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28

I want to explain my potential personal bias towards this film before I start to review it. I was born, raised, and continue to live in Indiana. I am not quite old enough to directly recall the events of the movie, but I am old enough for the legend of those events to have haunted my entire primary education. The attitudes towards high school basketball in Indiana really only has one equivalent that I am aware of, and that is high school football in Texas. I currently work with people that sincerely believe that "dunking" a basketball and the three point shot ruined the game. They look at this film with a strange reverence, and and even stranger dismissal, because…

10

One of those films that always comes up when discussing sports films, but one I never had the chance to watch. And with the ing of Hackman, I thought, what better time to finally see it?

And while it doesn’t reinvent the genre and sticks to a lot of the convention, the film is nonetheless quite fun and engaging. I had anticipated Hackman's Norman Dale to be more abrasive and confrontational, but I appreciated his balance of firmness, a no-nonsense approach, and a hint of inspiration. The game sequences are really well filmed and directed, not only allowing you to cheer for your team but also evoking a sense of excitement akin to a real-life game, a feeling I believe…

2

Somehow I'd never seen this. It's fine! Patient Zero for a set of sports/dad movie tropes, straight line from this to, say, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (both movie and far superior show). The basketball sequences are entirely lacking in dynamism, honestly, and while it's unfair to ding it for something that's obviously not the film's project (or maybe even historically accurate) it might have been nice to see a winning Black face. Real gold here is the scenes between Hopper and Hackman, as actors two old hands and colleagues in their experienced prime, effortlessly adding weight to every moment they share.

5

I had never seen this classic of Reagan-era nostalgia about a time when white people were good at sports. It was pretty good, Hackman and Hopper are great, but I never knew this was about a HS basketball team, I thought it was college hoops and as such cared significantly less about it. Also, the film introduces the fact that Coach Norm Dale lost his job coaching college ball for assaulting a player but sort of just leaves it there after Barbara Hershey decides that she likes Gene Hackman.

Review by 115bryce🚸 ★★★½

granny shot clutch

23

I've always threatened to do a double header of 1986 Dennis Hopper movies. I finally took the plunge yesterday, pairing a Blue Velvet matinee with a Hoosiers night cap. I've always thought comparing these two epic Hopper performances would be an interesting angle and another way into these classic 80s films.

Hopper was only a year or two older than I am in 1986. Yet his chameleon-like powers allow him to become ageless and timeless. He could have been 38 in Velvet and 61 in Hoosiers for all we know, he disappears so completely into these two archetypes. A villain that is beyond redeeming, and a purgatorial waif on the precipice of disaster. Viewed back to back, its comforting to…

4

It's always a sadly heartwarming thing to see a film bubble to the top of the algorithm after the death of an actor. There are much better Gene Hackman films, but this is one I hadn't seen before. It's one of those films that feels like it was designed to hit certain beats and has nothing in between to let them breathe, to let the characters grow before our eyes. They do grow, but it's a staccato growth with no throughline. Cheezy, predictable, divorced from the reality that inspired it, but the underlying theme of second chances is nice, anyway.

3

“If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners.” - Coach Norman Dale

I usually don’t do the "actor/director has died and I watch of their movies" thing. But this was Gene “Lex Luthor-Little Bill-Popeye “fucking” Doyle” Hackman. One of the most charismatic and screen-commanding actors of all time. And since I wanted to revisit one of his most sympathetic, warmest and heartfelt performances for a long time, I simply had to watch Hoosiers tonight.

I feel that this movie has fallen a little bit out of the public’s…

10

This rating is one out of pure personal enjoyment. This has always been one of my favorite movies. 

I hadn’t seen this since the night before my first day of college classes (I threw it on then as a comfort film since I was nervous lol). 
For me, it’s such a heartwarming film. From the very opening sequence til the end. 
It’s also amazing how long you go without seeing a movie and it all comes back to you within the first 5 minutes. 

Sure some of the basketball scenes weren’t great and some of the basketball things Hackman was shouting couldn’t have been more generic. And it had that cheesy romance part to the movie. And that classic/cliche-sounding 80s…

3

Ladies, if a man tells you to watch a sports movie, SAY NO!!!

1

M f er wore denim to shoot hoops and everyone was like “that’s the star we need him on the team” I will never understand the Midwest

Review by Luke Robertson ★★★★

It’s simple really. I see a sports film, I watch it and then I give it 4 stars. I love these kinds of stories and for me to give it lower it would have to be pretty awful. 

I really enjoyed Gene Hackman in this as well. 

If you like sports films then watch this. Simple as that.