Another Corny Sports Film

Rating: 5/10 (6 September 2010)

The sports film Hoosiers is directed by David Anspaugh and stars Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, and Dennis Hopper. The film takes place in 1951 Indiana.
The film starts off with Norman Dale (Hackman) coming to a high school in Indiana to coach the team and also teach. He is not welcomed very warmly by the town because of how they are not used to change. Dale has not coached basketball for twelve years due to the fact that he was in the marines. At first the basketball season goes quite poorly and everyone in the town thinks that it is because that Jimmy, the town's best player, is not playing on the team because his mother is sick and that his father died. The local drunk of the town, Shooter (Hopper), knows much about the sport and becomes Dale's assistant coach. The two of them try and lead the team to a successful season and maybe a championship. Yippee!
The screenplay was written by Angelo Pizzo and is one of the corniest films I have ever seen. How does someone make a true story feel so fake? It feels so formulaic in how that the team is down but then they come up and then they go down again. It seems like Pizzo just read the guidelines for how to make a basic sports film. There was just too much on the side of the sports story that makes it feel fake. For one is how suddenly the coach and Myra Fleener have a relationship out of nowhere and it really has no effect on the film at all. Another is how at every game they win with only three seconds left and it is really lucky. I've seen many basketball games and that really happens. So the screenplay for this film is poor.
The direction for this film by Anspaugh was also poor. He helped create the fakeness and corniness that is felt throughout the film. The only thing I can say that he did well was get good performances out of his actors, but I have a feeling that since Hackman and Hopper are some of the greatest actors there are they just gave good performances without the help of Anspaugh. It also annoys how directors think that when they have shots of beautiful scenery it makes them a good director. It is not that hard to do that and it is not something for a director to be proud of.
As I said in the last paragraph the acting was pretty good. Hackman played the coach and he gave a funny yet motivational performance and kept the film entertaining. His character did not have that much depth so Hackman couldn't really give that much depth so that is why Hackman couldn't really give a great performance. Hershey's character I truly believed had no purpose in the film besides being an unneeded love interest for the coach and she did not give a memorable performance what so ever. Dennis Hopper is the only one that really shined in this film as the drunk man trying to get his act together to be the assistant coach. When he performed best I believed was when he was forced to coach when Hackman was kicked out and his nervous face was just so funnily brilliant. I think he deserved his Oscar nomination and he made the film.
Overall I give this film a 5/10. I would have given it lower if it wasn't for Dennis Hopper's performance. I would recommend this film for anyone who enjoys the sports genre.