Movie Review of "Glory Road"
Rated PG
By CK Movie Kid Jonathan Lack

Coach Don Haskins dream was always about winning, winning no matter how high the odds were stacked against you. He had no idea that the team he would form and coach when he came to Texas Western were going to revolutionize the game of basketball and American social culture. It was a bold decision on Haskins part to play an all African-American opening line up at the NCAA championships against the University of Kentucky Wildcats. But he did it to win, and this decision helped break down barriers of segregation in society as his team played their hearts out in the championship.
Walt Disney Pictures and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure) have teamed up to bring this incredible piece of history to the big screen. Glory Road isn't just a sports drama; it really is an important piece in American history. And until now it was relatively unknown.

I got to see the movie at a pre-screening. The night the movie showed, Mayor John Hickenlooper was at the screening to make a speech and introduce Jerry Bruckheimer to the audience. Mr. Bruckheimer introduced the audience to four of the actors in the movie. Mechad Brooks, who played Harry Flournoy Jr., a member of the team; Al Shearer, who played Nevil Shed, another player on team; Derek Luke, who played Bobby Joe Hill, a member of the team who was also their number one scorer; and Josh Lucas, who played Coach Don Haskins.

After they said their bits, the movie began. And it was beyond all my expectations, as I was expecting another typical underdog story. But Glory Road is more than an underdog story. It's a story about what happened off the court too, which is just as important as what happened on it.

The day after the screening, I got to interview all the actors who attended the screening, starting with Al Shearer and Mechad Brooks. (Harry Flournoy and Nevil Shed) I asked them both how they got the role, and they said that they had to interview over 6 times, and then one day got a phone call from the producers telling them they'd gotten the part.

They said that once they'd gotten the role there was a rigorous basketball training camp they had to go through to get in shape for the movie. Al Shearer broke his foot two days before shooting began and had to play and act on a broken foot for four months of shooting. Both of them said they got to meet their real life counter parts about two weeks before shooting began. They said it gave a lot of insight into the role they were playing. It helped everyone who got to meet the real players.

I asked both of them what their favorite scene in the movie is. Al Shearer said he loved all of it and couldn't decide, but Mechad Brooks told me that it was the championship game because it was such an incredible event.

Next I got to interview Derek Luke who plays Bobby Joe Hill in the movie and was most recently seen in the sports drama Friday Night Lights. I asked him how he got the role. He told me that he read for it for Jerry Bruckheimer and got the part. He said he really liked the story even though he'd never played basketball. "The game meant more than a game." he said. That's why he liked the story so much.

He also told me about how much he loved to act. He grew up trying to support his family by working in a gift shop, but the whole time he new the one thing he wanted to do in his life was act. When he auditioned for the lead role in Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington came into the gift shop where he was working to tell him he'd gotten the part. Derek Luke has been acting ever since. It's his own sort of Glory Road story.

After that I got to talk with Josh Lucas, who plays Coach Don Haskins and has most recently starred in the movie Stealth. He had a lot to say, especially on the real life Don Haskins.

On the first day Don Haskins came to the set to talk to everybody and look at the actors, Josh Lucas got to talk to him. He said that Don Haskins was a very intimidating and very powerful man. So powerful it was hard to keep eye-contact with him. But I was also told he very funny and easy to be with, but at the same time could be terrifying. Haskins also was not much older than the players he was coaching, and had to work very hard to earn their respect. Lucas thought this was one of the coolest things about him.

It was obvious he respected Don Haskins a lot, one example of which is when I asked him what his favorite scene in the movie was. He told me it was a scene when he goes home and talks to his wife and she reveals they've been receiving threatening letters from people angry about Haskin's decision of a team. Lucas said it was really powerful because it showed how much Haskins was risking. He said it was really unbelievable how diverse the world was only 40 years ago, even among the team.
"The team was torn apart and brought back together because of diversity," Lucas commented.

Lucas also told me about shooting the film. "The actors were either learning to act or to play basketball, or both," were some of his comments on shooting.
It was really cool to interview all the actors. They all loved the story and were passionate about it. And that shows itself onscreen.

Finally I got to interview on of the biggest producers in Hollywood, Jerry Bruckheimer. His list of films goes on and on, but here are just a few of his works: Top Gun, Crimson Tide, Con Air, Armageddon, Enemy of the State, Gone in 60 Seconds, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, Pirates of the Caribbean, Kangaroo Jack, King Arthur and National Treasure. That's not even half of them.

Jerry Bruckheimer was really interesting to interview because he had so much to say. One of the coolest things was that he said he loved his job so much. "It's all fun for me. There's nothing I don't like about this job. The reason I make movies is to entertain people, and to make sure it entertains the whole family." I thought that was really cool that he loves making movies so much. That's probably why so many Bruckheimer films are not just good; they're great.

Bruckheimer also had a lot of respect for Don Haskins, and a lot to say. "He wasn't trying to make a statement. He just wanted to win."

After winning the NCAA in 1966, Haskins went on to lead Texas Western to the championships over 14 times. Bruckheimer said this was because he wasn't just great at teaching them basketball. He was great at psychological warfare. For example, one of the players in the movie, Nevil Shed, wasn't playing hard enough, so Haskins told him to go home and gave him an envelope with a ticket in it. This made Shed play his hardest. And the great thing was, there was no ticket in the envelope.

I asked him how long it took to make the movie. He told me it took 5 years to make from start to finish. He also gave me some insight into the production. In the onscreen games, there were 6-7 cameras operating to get all the shots needed. Also, all the plays were staged. If a player took three dribbles before shooting, he had to do that onscreen. That's why the games are so accurate.

The team and Don Haskins were shown the movie a few weeks before I saw it. Bruckheimer said everyone loved it. Haskins said it was really accurate, and that's what the makers of the film had been shooting for.

This is a great movie, filled with exceptional actors and filmmakers. It will be released worldwide in January, and I'd highly recommend seeing it. Glory Road isn't just a sports drama: It's a story of a man and his dream, A dream that came true because the support and determination of his team, on and off the court. (January, 2006)