Terrific

Rating: 9/10 (18 June 2006)

This is based upon a true story. You don't have to be a basketball fan to like this movie.
Don Haskins (Lucas) takes an almost non-existent Division 1 Basketball team, Texas Western Miners, all the way to the NCAA Finals.
This movie is about racism first, basketball second and shows the country that segregation is not the way to go. Okay, okay, it's about basketball and the racism thing just worked itself out. Don Haskins changed the way basketball is played in the United States, and yes, there were many bumps along the way, but things smoothed out in the long run. And, yes, "things" are still in the process of being smoothed out. Yes, Haskins changed the way basketball is played, but the players were the ones to let Haskins know that, " if you want to win, let us play our game." And Haskins, to his credit, saw the wisdom in that.
I couldn't get over how well put together this movie is. It simply flowed as though it had a life of its own, and maybe it did. Since basketball and racism were the two main things in here there wasn't much room for character development, as for say Haskins, but who cares? This moved along at such a lively pace that you weren't aware that anything was missing.
Terrific cast, dialogue and acting performances all around. The games themselves were like they were live before us and the choreography and editing were nothing short of fantastic.
Is it just me or does Josh Lucas sometimes remind you of both Matthew McConaughey and Kevin Costner almost at the same time? Look again. And, although her part as Haskins's wife, was small, Emily Deschanel comes across as extremely sexy as well as beautiful. She reminded me of Gena Davis when she started out in TV and movies. I am sure we shall see more of her in the future. Jon Voight was exceptional and we need to see more of him.
Stay tuned at the end of the story to find out what happened to the real life players. But, there is one criticism I have regarding sub-titles or captions when this is done. The Directors must know these movies are going to DVD so stop with the small lettering and white on white. Give us a chance to read the thing without binoculars or significant eye-strain.