First things first, this is a Disney movie, so you know a few things before the movie even start:
– There will be no profanity or particularly offensive remarks, (even though this is an historicall accurate race movie).
– Even if they don’t win, gosh darn it will they try.
– Everyone will learn a lesson and be a better person for the experience.
So, it’s 1971, and in attempts to ease touchy race relations two Virginian schools are integrated, by force. And as a concession to the black population Coach Boon, a black coach with less experience than the white coach Yoast is given the head jo… role.
This leads to much unrest, some garden variety rioting and a rift between the black and white students. Coach Boone, (Denzel Washington) immediately sets parameters, he will not play favourites, and insists it don’t matter if you’re black or white, he’ll play you if you’re any good.
Initially Coach Yoast resents the implication that he is a lesser coach, but when the white players all decide to compromise their future by sitting out the season in protest, he decides to hang around for the year in an assistant’s role. Coach Boone welcomes him and allows him to coach the defensive team, while he takes the offense.
Training camp is pre-school year, whites are roomed with blacks, and the players are only segregated by position. This being the early 70s in the South of America, white folks bait the black guys constantly, and the black guys often take the bait.
(Now, this being a Disney movie, matters of race must be handled very carefully, and the latter parts of training camp are sickly sweet, with blacks and whites almost unanimously setting aside years of negative conditioning to go arm in arm. I realize that the acceptance came, just not in a two day period. This being a movie, one must accept this and move on.
Oh, and the white guys are almost always the instigators, they are shifty, resentful and spiteful, while the blacks are cool, suave and laid back. Just pointing out that in attempts to appear not racist sometimes the filmmakers hedge in the PC side.)
Anyway the team bonds and everyone is buddies, a quarterback transfer shows up with hippie hair looking a lot like a trailer trash Juliette Lewis, which in my mind is the everyday Juliette Lewis.
They get back home to find that America still don’t understand racial unity, but they stick together anyway, and the season starts off well, until factions and selfishness begins to emerge.
Again being a PG learning movie this is sorted out pretty quickly, then the Rich White Guys step in, they aren’t happy with the arrangement and try to rig the system so that Coach Boone can get ousted.
Anyway of course things go as they do in sports movies, the team gets all the way to the finals and… you can work it out for yourself.
I learned a few more things myself by the end of the movie:
– Ethan Suplee, Randy from My Name is Earl was once wayyyy fatter than he has been in recent years, and he is still very fat now.
– Only a Disney movie can have a “spunky” 9 year old girl, who calls her own Dad “Coach”, give him the vital tip at the pointy end of the big game.
– Every sports movie has many montages of two types, the “Oh no we’re losing” montage where everything goes wrong: and the “Oh man we can’t lose” montage were everything works.
Apparently the 9 year old girl is now a fairly famous actress from Heroes, though she overacts like a mofo in this, she is rude, annoying and more opinionated than any 9 year old should be, or at least her Dad should have sorted her out. She deserves around a dozen backhanders in this one.
Everyone learns a lesson, black or white, people grow and mature, and bonds are made that will never be broken.
I keep telling ya it’s a Disney movie, what did you expect?
Cue much inter-racial hugging and tears.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. I once saw that NBA player Jason Terry watches this movie 50 times a year. While I must admire the message, I think he is easily pleased.
