''Glory Road'' is a 2006 American
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by James Gartner, based on a true story surrounding the events leading to the
1966 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship.
Don Haskins
Donald Lee Haskins (March 14, 1930 – September 7, 2008), nicknamed "The Bear", was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University). He w ...
portrayed by
Josh Lucas
Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer (born June 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in various films, including '' American Psycho'' (2000), '' You Can Count on Me'' (2000), '' The Deep End'' (2001), '' A Beautiful Mind'' (20 ...
, head coach of Texas Western College (now known as
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
or UTEP), coached
a team with an all-
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
starting lineup, a first in
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
history. ''Glory Road'' explores racism, discrimination and student athletics. Supporting actors
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, he ...
and
Derek Luke
Derek Nathanial Luke (born April 24, 1974) is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance as the titular character in the 2002 film '' Antwone Fisher'', directed and produced by Denzel Washington. ...
also star in principal roles.
The film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...
,
Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Jerry Bruckheimer Films Inc. (JBF) is an American independent film production company of Jerry Bruckheimer, formed in 1995, after cutting his ties with film producer Don Simpson, before his subsequent death in 1996. It produced hits such as th ...
, Texas Western Productions, and Glory Road Productions. It was commercially distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures theatrically and by the
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,[Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...]
; the film won the 2006
ESPY Award
An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...
for ''Best Sports Movie''.
On January 10, 2006, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...
music label. The soundtrack was composed and orchestrated by musician
Trevor Rabin
Trevor Charles Rabin (; born ) is a South African rock musician and composer. Born into a musical family and raised in Johannesburg, Rabin took up the piano and guitar at an early age and became a session musician, playing and producing with a va ...
. The DVD release, featuring theatrical trailers, extended interviews with players and colleagues of coach Haskins, and deleted scenes, among other highlights, was released in the U.S. on June 6, 2006.
Plot
Don Haskins is the newly wed men's basketball coach at Texas Western College in
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
. Lacking necessary financial resources, he makes an effort to recruit the best players regardless of race to form a team that can compete for a national championship. Some of the young men he brings in possess skill, but are raw in talent when it comes to organized teamwork focusing on defense and ball distribution. In the end, his Texas Western Miners team comprises seven black and five white athletes; a balance that raises eyebrows among university personnel. Haskins puts his players through a rigorous training program, threatening to cut anyone who doesn't work as hard as he demands, while trying to integrate his players into a single team.
Following initial victories against mediocre local teams, Haskins quickly discovers that he has to give his black players more free room on the court. Yet, the more victories his team achieves with its flamboyant style, up until this point rarely seen in college basketball, the more racial hatred mounts on his squad. This culminates in threats to his own family, the beating of a player while on the road and ultimately the vandalism of his team's motel rooms by racists while they are at an away game. Increasingly frightened, the team loses its last game of the regular season after the black players stop playing with passion. Thus, the Texas Western Miners finish the 1966 regular season with a 23–1 record, entering the 1966 NCAA tournament ranked second in the nation.
Going on to the
NCAA final, played at
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known a ...
, they take on the top-ranked
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
under legendary coach
Adolph Rupp
Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...
. Rupp, with a well-organized and more experienced all-white
Wildcats
The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...
squad, firmly believes that his opponent stands no chance. On the eve of the decisive game, Haskins decides to experiment with a bold strategy, informing his team that he intends to start an all-black lineup in the game, and also only using the two other black players in the rotation.
In the midst of seemingly insurmountable odds, Texas Western encounters mounting problems with
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
and team captain Harry Flournoy leaving the game with an injury, and their center David Lattin in foul trouble. In a close game, the Miners narrowly lead at halftime, but finally manage to beat Kentucky 72–65 with some impressive
steals, rebounding and passing techniques in the second half. The film ends with the players exiting the plane that brought them back to El Paso to the greeting of a raucous crowd.
Cast
*
Josh Lucas
Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer (born June 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in various films, including '' American Psycho'' (2000), '' You Can Count on Me'' (2000), '' The Deep End'' (2001), '' A Beautiful Mind'' (20 ...
as
Don Haskins
Donald Lee Haskins (March 14, 1930 – September 7, 2008), nicknamed "The Bear", was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University). He w ...
*
Derek Luke
Derek Nathanial Luke (born April 24, 1974) is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance as the titular character in the 2002 film '' Antwone Fisher'', directed and produced by Denzel Washington. ...
as
Bobby Joe Hill
*
Mehcad Brooks
Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks (born October 25, 1980) is an American actor and former fashion model. He is known for his roles as Matthew Applewhite in the second season of ABC's series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2005–2006), Jerome in '' The Gam ...
as
Harry Flournoy
Harry Flournoy Jr. (December 10, 1943 – November 26, 2016) was an American college basketball player, originally from Gary, Indiana.
Family life
Flournoy was born on December 10, 1943 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Early in his childhood his f ...
*
Austin Nichols
Austin Nichols (born April 24, 1980) is an American actor and director, known for his role as Julian Baker in The CW drama series ''One Tree Hill''. He is also known for his roles in the films ''The Day After Tomorrow'' and '' Wimbledon''. He st ...
as Jerry Armstrong
*
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, he ...
as
Adolph Rupp
Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...
*
Evan Jones as
Moe Iba
Henry W. "Moe" Iba (born May 31, 1939) is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Memphis State University, now known as the University of Memphis, from 1966 to 1970, Nebraska from 1980 to 1986, and Te ...
*
Red West
Robert Gene "Red" West (March 8, 1936 – July 18, 2017) was an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter. He was known for being a close confidant and bodyguard for rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. Upon his firing, West wrote the contro ...
as Ross Moore
* Schin A.S. Kerr as
David Lattin
*
Alphonso McAuley
Alphonso McAuley (born April 21, 1979) is an American actor and social media personality. McAuley played Cassius Sparks on Fox's comedy television series '' Breaking In'' and played Hutch in ABC's '' The Middle''.
Early life and education
Mc ...
as
Orsten Artis
*
Sam Jones III
Samuel L. Jones III (born April 29, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Pete Ross on the first three seasons of the Superman television series ''Smallville'', Willie Worsley in the 2006 film ''Glory Road'', Craig Shilo on '' ...
as
Willie Worsley
Willie James Worsley (born November 13, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player who was one of the guards for the Texas Western Miners basketball team during their now-legendary 1966 NCAA championship game against Kentucky. Al ...
*
Damaine Radcliff
Damaine Anthony Radcliff (born June 7, 1979), is an American film actor who was born in The Bronx, New York City. Founder of Raining Giants, he is most known for his starring roles in the movies ''Glory Road'', '' Step Up'' and as Executive Prod ...
as
Willie Cager
William Cager Jr. (August 24, 1942 – March 19, 2023) was an American college basketball player for the Texas Western Miners (now UTEP Miners men's basketball, UTEP Miners). He was a member of 1965–66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball te ...
*
Emily Deschanel
Emily Erin Deschanel (; born October 11, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan in the Fox crime procedural series ''Bones'' (2005–2017).
Early life
Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, to cin ...
as Mary Haskins, wife of Don Haskins
*
Al Shearer
Al Shearer (born August 14, 1977) is an American actor. He portrayed Nevil Shed in the 2006 Disney blockbuster ''Glory Road'', produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Shearer might be best known for his role on the MTV series Punk'd, or as "Hits" - h ...
as
Nevil Shed
Nevil Shed (born April 26, 1943) is an American former basketball player. He attended Morris High school in 1962.http://alumniweb.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=739 He was a member of the Texas Western Miners (now named University of Texas at El Paso ...
*
Tatyana M. Ali as Waltina "Tina" Malichi
* Wilbur Fitzgerald as Wade Richardson
*
David Dino Wells Jr. as John Anderson
Production
Development
''Glory Road'' was inspired by a true story, as described by Texas Western's head coach
Don Haskins
Donald Lee Haskins (March 14, 1930 – September 7, 2008), nicknamed "The Bear", was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University). He w ...
in his autobiography of the same title, a national bestseller released in 2005 by
Hyperion Books. The book details Haskins' early life as a player (including a one-on-one game against a black friend that opened his eyes) and women's basketball coach. Like the film, it then focuses on the 1966 Texas Western men's basketball team and the aftermath of the championship. It was reprinted five times in its first four months of release and was selected as an "Editor's Choice" by the New York Times Book Review. Additionally, ''Glory Road'' is the name of a street on the UTEP campus near the
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...
which was renamed to commemorate the 1966 NCAA championship.
Later asked about his decision to start five black players, Haskins downplayed the significance of his decision. "I really didn't think about starting five black guys. I just wanted to put my five best guys on the court. I just wanted to win the game." Though credited with advancing the
desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
of college basketball teams in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, he wrote in his book "I certainly did not expect to be some racial pioneer or to change the world."
Dunking was banned in the NCAA from 1967 to 1976, not the least due to the success of the Texas Western team and UCLA player Lew Alcindor (better known later as
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran.
Given name Karim
* Karim A ...
), who was just then becoming NCAA varsity eligible.
Next to the
closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are a list of the Cast member, cast and Film crew, crew of a particular Film, motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear clos ...
, scenes from interviews with some of the real-life players from the team are shown, including one player from the opposing
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
team beaten by Texas Western in the NCAA finals,
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
head coach
Pat Riley
Patrick James Riley (born March 20, 1945) is an American professional basketball executive, former coach, and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also se ...
. The real-life Don Haskins was cast as an extra in the film as a gas station attendant, and David Lattin was cast as an extra as a military bartender.
The players on the 1966 team were
David Lattin,
Bobby Joe Hill,
Willie Cager
William Cager Jr. (August 24, 1942 – March 19, 2023) was an American college basketball player for the Texas Western Miners (now UTEP Miners men's basketball, UTEP Miners). He was a member of 1965–66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball te ...
,
Willie Worsley
Willie James Worsley (born November 13, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player who was one of the guards for the Texas Western Miners basketball team during their now-legendary 1966 NCAA championship game against Kentucky. Al ...
, Jerry Armstrong,
Orsten Artis,
Nevil Shed
Nevil Shed (born April 26, 1943) is an American former basketball player. He attended Morris High school in 1962.http://alumniweb.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=739 He was a member of the Texas Western Miners (now named University of Texas at El Paso ...
,
Harry Flournoy
Harry Flournoy Jr. (December 10, 1943 – November 26, 2016) was an American college basketball player, originally from Gary, Indiana.
Family life
Flournoy was born on December 10, 1943 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Early in his childhood his f ...
, Togo Railey, Louis Baudoin, Dick Myers, and David Palacio.
The team was nominated in its entirety for the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
, and was inducted on September 7, 2007, ten years after coach Don Haskins had already been enshrined.
The movie skipped a crucial game that Texas Western had played. On March 18, 1966, the Miners defeated Utah 85-78 in the Final Four to advance to the national championship game the following night. In the movie the team played against Kansas in the regional final and the following game was the national championship, which is incorrect. In addition, it depicts the sequence of Hill stealing possessions from Kentucky twice in a row as if Kentucky was leading by four, rather than the real result of it leading to the Miners leading 16-11 (incidentally, Texas Western never trailed for the rest of the game).
Filming
Several scenes in this movie were filmed at the
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
(UTEP), which is the former Texas Western College, and
El Paso High School
El Paso High School is the oldest operating high school in El Paso, Texas, and is part of the El Paso Independent School District. It serves the west-central section of the city, roughly south and west of the Franklin Mountains and north of Inters ...
in
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
. Other scenes were filmed at
Southeastern Louisiana University
Southeastern Louisiana University (Southeastern) is a public university in Hammond, Louisiana. It was founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims as Hammond Junior College. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it becam ...
in
Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States, located east of Baton Rouge and northwest of New Orleans. Its population was 20,019 in the 2010 U.S. census, and 21,359 at the 2020 population estimates program. Ham ...
,
Jesuit High School and Douglas High School, formerly F. T. Nicholls High School, in
, and
Chalmette High School
Chalmette High School is a public secondary school in the unincorporated Chalmette area of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of St. Bernard Parish Public Schools.
History
The history of Chalmette High School began ...
in
Chalmette, Louisiana
Chalmette ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, t ...
. The
IHOP scene was filmed in the old Airline Motors Diner on
Airline Highway
Airline Highway is a divided highway in the U.S. state of Louisiana, built in stages between 1925 and 1953 to bypass the older Jefferson Highway. It runs , carrying U.S. Highway 61 from New Orleans northwest to Baton Rouge and U.S. Highway 19 ...
just west of New Orleans. The school shown for the girls' basketball game in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
at the beginning of the film is actually the front of El Paso High School, as shown by the engraving on the top of the columns. The lunchroom basketball trash can scene was filmed at Booker T. Washington High School, the first high school built in New Orleans for African-Americans. Towards the beginning of the film for the shot of Texas Western College, the
Wells Fargo Plaza and the Chase Bank Building in downtown El Paso can be seen in the top left corner. The Wells Fargo Plaza was not completed until 1971, and the Chase Bank Building was still the Texas Commerce Bank building until the early 1990s. In addition,
Ralph Strangis
Ralph Strangis is a 7-time Emmy Award winning NHL play-by-play broadcaster who began calling NHL hockey in 1990-91 with the Minnesota North Stars, working alongside Hall of Fame broadcaster Al Shaver. Strangis relocated to Dallas with the Stars ...
(the former
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...
play-by-play announcer) had a small speaking role as a courtside broadcaster.
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...
was the original choice for the role of coach Don Haskins, but had to drop out of the filming due to prior commitments.
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
point guard
Kirk Hinrich
Kirk James Hinrich ( born January 2, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. He has also been a member of the USA National Team.
Growing up in Sioux City, Iowa, Hinrich was exposed to basketball at an early age. His father, ...
was offered a role in the film, but chose not to participate "because of time constraints".
During the scene of the Texas Western-
Seattle University
Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...
basketball game broadcast the announcers inadvertently used the call letters
WTSM, which is an FM radio sports station from Tallahassee, Florida instead of the El Paso station
KTSM.
Controversy
Kentucky Wildcat fans and other Rupp supporters said the film at least implicitly portrayed UK coach Adolph Rupp as a racist, with such lines as Bobby Joe Hill's that Rupp would not have recruited him. Like other teams in the Southeastern Conference, Kentucky was all-white, but they were the first and for about a decade the only SEC team to regularly play inter-conference opponents with black players, starting in the 1950s, and took the place of Alabama (1956) and Mississippi State (1959, 1961) in the NCAA Tournament after their respective state legislatures or university leadership refused the invitations because of the possibility of playing against integrated squads.
Starting in 1964, Rupp had recruited Kentuckians
Wes Unseld
Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. (March 14, 1946June 2, 2020) was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld ...
and
Butch Beard
Alfred "Butch" Beard Jr. (born May 5, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He was the starting point guard with the 1975 NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
Career Early years
Beard played high school basketbal ...
, along with eight other black players who received formal scholarship offers before
Tom Payne in 1969 became University of Kentucky first black player.
While doing so, he told them (just as
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also creat ...
did to
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
) about the racial difficulties they could expect in playing in the SEC, and Unseld and Beard went to
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
instead.
In the game between
East Texas State University
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
, now known as
Texas A&M University–Commerce
Texas A&M University–Commerce is a public university in Commerce, Texas. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in the Texas A&M University System. Founded in 1889, the inst ...
, and Texas Western, East Texas State fans are shown throwing popcorn and drinks, and yelling
racial epithet
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
s. In a later scene, racial slurs are shown painted onto the hotel rooms of the black Texas Western players. After verification that the events never took place, Texas A&M–Commerce asked for an apology from
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
and the makers of the film. Disney did not directly apologize; rather, it explained that the movie was not a documentary and that it had been necessary to consolidate events given the time limitations of the film, and that Disney did not intentionally set out to misrepresent any group and was sorry for any misunderstanding.
[Underdue Murph heads enrollment/marketing]
. Texas A&M University Commerce. Retrieved February 13, 2013. The President of Texas A&M–Commerce said that, given the way the school was shown in the film, it was hard to believe that Disney could plausibly argue that the portrayal of the school was unintentional.
The scene even prompted the Texas state senate to consider a bill which would allow financial assistance from the state to be withheld for films that portray the state negatively.
Soundtrack
On January 10, 2006, the soundtrack was released on the
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...
label. The film score was orchestrated by musician
Trevor Rabin
Trevor Charles Rabin (; born ) is a South African rock musician and composer. Born into a musical family and raised in Johannesburg, Rabin took up the piano and guitar at an early age and became a session musician, playing and producing with a va ...
and features music composed by various artists.
Release
Home media
Following its release in theaters, separate
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
and
fullscreen editions of the motion picture were released on DVD in the United States on June 6, 2006. A
UMD version of the film for the
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
was also released on June 6, 2006.
A restored widescreen high definition
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
version was released on October 17, 2006. Special features include backstage feature film: Audio commentary with producer Jerry Bruckheimer & director James Gartner; Audio commentary with screenwriters Chris Cleveland and Bettina Gilois; "Surviving Practice" – a featurette looking inside a typical grueling Haskins practice with former NBA star Tim Hardaway, and seamless menus.
Reception
Critical response
Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received mixed reviews. , the film holds a 55% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 152 reviews, with an average score of 5.92/10. The consensus states, "As formulaic as sports movies get, this underdog story still triumphs on the strength of its inspiring story." At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
out of 100 to critics' reviews, ''Glory Road'' received a score of 58 based on 33 reviews.
The film won the 2006 ESPY Award for ''Best Sports Movie''. Furthermore, in 2006, ''Glory Road'' was nominated for the
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...
. In 2007, the film garnered nominations for ''Best Screenplay, Adapted or Original'' and ''Best Original or Adapted Song'' from the
Black Reel Awards
The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...
.
Winners
''Black Reel Awards''. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
Box office
The film became a box office number-one in the U.S. grossing $16,927,589 on its opening weekend, yet was only released straight to DVD
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
or just shown on TV in some countries that have no connection to college basketball. The film grossed a total of $42,938,449 worldwide.
See also
*2006 in film
The following is an overview of events in 2006, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.
Evaluation of the year
Legendary film critic Philip French of ''The Guardian'' de ...
* 1965–66 Texas Western Miners basketball team
* 1966 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship Game
*List of sports films
This compilation of films covers all sports activities. Sports films have been made since the era of silent films, such as the 1915 film '' The Champion'' starring Charlie Chaplin. Films in this genre can range from serious (''Raging Bull'') to ...
*White savior narrative in film
The white savior is a cinematic trope in which a white central character rescues non-white (often less prominent) characters from unfortunate circumstances. This recurs in an array of genres in American cinema, wherein a white protagonist is port ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Haskins, Don with Dan Wetzel. ''Glory Road''. New York:Hyperion, 2006. .
External links
*
The Road to Glory - Official UTEP website
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{{UTEP
Films set in Texas
American basketball films
American sports drama films
2006 films
Films set in the 1960s
2000s sports drama films
Films shot in New Orleans
Walt Disney Pictures films
Films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
UTEP Miners men's basketball
Sports films based on actual events
Films based on biographies
Films about race and ethnicity
Films shot in El Paso, Texas
Films set in universities and colleges
Sports in El Paso, Texas
College basketball mass media in the United States
Films scored by Trevor Rabin
1965–66 NCAA University Division men's basketball season
Biographical films about sportspeople
Biographical films about educators
Cultural depictions of basketball players
Cultural depictions of American men
2006 directorial debut films
2006 drama films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films