find Disney movies of the 'based on a true story' genreoverly schmaltzy and preachy,i didn't find that here.it is an ainspirational story,don't get me wrong.but it's more restrained thanusual.this is really,odd,since it is a Jerry Bruckheimer production.iliked the movie,for the most part.i found the dramatic moments moreinteresting and entertaining than the basketball sequences.most ofthose i found underwhelming,except for the last one.of course,the movieis predictable.it is after all an underdog story,so i wouldn't faultanyone for that.the acting is good for the most part.the only thing iwould say in the regard is that Josh Lucas,although good in his role asthe basketball coach,doesn't always come across as having as muchpassion as his character should have.that could just be me though. ialso didn't that this movie was quite as exciting as other movies ofthe genre.these are just minor issues though.it's still a goodmovie,though. for me,"Glory Road" is a 7/10

2013-04-14 15:39:49

Familiar plot, but excellently accomplished...

Perhaps I have a soft spot for this film because when Texas Western won the NCAA basketball title in the mid-1960's, with an all-black starting five against Kentucky, which was all-white, all the time, I had just emerged from racism to a more tolerant point of view. I was nearing the end of my college days, after all, and full of LBJ's War on Poverty and Great Society ideas. I lived in New Jersey then and never dreamed I would move to New Mexico in 1971 and live within 200 miles of El Paso all these years. The tale of Don Haskins and his black-dominated team that changed college basketball forever is of course, somewhat condensed, somewhat fictionalized, and somewhat over-dramatized...it's what has to be done to make a commercial film. The departures from the plain truth, however, do not hamper the entertainment in this two-hour story. I say it is well-acted, well-directed, well-written and well-shot, and along with "Friday Night Lights" (the movie) one of the two best sports films of the past decade. No general sports fan should miss it.

Neil Turner 2013-04-08 07:46:33

An Insightful Lesson in History

All March Madness means to me is that I probably have to extend therecording time for 60 Minutes on my DVR because there will probably besome basketball game running overtime when the program is to start.Glory Road played the other night on a cable channel. I decided towatch it again, and it reminded me that you can even hate basketball -which I pretty much do - and still really enjoy this film. The actualgame of basketball has very little to do with what makes Glory Road amust-see film - especially for the younger generations for this is atrue story of how prejudice is overcome by principle and strong will.Those who do know of the basketball season depicted in Glory Road willknow of Don Haskins who was the coach at Texas Western College (now theUniversity of Texas at El Paso). Texas Western was one of the firstsouthern colleges to integrate its sports teams, and the finalchampionship game of the 1966 season was the first in which allstarting players were Black.Haskins is depicted as a strong-willed man set upon his provedstrategies as a coach who learns some new things from the cocky Blackplayers recruited to bring life to a failing team. He is played by JoshLucas who gives us a man who might look young and unsure on the outsidebut is strongly willed and principled. Haskins was thirty-five at thetime of the game as was Lucas at the making of the film making himperfect for the part.Another strong, though short, performance in the film is by Jon Voightas Adolph Rupp, the opposing coach in the NCAA Championship game. Ruppwas sixty-one at the time of the game and noted as one of the greatestcoaches of all time. Voight's depiction of Rupp as a man of an earliergeneration disdainful of a young coach breaking the rules and the colorbarrier is chilling.If you haven't had the opportunity to see Glory Road, I recommend aviewing for it is an inspirational sports story as well as aninsightful lesson in history. If you have seen it, take some time fromwatching The Big Dance and watch it again.

nateuqzx 2013-04-07 11:18:20

good film

Walking Down Glory Road.I just finished watching the film glory road it's a sport/dramabasketball movie with a mostly black players which a lot of peopledidn't like because it was a very racist time in the 1960's I am goingto give you my opinion on this film.Don Haskins was trance furred to a new basket ball team (Texas Miners)He had to choose new players because the original team was not good atall. There were a lot of black players in the team and the publicdidn't like that very much. They were a the most winning team for mostof the season then some one wrote racist term on the walls of therehotel rooms which bring the black players down and they lost a game.Which made Don Haskins very angry because they didn't play as a team.Josh Lucas as Don Haskins. He fitted in well with his character andscene in the locker room was one of my top favorite with hisperformance in this film. Derik Luke as bobby Joe Hill. Showed hepassion for basket ball very well even though he had a heart problem hestill wanted to play basketball he risked his life for the team. AustinNicholas as Jerry Armstrong. Jon Adolph Rupp. Even Jones as Moe Lba. AlShear. Did a good job as Nevil Shed he showed a strong character forhis race and passion for basket ball. He failed at times as an actor insome if his scenes. When the teams were playing there games all the shot were set up andcheese because they are all swishes which in a real basketball theywould get it of the back board of the ring. The locker room scene wasgood because they showed grate emotions. The message that I got across that the black player (black people) werethe minority in that year (1960's to 1970's.) which was not a goodthing for the black people. So show more respect to people of allraces. a I would recommend the movie to teenagers up ward. Younger kidswouldn't get the story as well as a more mature person. M would be theage that would be able to get the story and the message.Movie Rating is B. star rating ***. Number rating 4.0

Chuck Paugh 2013-04-05 02:30:17

Stick to history don't distort it to "feel good"

Living in El Paso TX waiting for friends to finish their time servingin the Army at Fort Bliss leaves me a lot of time to study localculture and history in this border town, and I spend a lot of timegoing to the movies.Recently, Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer made a film based on atrue story about a small time basketball coach who, in 1966, took thelowly Texas Westerns to the NCAA championship. Called "Glory Road"tells the story of Don Haskins -- the first college basketball coach tointegrate his team with African-American players causing an immediatefirestorm of controversy. The film explores Haskins's struggles, alongwith those of his team as they battle for ultimate victory.Did you like "Remember the Titans?" I mean really like it? Becauseproducer Jerry Bruckheimer and the Walt Disney Corporation have plowedthrough the annals of sports history to serve up almost the exact samestory, this time taking their dubious intentions to the world ofcollege basketball. I wasn't a fan of "Titans;" I found the film aninsufferable, simplistic creation that made a mockery of real-liferacism in the 1960s and "Road" simply reheats the same stew.Bruckheimer has chosen James Gartner to make his directing debut with"Road," and the newcomer seems like an apt choice, since this a filmthat doesn't require much direction. "Road" is formula at its mostpoisonous, with Gartner mechanically visualizing the Crayola script,regardless of how ridiculous the film gets."Road" is grabbing at inspirational and heart-warming messages, but thescreenplay is entirely obnoxious, plugging up any honest thrill of thisstory with appalling caricatures of Caucasians (who wave Confederateflags at the final game), one-dimensional supporting roles (EmilyDeschanel, as Haskins's wife, is given nothing to play), and bestowingimmediate sainthood on any black character within striking distance.The script even gives one player a heart defect for him to overcome,just to jackhammer home the point that these guys had everythingagainst them. There is simply nothing resembling real life in the film,just basic cable motivations and infantile storytelling that somehowlucked itself into a big screen release pattern and budget. I can'tfault Bruckheimer for softening the story, but in his pursuit to make afilm that has vicious mass appeal, he's bled the humanity and emotionalweight completely out of this significant historical achievement.If it wasn't for Josh Lucas's performance as Haskins, there wouldn't beanything in "Road" to recommend. Lucas has the perfect idea to ignorethe rest of the movie, and focus deeply on the scorching passionHaskins has for the game. Lucas is completely authentic in the role,and adds to the electricity of the repetitive game sequences with hisfiery courtside demeanor. Of course, he still has to deal with thescript's obsession with never-ending inspirational speeches (a DerekLuke specialty) and grotesque paint-by-numbers plotting, but he's goodhere, against all the odds.What really angers about "Road" is the absence of a true team portraitfor the Texas Westerns. By only focusing in on the black members,Gartner has done a great disservice to the other athletes who helpeddefine the team's winning season. "Road" provides the faintest ofcharacterizations for these players, only calling them in tocontinually diminish their role in the team's importance, or to usethem as cartoons to help underscore their differences in skin color.What a shame. To confuse matters more, "Road" closes with a realsnapshot of the winning team. In the picture, we see the whole squad,standing together proud and victorious, bringing on one and onlythought: who were those white and Hispanic dudes?

chill-61 2013-04-05 00:51:12

Glory Road's History of TWC and Games Inaccurate

Glory Road is a very entertaining movie if you are will to overlook itsmany inaccuracies. The movie would make the viewer think that CoachHaskins came to TWC and recruited a national championship caliber teamin his first year as a collegiate coach. The truth is that CoachHaskins had been at TWC for 3 or 4 years before the nationalchampionship year and that there were several black players already atTWC including Nolan Richardson. Haskins also recruited Jim Barnesbefore the championship year and teams that Barnes played on may havebeen better than the championship team.The film also take too many liberties with the games that were playedduring the championship year. The first game of the year was not a nailbiter as the film shows but almost a 50 point blowout. The film showsthat Iowa led TWC most of the game. The Iowa game was never close andcertainly was no buzzer beater. The fact is that TWC only played ahandful of games that were close that year, most notably against NewMexico and then in the NCAA Tournament against Cincy and Kansas.The most disappointing inaccuracy shown in the film was the final gameagainst Kentucky. Kentucky only led briefly in the game and TWC had asmuch as an 11 point lead in the 2nd half. TWC was not behind when BobbyJoe Hill stole the ball twice in the first half. The two steals allowedTWC to expand its lead to 5 points and set the tone for the rest of thegame. I know the producers of the movie had to have a more excitingfinish to keep the audience excited but the truth is that the game wasnever much in doubt. If anyone has seen the actual game film thatexists, you will see a poorly played offensive game by both teams andan outstanding defensive effort by TWC. The movie should have paid moretime on Coach Haskins' three guard strategy to counter Kentucky's fastbreak offense.Glory Road is an inspirational movie but not a very accurate movie ifyou know the history of TWC. See the movie if you want to watch a feelgood movie but not if you are looking for sports fact.

2013-03-29 20:31:31

Great movie

This review is from: Glory Road (Full Screen Edition) (DVD) This is a great movie.....it is a "must see". It shows what determination can do

Annlee Ellingson 2013-03-29 16:37:25

First-time director James Gartner fluidly captures the emotional crests and nadirs of such pivotal match-ups.

Lucas Ellis 2013-03-29 10:58:10

Entertaining, but focuses way too much on the racism when it should be focusing on the game.

When a women's high school basketball coach named Don Haskins (JoshLucas) is offered a position as a division 1 men's basketball coach fora small Texas Western school in 1965, he will stop at nothing towin…even recruiting colored basketball players that no one else wanted.Glory Road did a good job on many things but lacked everything elseneeded to make it an outstanding film. What I did like about the filmwas that it was the first college basketball film made in a long timeand it actually did something that I have never seen in a sports filmand that is the recruiting process which I found to be original andentertaining. I found it to be quite interesting to see the coach'spoint of view on winning, but found the deal on racism to be a littleover-eccentric. I didn't understand why fans had problems with three orfour colored players on the team if some opposing team's best playerswere colored. The message of the film didn't really come together verywell.The acting of the film was overall mediocre. Josh Lucas did not impresswith me with his first star dramatic role at all. He just kind offlowed with the movie without actually making a difference in the film.Derek Luke also fell short of his last performance in Friday NightLights which was incredible and Jon Voight also gave a pretty weakperformance. Overall, the film was just an average film that deserves arecommendation for its entertainment value.I recommend this film.

2013-03-28 23:34:24

Pleased with selection

This review is from: Glory Road (Full Screen Edition) (DVD) The ordering processing was excellent and I received it without any problems. The DVD that was ordered was in great condition and had no problems. Will definitely order again.

noralee 2013-03-27 21:44:28

By The Numbers Supposed Inspirational Moment of Sports History

Even with never having seen "Remember the Titans," "Coach Carter,""Miracle," or even "Hoosiers," etc. etc. I can still tell that "GloryRoad" is a pretty much by the numbers "based on a true story" intendedto be an inspirational moment of sports history. The best moments are those that are unique to this individual portraitof an ambitious small college basketball coach who makes the somewhatcynical decision just to win by exponentially integrating NCAA gamesthrough the recruitment and playing of black players in the early'60's. The tour of Northern and inner city neighborhoods, such as Gary,Houston and the South Bronx, and how he cajoles them and their familiesin to coming to El Paso is both entertaining and sociologicallyrevealing of class issues at the time. I particularly liked a commentthat the best job possibilities a black basketball prodigy had at thetime was to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. But there are only the most trivial token efforts made to put any ofthis in historical context with brief flashes of TV news about thecivil rights movement and the Viet Nam War, with passing references toblack power, Martin Luther King and Elijah Mohammed. We hear lots ofMotown music and occasional gospel which I guess is the source of thetitle that other wise eluded me (but "People Get Ready" twice?), thoughvery little country or Latin music despite the Tex Mex locale. We doget some rueful acknowledgment that this is a side light sport in Texascompared to football, as we saw in "Friday Night Lights."We get some of the usual threats scenes with racists of the period,both alumni supporters and on the road in the South -- though, oddly,none in El Paso. There is one more unusual scene where the whiteplayers somewhat uncomfortably try to participate in a black majorityparty; some of the best dialogs are these gingerly getting to know youblack/white interchanges. Otherwise we see very little of their collegelife, but then playing college ball really is a full-time job. I was hoping for some ironic awareness that as well as seeing thisstory as a great civil rights victory of some kind that a coach wasplaying all-black starters and winning against larger schools with onlytoken black players that this might have been the moment in time whensomehow the message all started to go wrong: is this when the wheelturned so that education became a farce --and the only classes we seethem in do seem to be dumbed down jock courses-- and all that matteredwould be the human and other bling and signing to the NBA from highschool? The sop is the brief glimpses we get of the real participantsduring the credits as we see an interview with the real legends,including coach Pat Riley, who lost to this team in college, and seepictures of the real players with brief descriptions of their careerand family paths, many as teachers, including working as coaches fromhigh school to professional leagues. How did it get from them to kidsgraduating with no non-basketball skills and no moral compass? Josh Lucas is personable as always, but he is the garden varietyinspirational coach. If he said "son" one more time, rather thanreferring to a player by name, I thought I'd scream. Emily Deschanelhas almost nothing to do in a virtual traditional First Lady role ashis wife who tolerates living in a boys' dorm with their little kids.Derek Luke is the stand out among the players. Their court action isvery convincing. Jon Voight, with prosthetics, is marvelous in a virtual cameo as thenemesis, Coach 'Adolph' Rupp, of the Goliath they face in the finals.Of course, the credits hasten to add that Rupp later expanded his blackroster and coaching staff.I know very little about basketball so I appreciated that all the gameswere narrated by sports broadcasters.Per any Bruckheimer produced movie, it is very loud. Looking back to this somewhat innocent experience as some brightshining moment doesn't change that the NCAA still needs to cleanse itssoul. It's sad to see what colleges could have done with theseopportunities for young black men.

jonathan_kaplan2005 2013-03-27 21:03:25

Poorly written predictable sports tale, a wasted opportunity

The poor, cliché-filled, predictable script ruins an opportunity tomake what might have been a mildly interesting (but, yes, yet another)"uplifting film about triumph against adversity and all the odds" inthe sports world. The dialog is terrible! The direction is good as isthe acting, although the performances are difficult to judge because ofthe lousy lines the actors were provided. I think the writer should getout of the business and do something more constructive with his life.The writing reminds me why scriptwriting in Hollywood belongs to agenre far below that of literature and why hacks predominate inTinseltown, content to keep making audiences suffer from worn-outmetaphors and other endlessly recycled gimmicks.

Flagrant-Baronessa 2013-03-23 00:25:59

Perfectly decent, but anyone could make this film

Based on true events, Bruckheimer-produced 'Glory Road' tells theDisney-fied story of the underdog Texas Western University men'sbasketball team that won the National Championship in 1966 whilestarting, for the first time in NCAA history, five African-Americanplayers. Here we are offered a slice of racial prejudice, team spiritand overcoming odds, all bundled up under the fatherly banner of coachDon Hoskins (Josh Lucas).First let me begin by saying that I do not know much about thecircumstances surrounding or account of events that took place on thebasketball scene in 1960's America, but it becomes clear that itscontent is a relentless, classic underdog story readily-molded to bemilked by Disney's peachy P.C. outlook. 'Glory Road' is sport movie bythe numbers, featuring an earnest, hard-working rookie coach, reluctantbut idealist players, ups and downs, swelly climactic basketball gamesand newspaper montages of the team's national success. It is of coursenot so much a sports romp as it is a treatment of racial prejudice inthe American sport scene and the latter is well-executed with themarginalized black Americans always taking a backseat to the whiteboys, in clubs, in competitions, in cafés and in dorms. It's mostly arehash of 'Remember the Titans', but it is also a rather compellingset-up that is bound to elicit a response.About the rehash issue regrettably, 'Glory Road' has perfected the art.James Gartner is a debut director and it shows in the safe, derivativeplotturns that he steers the film with, proceeding down a militantlyformulaic trajectory. There are the coach's dutiful locker-roomrallying speeches about discipline and about how he "does not seecolour" and hallmark staples such as "it's not about talent, it's aboutheart.", there are race-specific confrontations between the players,there is that one excellent player who wants to quit, and there arelofty political events framing the story. There is in this way a fewtoo many Disney notions, and certainly you will find more corn thanKellogg's in the purposely poignant buddy moments. Similarly, the filmboasts of no accolades in subtlety: the good guys (Josh Lucas) arereally, really good and the bad guys (the racist coach Jon Voigh withprosthetic nose and ears) are really, really bad and his contingent ofsinister white players resembles a Klan rally.Having said that, 'Glory Road' is well written in terms of dialogue andstory. I know I said the characters are polarized in terms of alignmentand that there are cheesy gems interwoven in the dialogue, but thetruth is that the rest of the script is actually quite catchy. For one,it is simply much funnier than I could ever have hoped for with comicsituations and good one-liners en masse. The characters may not be themost original ever but they are superbly supported by the cast'sperformances. Josh Lucas turns in a likable, earnest interpretation ofthe dirt-poor but hopeful coach, although I may be swayed by the factthat I an in love with this man. Derek Luke is emotionally transparentas ever. Jon Voight has limited screen time, but communicates so muchin his scenes. Best of all however, in spite of the PG rating, 'GloryRoad' is never desperately Disney cutesy or silly. Lastly, there is anexcellent vintage soundtrack.7 out of 10

Kimberley Jones 2013-03-22 13:57:33

Glory Road really isn't a bad show - it's just an obvious one - and one wishes material of this historical import had received a more refined rendering.