"True Story that takes small liberties that improve the story!"

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2002)

Being a rugby player who was too small to play football and opted for soccer in high school, I was touched and inspired by this movie. Kudos to Disney for putting it out and not making it too saccharine. Those that have said it was too "clean" miss the point. Disney's goal is to entertain, not necessarily provide social commentary and they succeeded here.

When movies based on true events move me, I look up the real story. I was surprised to find out the movie was pretty faithful. For those who are interested, there is a website out there put together by the '71 Titans. As is almost always the case, the truth does not always match the story, but in these cases, the fudging of facts made the movie more entertaining. Some interesting things I found out:
1) Ron "Sunshine" Bass is not "gay" as was implied in some other comments. He works for ABC and is married with 3 kids. Unlike the movie, he actually beat "Rev" out for the starting job.
2) Gerry Berthier did get injured in a car crash and became a wheelchair athelete. However his accident took place on the way to an awards dinner AFTER the championship game. He actaully played in the game. Also the friendship between him and Julius really occurred. What's interesting is that in the Titans website there is a picture of Berthier and unlike the movie, he wears glasses and had shoulder length hair! He died when his car was hit by a drunk driver in 1981, which is when the movie begins.
3) Lewis Lasik didn't transfer in from NJ but had been a student at TC Williams all 4 years
4) Apparently, the TC Williams team blew out their opponents in every game, including the championship. In a USA Today article, one of the Titans says that combining two teams made the combined team exceptionally strong and they dominated their games.
5) Alexandria VA, is not "red neck" central. TC Williams High was, and is considered one of the most diverse schools in the VA area.
6) The last discrepancy is a sad one. It involves Coach Yoast's daughter Cheryl. Sadly, she married, had 3 kids, but died a few years before the film was made. I, for one, am glad this was NOT mentioned in the movie.
None of these discrepancies should take away from an excellent movie that has a lot to say about brotherhood and achieving a common goal. With all the crap that passes for "great movies", we need more like this one.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10 (the soul singing by Lasik WAS a bit corny) :)