Sports movies are a popular genre — usually based on a true story. They are foundational for kids to watch as they grow up, wanting to replicate what they see. Sports movies also follow a similar structural regimen: introduction, conflict, montage, conflict again, inspirational scene and final game.
Now that March Madness is in full swing, upsets have come and gone and every bracket has been busted. The games resumed on Thursday and went through the weekend.
During the break, I set out to find the best basketball movie — one that new and old fans will agree on.
To start, I looked at famous movies and why fans love them. Basketball movies that do well are typically either dramas following teams with a strict disciplinarian coach that have to learn to work together to face the challenges ahead — such as “Coach Carter” and “Glory Road” — or movies like “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Hustle,” fictional comedies that show the players fighting and facing adversity in a different way that the fans enjoy. Finally, there is the section of basketball movies that either star Michael Jordan (“Space Jam”) or are about his powerful shoes (“Like Mike” and “Air”). These movies weren’t made to teach a lesson; they were made to be enjoyable and sentimental.
Cases could be made for all of these movies as the “best basketball movie.” Each one has its own fanbase, willing to prove why the film means so much to them. But if you could only watch one basketball movie, to see why boys and girls want to grow up playing the sport and care so deeply about the month of March, “Hoosiers” has all your answers — some spoilers ahead.
I am biased in my choice — but I also know that I am not wrong. “Hoosiers” is based on a true story, and every detail is about basketball. Learning the fundamentals of the sport, the politics of the town, even the love interest of the film — it’s all basketball. “Hoosiers” is not just another basketball movie, it’s THE basketball movie, as timeless as the sport.
I grew up watching this movie, so I was excited to rewatch it for this article. The world might have changed in the fifteen years since when I first watched it, but its essence is still the same. This time, I am not sinking in to my dad’s college bean bag chair at my grandmother’s house, the “beans” puffing out the hole in the side as I fall a little too hard on the well-loved cushion. Now, I sink into a couch that is my own, in an apartment that I rent. I don’t have to wait for what feels like an eternity for the VHS tape to rewind before my Mimi can press play; I can raise the remote to my mouth and ask it to “Play ‘Hoosiers'” and the TV switches to Amazon Prime and retells the story I know by heart.
It is the story of a former college coach with a troubled past who accepts a job at Hickory High, a school in a small town in Indiana. The new coach, Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman, is similar to those in “Glory Road” and “Coach Carter” — he teaches discipline and helps his players and assistant coach learn to be better men.
After a significant loss, the town threatens to vote Dale out of the town. They almost succeed, until their star player Jimmy Chitwood — who vowed to focus on school instead of play the sport he loves — says that he will return to the team only if Dale is the coach. The season can officially begin.
Later on, Dale recruits Shooter, the town drunk and father to one of his players, as assistant coach — under the condition that he cleans up his act. Dale sees potential in Shooter, later purposely ejecting himself from a game so that Shooter can lead Hickory to victory.
In a heartbreaking moment, Shooter relapses and storms the court to yell at the refs, disappointing both his son and the team. His son Everett then causes a fight. Blood spills, but the game goes on in a ruthless display of determination — one that today’s generations would struggle to match. Hickory wins the sectional championship, pressing forward despite adversity.
At the Indiana Regional Finals game, Dale really gives us our inspirational quote.
“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,” Dale says. “In my book we’re gonna be winners.”
Throughout the film, Coach Dale gives everyone opportunities and believes in everyone — when no one believes in him. Outside of the sport, “Hoosiers” teaches that hard work and discipline pay off. It shows the importance of having a good mentor. It is a movie that you can watch at any age and are transported back to when you were a kid. “Hoosiers” shows what it means to play good basketball, explaining that basketball is more than a sport, it is the journey of life.
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