Glory Road (2006)

Such a frustrating disappointment

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

they never trailed in the championship game. the coach wasn't in his first year. Hollywood never tells the truth in sports movies. part of why this movie sucks. they screwed up intentionally most of the actual games. a shame really. every movie about sports always over emphasizes the role of the white coach who is always a stereotype. they always use dramatic music even in the most mundane situations they depict which are always overblown. don haskins was known as the bear. this pantywaist looks like a douche. I bet a basketball in his hands would be lethal to himself. of course the viewers who watch this movie have no idea about the real life events. thats fine though because their world is so vapid that actual facts would be too much for them to handle

A well meaning but formulaic film, James Gartner's "Glory Road" stars Josh Lucas as Don Haskins, head coach of Texas Western College. Based on a true story, and set in the late 1960s, the film details the formation of the NCAA's first all black starting lineup.At its best, "Glory Road" explores issues of racism, discrimination and social isolation. At its worst, this is a reductive, by-the-numbers film whose climax assigns false triumph to ongoing issues. There's also something tawdry about a co-production between Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Pictures attempting to promote black consciousness and black pride.Still, "Glory Road" sheds some light on an interesting part of history. It climaxes with a 1966 championship game, a game which would mark a key point in racial integration, and instigate a shift from basketball being labelled a white sport to it becoming a primarily black activity (in terms of race association and participation). "Glory Road" co-stars Jon Voight as a weaselly rival coach.7/10 – See "Inside Moves" and "He Got Game".

I was discussing affirmative action the other day and encountered the usual argument about those things that happened in our great grandfather's day. Having grown up in the South, I am well aware that many of the things that happened in "my" day are still going on to some extent. I was high enough up the food chain in the military to hear conversations behind closed doors. In the small Arkansas town I grew up in, blacks lived across the tracks and up the hill - they probably still do. A.O. Scott comments in the New York Times about Glory Road: "Glory Road finds its true story at a point where sports history intersects with the struggle for racial equality. The annals of postwar America are full of such moments, but few of them are as astonishing and consequential as the 1966 N.C.A.A. championship game, in which Don Haskins, coach of the Miners of Texas Western (now known as the University of Texas at El Paso), sent five black players onto the floor against Adolph Rupp's all- white University of Kentucky team." Forget about Josh Lucas, Tatyana Ali, Emily Deschanel, or Jon Voight. They were incidental to the film and could have easily been replaced with others. The story of the Texas Western basketball players in 1966 is what Glory Road is all about. It happened in 1966. I was a sophomore in High School. I knew no more about Civil Rights or black oppression that the next guy. The only thing I knew for sure was that we used a two-handed set shot, not jumpers or Michael Jordan moves. It's the same criticism that I have of Hoosiers, another great basketball film. It wasn't my great grandfather's day; it was mine. It still is. If you are not moved by this film, then you are part of what was wrong then and what is not corrected to this day. It was about respect and the need for humans to give each other their due and not dwell on stupidity. We were all cut from the same cloth many many generations ago in Africa. I came to Florida from West Texas and know the area well. Color is not important there when it comes to sports. We've gotten past that. It is time to get past it in other areas of our lives. If Glory Road can help a little bit in that, then it is well worth your time. Well, it's well worth your time anyway as it is a great movie. As Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post said: It's one helluva story, and if this moving, and even thrilling little movie finally brings Haskins and a truly great American sports story to light, then three cheers and hooray.

The true story of the Texas Western University Miners (now called the University of Texas at El Paso) who defied all odds in 1966 by being the first NCAA basketball team to start five African-American players (led by Derek Luke of "Antwone Fisher" and Mehchad Brooks of "Desperate Housewives" fame) and ultimately winning the national championship. New coach Don Haskins (played superbly by Josh Lucas, one of the most under-rated actors in film right now) has trouble recruiting when he first arrives, but finds players in places like Detroit and Brooklyn. In the civil rights torn south though, getting African-American ball players was highly controversial and even potentially dangerous. It ends up being fitting that the team would meet up with Adolph Rupp (impressive transformation as usual for Jon Voight) and his University of Kentucky Wildcats for the championship that year as UK was one of the last major colleges to integrate its basketball team. Socially important story and highly educational for youngsters who may not be familiar with the importance of this stage in contemporary U.S. and sports history. Great sequences and styles in the tradition of sports classics like "Hoosiers", "Remember the Titans" and "Friday Night Lights". 5 stars out of 5.