Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Second chances define Hoosiers as much as basketball, even though the movie is widely considered the greatest hoops movie ever. Hell, some have declared it the greatest sports movie ever.

Thus non-sports fans needn’t shy away, as basketball is a backdrop to a terrific story about a middle-age man’s professional redemption and last shot at personal happiness. Gene Hackman is ideal for such a wistfully adult role. Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper join him in highlight roles of their stellar careers.

The movie uses Indiana basketball as a lens into 1950s Middle America, making Hoosiers a wonderful period piece of a simpler – albeit hardscrabble – time.

Full of classic scenes (“Throw me out of the game.”), based on a real Indiana story, and complete with strong women, men, adults and youngsters, Hoosiers is worth rescreening darn near every season.

Is it the greatest basketball movie ever? It’s the most entertaining, but More Than a Game is greater.

Acting - Great 4.0

Gene Hackman’s washed-up basketball coach is a classic high-character everyman, the kind of role Hackman plays better than anyone.

Barbara Hershey matches up well to him in one of a series of notably grounded roles for the formerly flighty Barbara Seagull.

Dennis Hopper scored a well deserved Oscar nomination for his sad drunk father.

The strong supporting cast includes a mix of acting veterans and Hoosier amateurs.

• Spunky character actress Fern Persons as Barbara Hershey’s elderly mother.
• Wily character actor Chelcie Ross as an unlikable meddler.
• Western stalwart Sheb Wooley as Hackman’s coaching sponsor.

The basketball team – the Hickory Huskers – were made up of local kids. ESPN recently got these Hoosier amateurs together for a 25 year reunion. Interestingly, the bumbling equipment manager was the only real player in real life. Ah, the movies…

Film - Great 4.0

The film’s measured pace reflects the time of its story – 1950s Indiana. Crisply made, it sets its hook and develops its story in quite engaging fashion.

Indianans David Anspaugh and Angelo Pizzo barely got the movie made, then used its great success to make another Indiana feel-good sports movie seven years later – Rudy.

Edge - Tame 1.2

Reality - Glib 1.2

Basketball has come a long way from 1950s Indiana. Faster paced, more acrobatic, played above-the-rim even by some high schoolers, today’s basketball shares fundamentals but little else with the hoops in the movie. This is due in no small measure to the elevating impact that African-Americans had on the game, an impact that was only starting to be felt in the period shown in Hoosiers.

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