Such a frustrating disappointment

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Good concept, poorly executed.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Glory Road will go down in my book as one of the greatest basketball movies of all time. Glory Road tells the amazing story of the underdog Texas Western basketball team, with history's first all-African American starting lineup of players, who took over the nation and surprisingly making it to the NCAA tournament title game in 1966. In 1962 Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) - a player who had big dreams to play basketball in college that eventually disappeared because of a knee injury- went West to El Paso, to take the Head Coach position at Texas Western University, a school not known for its basketball program. His new bosses don't offer much to Haskins besides low salary and the family is even forced to live in the same dorm as his players, but they don't expect much in return. After arriving at Texas Western he started to make a few changes. The next few scenes of the movie are a series of short clips from the players. These shorts scenes give the audience a back ground view of these players to see where they come from and what makes them the way they are. Haskins knows he has no chance of recruiting the best white players to come to small Texas Western, so he and his assistant coach flew out north to find African Americans who are happy to have scholarships and a chance to play D-1 college basketball. He was looking for the best players he could get, even though Texas Western was an unknown basketball school. In these times black athletes were often overlooked by major schools, and because Coach Haskins didn't care, he recruited more black players than the typical university would back in those days. One famous quote Haskins tells one potential player in one scene was, "I don't see color. I see quick. I see skill." It's qualities like those that motivate Haskins in his drive to produce a winning team. And win they did eventually, but not until Haskins teaches his players halfway, allowing them to incorporate some of the flashy moves that don't fit into Haskins' strict ideas of how the game is played; old school fundamentals. The team eventually comes together as one and they experienced lots of racial abuse throughout the movie because of having an all-black starting lineup. In Texas at that time, we learn, college basketball teams had been integrated, but there was an "informal rule" that you never played more than one black player at home games, two on the road or three if you were behind. They make a unbelievable run through the NCAA tournament and beat the number one ranked basketball team of Kentucky. Now this movie isn't about just the underdogs playing in a basketball game; which makes this sports movie different from most. It's about racism in American sports, and how coach Haskins and his players from Texas Western University made a remarkable moment in history I believe can be comparable to when Jackie Robinson was picked up by the Brooklyn Dodgers. After Texas Western played in the the 1966 NCAA championship with an all-black team on the court and went against an all-white Kentucky team coached by the hall of fame legend Adolph Rupp, rules were rewritten. Haskins and his team wrote the "emancipation proclamation of 1966," said NBA coach Pat Riley. "Glory Road" is an effective sports movie, but where it succeeds is as the story of a chapter in history, the story of how one coach at one school arrived at an obvious conclusion and acted on it, disregarding the racial rules of the 1960s. I believe he opened college sports in the South to generations of African Americans; even the ones still playing. Since this movie was based on a true story, the end credits tell us what happened in later life to the members of that 1966 Texas Western team, we realize that Haskins not only played for a NCAA title but made a contribution to the future that is still being acknowledged. There are also some humor scenes in this movie that may make you smile, when the black players get drunk in a Hispanic bar or when the white teammates are invited to a very crowded black party. The funniest parts of the movie are the teasing and razzing that goes on during practices and team outings. Chris Cleveland, the writer who adapted the movie from Don Haskins' autobiography and consultation with the real-life players, should get some credit for making dialogue both believable and entertaining. Unfortunately, a few problems keep the movie from being creditable. One problem is the timing of historical inaccuracies that the movie puts in for dramatic effect. For example, Haskins did not actually play in the championship until his fifth season at Texas Western, but the movie has him playing it in his first. Then, there were plenty of black players in college ball before Texas Western, but just not in the southern leagues; the film doesn't show this. In the final game, the movie has Texas Western trailing after the half, when Kentucky never regained the lead after halftime. And in the previous victory over Kansas, the movie overlooks that Kansas had three black players other than JoJo White, and that his famous shot where he stepped out of bounds was not the final shot of the game. Even though I believe most people didn't know these facts, I still think that they could have put these situations in the movie to make it more realistic. In conclusion, Glory Road is a great movie to see especially if you're a sports-drama movie fan. The fun scenes, great story line, and amazing actors makes this one of the movies that you won't get tired of watching for a while. Even though the historical references are a little "stretched", they don't take away the good aspects of this film.

Basketball coach Don Haskins made it into the books of fame with his NCAA victory during the 1966 season at Texas Western College. During a time where racial discrimination was a more serious issue, he started his team with 5 African-American players at the NCAA finals creating what is known to be one of the biggest sports upsets of all time. The movie GLORY ROAD directed by James Gartner is a sports drama that's narrates the story of the underdogs of Texas Western College. Based on the novel titled the same which was written by Don Haskins himself the movie does add a pinch of salt into the entire racial banter in order to increase the level of interest and to extract more viewer passion. Much like movies such as REMEMBER THE TITANS, COACH CARTER, THE WRESTLER and THE FIGHTER this movie too can be considered one the greats and indeed a must watch for those fans who savors narrations based on true events. Nothing short of inspiration, every second of the story of Don Haskins and his team can be construed as sheer will to matter. Starring Josh Lucas as Don Haskins I am impressed with the stellar performance he puts up. Just as Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Mickey Rouke and Samuel Jackson; Josh Lucas is powerful and potent. If he is doing justice to the real Don Haskins is something I cannot comment on, however the Don Haskins he does portray indeed is a rare breed of man. Derek Luke from BIKER BOYS is the only other character written into the movie with any detail whilst the other stars pretty much hold up the character of Don Haskins; after all it his epic story. GLORY ROAD is the only movie to be directed by James Gartner and I am surprised why he never did pursue his career. Gartners effort on this bio-pic cannot be left unnoticed. There is nothing in this movie that can be considered to be out of place. If one thing could have been tweaked a bit more it would be an inclusion of a commercial soundtrack just to carry her a bit further. That being said GLORY ROAD has not made it to the surface as much as movies such as THE FIGHTER. However it is a crime indeed not to have been entertained by such meaningful productions. These are movies that can make a difference, these are movies that can influence, these are movies that can inspire, this indeed is a movie that one needs to watch! TITLE: GLORY ROAD DIRECTED BY: JAMES GARTNER STARRING: JOSH LUCAS, DEREK Luke, AUSTIN NICHOLS AND JON VOIGHT RATED: PG 13 RATING: 7.5/10 RUNTIME: 118 MINUTES

Glory Road is a sports film directed by James Gartner, based on a true story dealing with the events leading to the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, in which the late Don Haskins – played by Josh Lucas – head coach of the Texas Western College led a team with an all- black starting lineup, a first in NCAA history.The film also stars Jon Voight as the legendary coach Adolph Rupp together with Derek Luke, Alphonso McAuley, Mehcad Brooks, Al Shearer, Damaine Radcliff, Sam Jones III, and Schin S. Kerr.Don Haskins was a high school and college basketball star who, after six years of working with high school teams, became the head coach at Texas Western University in 1962. At that time, Texas Western's basketball program was not well respected, but Haskins was determined to change that, and in 1966 Haskins assembled what he was certain was a winning team. However, Haskins' starting lineup was comprised entirely of African-American athletes at a time when racially integrated teams were still a novelty in the South and West. Despite generating a firestorm of controversy, Haskins and his players showed they could succeed where it counted -- on the court. In post-season play Haskins and the Texas Western team found themselves competing for the NCAA championship against the University of Kentucky's all-white team, lead by legendary coach Adolph Rupp.The movie is a rousing and worthy tribute to one of the most important college basketball teams and one of the most important championship games of all time.Also,it is a David and Goliath sports saga that holds just as much suspense and interest no matter how many times you watch it.Obviously,it is an inspiring sports movie.

First I'd like to say that I was relentless to watch this movie, I usually don't like sport related films but the fact that it's based on a true story made me change my mind, maybe is because I live in ciudad Juarez, the Mexico-USA Border and you learn a little history of the town or at least of the university and why the stadium is called the don Haskins center, the acting was amazing, it was a little fast paced but it was alright, although the wife of don Haskins kept appearing without any real contribution to the story which seemed to me a little annoying, but all in all it was a pretty damn good movie to watch. Hope this helped and sorry for my English like I said before, I'm Mexican. This Movie is 10 out of 10 My First Review 