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'Glory Road'
Rated PG for racial issues including violence and epithets, and mild language;
Knowing in 1965 he cannot compete with bigger schools in the recruiting of top white talent, he scouts northern schools and ghettos in Detroit; Gary, Ind.; and The Bronx and, over the reservations of school officials and Miners fans, fields a team in which seven of the 12 players are black.
Even if you don't know the Miners faced the University of Kentucky Wildcats, coached by Kentucky coach Arnold Rupp (Jon Voight in prosthetically enhanced makeup) in the 1966 NCAA finals, you have to recognize the machinations of the underdog saga -- effectively used here.
"Glory Road" catches the moment when "colored (man)" is being phased out of the language, "crackers" is a polite synonym for white Southern racists, Motown rules radio play lists and the black players regularly are demoralized by racial intimidation.
The film could use less anachronistic MTV editing and more emphasis on its story's sociological quirks. James Gartner's film, scripted by Christopher Cleveland and wife Bettina Gilois, minimizes references to academics and the inconveniences of Haskins and wife Mary (Emily Deschanel) and their three children living in a dorm. We get little sense of the rest of the student body.
It gets quite right the moments of pathos, especially involving players' mothers -- the movie's heart. Though it cannot touch in any respect the definitive basketball movie, "Hoosiers," "Glory Road" succeeds with more modest ambitions.
