David Anspaugh
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Is it kind of like Hoosiers ?
The scrappy high school underdog basketball tale in the style of “Hoosiers,” or “The Mighty Ducks,” directed by “Warrior” helmer Gavin O’Connor bears the weight of our parasocial relationship with star Ben Affleck.
In some ways it reminded me of “Hoosiers” but it is not as much about basketball as it is the return journey of an alcoholic to re-enter his life and reconnect with his family.
A couple of relatively subtle tips of the hat to Hoosiers notwithstanding, and a pivotal last-second buzzer-beater aside, Brad Ingelsby’s script doesn’t spend much time concerning itself with the on-court antics of the Bishop Hayes High School Varsity Basketball Team for much of its 108-minute running time.
There are moments where “The Way Back” simply feels like O’Connor and co-writer Brad Inglesby watched “Hoosiers” one night and alit on the idea of combining the Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper roles into one character.
That you can more or less fill in the blanks of what happens next means that “The Way Back” is an addiction drama that is also a genre movie — it’s like “Hoosiers” seen through a shot glass darkly.
Angelo Pizzo, screenwriter of “Rudy” and “Hoosiers,” provided both script and direction for this biography of beloved University of Texas player Freddie Steinmark.
Such underdog stories are familiar territory for screenwriter Angelo Pizzo (Hoosiers), who adapted a novel by Jim Dent (The Junction Boys) and also made his directorial debut.
Written by first-time director Angelo Pizzo, who penned “Hoosiers,” “Rudy” and “The Game of Their Lives”, the biographical drama follows Steinmark from his Colorado boyhood to his valiant fight against bone cancer that made him a national symbol of courage.
Written and directed by Angelo Pizzo , whose past credits as a screenwriter (“Hoosiers,” “Rudy,” “The Game of Their Lives”) define him as a specialist in inspirational sports sagas, “My All-American” traces Steinmark’s short but eventful life — from his salad days in his native Denver to his impressive performances as a safety for the storied 1969 UT Longhorns football team.
“My All American” pays lip service to a number of minor subplots — Freddie’s relationship with his high school sweetheart, Linda (Sarah Bolger); his role as a football surrogate for his father (Michael Reilly Burke), whose sports career ended because of injury; the death of Bobby’s brother in Vietnam — but filmmaker Angelo Pizzo (writer of “Rudy” and “Hoosiers”) doesn’t seem particularly interested in life as it is lived off the field.
How could Pizzo, the guy responsible for writing the sports classics “Hoosiers” and “Rudy,” go so wrong in telling what should have been another three-hanky slam dunk?
The film is reminiscent of the 1986 classic, Hoosiers , in which Gene Hackman's Norman Dale, an unemployed high school basketball coach, travels to the small town of Hickory , Indiana to teach a group of boys the fundamentals of basketball.
If you've seen it once, you've seen it a dozen times, even in classic sports movie like Hoosiers that get away with it: the rah-rah speeches, the tension as the team seems to fall apart, and the ultimate victory of the underdogs who overcome great obstacles to become champions.
Three that stand out are Downhill Racer (1969), Hoosiers (1986) and Eight Men Out (1986).
It’s not in the same league as “Hoop Dreams” or “High Flying Bird” or even “Hoosiers” (1986) — what is it about basketball-movie titles and the letter “h”? — but it’s smart and agreeable and, emotionally, it gives a true bounce.
The underdog sports story is well-worn territory, especially in Hollywood, where these against-all-odds stories are eternal crowd-pleasers–from Hoosiers to Rudy to Rocky , we’ve seen it, and we’ve seen it done well.
“Obsession wins over talent” is one of the many courtside platitudes you’ll hear — like the genre Hall of Famer Hoosiers, this is a basketball movie that does double duty as a Coaching 101 handbook — and you never doubt that this film has a lot of obsession.
Whether it’s “Rocky,” “Hoosiers,” “Soul Surfer, “Crooked Arrows,” “Turbo,” “American Underdog,” “Heart of Champions,” or even the documentary “Manny,” there’s really only one way to tell these stories.
Even the familiarity of it all feels like a balm; to watch films like Creed or Hoosiers or Friday Night Lights hit their well-worn beats time and again — the humble beginnings, the training montage, the third-act showdown — is to know that there is still hope (at least on screen) for the Little Guy.
Back in the day it was called “Hoosiers,” a film that became a beloved classic.
“Hoosiers” fans have nothing to fear from this one.
Others followed, including such fine movies as Hoosiers (1986) and Remember the Titans (2000); the list goes on and on.
The new movie may seem like “Hoosiers” (1986), but it’s nowhere near as pushy with the rah-rah-ness.
For all underdog sports team movies, from Hoosiers (1986) to Remember the Titans (2000), from The Bad News Bears (1976) to The Mighty Ducks (1992), uses it.
Like Gene Hackman’s Coach Dale in “Hoosiers,” Jim White is a flawed man with a passion.
F1 may not hit the emotional highs of Hoosiers…
This, Eberts best film of the 1990s, is major league compared to cloying 1986 crowd-pleaser Hoosiers aka Best Shot and to most other feel-good fictions of sports as metaphor for the redemptive in the American Way of Life.
Think of a Hickory game from director David Anspaugh’s “Hoosiers” (1986), but about an hour before tip-off with gentle Steadicam strolls and a soft, smoky haze over a lens that offers a slight emotional distance.
…you also get the picture that Anderson's preferred style of filmed basketball is more "Hoosiers" than modern NBA…
It's like Hoosiers except instead of Dennis Hopper, there's a dog... and it's sober.
Simply put, it is the best sports film since 1993's "Rudy."
"HOOSIERS" is a rousing work of hoops and hooplah from the state that's already given us such cheering American institutions as "Breaking Away" and David Letterman.