Directed by: David Anspaugh
Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper, Sheb Wooley
In 1951 rural Indiana, Friday night high school basketball was everything. In a town and high school as small as the one in Hoosiers, it is little wonder. Newly hired basketball coach Norm Dale (Hackman) doesn't initially fit in right away. He replaces the current coach in mid-practice and runs his team through drills instead of practicing shooting. He demands total obedience and even benches the star player mid-game for not following his edict to pass the ball four times before shooting. Yet, Norm is not a boorish individual. He can be gentle and charming, especially as he's wooing the school principal Myra Fleener (Hershey), who returned to her hometown following a bad marriage.
Norm's past is a bit checkered. He once coached in the Army, but why is such an experienced coach working with a small-town Indiana high school? His temper gets the best of him sometimes, so he hires the local drunk named Shooter (Hopper) to be his assistant. Shooter's son is the team's star player and his son is embarrassed by him when he shows up to a game inebriated. Some of the best scenes in Hoosiers involve Norm and Shooter talking basketball and it's apparent Shooter may know more than Norm about a few things.
What works best in Hoosiers is when Norm and Shooter find ways to grow and soften as their team makes its way to the state championship. Norm's coaching style changes ever so slightly to the point where he actually listens to his players instead of dictating to them. Shooter finally finds the strength to sober up and make his son proud. Hoosiers tends to shortchange the players, who are a group of skilled basketballers who are more or less interchangeable. The movie's biggest blind spot is not allowing the players to grow as individuals. But the game scenes are exciting and capture the feel of a community which lives and dies depending on the outcome of Friday night's game.
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