Hoosiers [Best Shot] **** (1986, Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper) – Classic Movie Review 3485

Gene Hackman stars as a crusty burnt-out coach who trains Fifties Indiana high-school boys for basketball success, in the poignant, complex 1986 sports drama classic film Hoosiers [Best Shot].

Director David Anspaugh’s poignant and complex 1986 sports drama classic film Hoosiers [Best Shot] stars Gene Hackman as Norman Dale, a crusty burnt-out basketball coach with a troubled past who is given one last chance to salvage his career. So he trains Fifties Indiana high-school boys for basketball success in this stimulating, sometimes exhilarating sports comedy drama.

Though we’ve been here often before, the old story is given a thoroughly good workout, thanks to the vim of Hackman’s performance, Angelo Pizzo’s truthful, flavourful screenplay, and the zip in Anspaugh’s direction.

Dennis Hopper’s turn as Shooter, the town’s drunken oddball, who finds a second life on the bench as a sober assistant coach, appears to advantage, and he was deservedly nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. It was Hopper’s only ever actor nomination, though he was also nominated for a shared Best Story and Screenplay Oscar for Easy Rider (1969). Jerry Goldsmith was also nominated for an Oscar for his score.

Also in the cast are Barbara Hershey, Sheb Wooley, Fern Parsons, Brad Boyle, Steve Hollar, Brad Long and David Neidorf.

But the real stars are the members of the fictional Hickory High School basketball team, who, despite distraction and pressure from their fellow townsfolk, make their way to the 1952 Indiana state high school basketball championship game.

The movie is based on, or at least inspired by, the true story of a small-town Indiana team that made the state finals in 1954. The Milan High School team won the 1954 state championship.

Hoosiers runs 115 minutes, is made by Hemdale Pictures and De Haven Productions, is distributed by Orion Pictures, and is produced by Carter De Haven and Angelo Pizzo.

Release date: November 14, 1986.

It was made on a low budget of $6 million and grossed more than $28 million.

Hoosiers was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2001 as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

The cast

The cast are Gene Hackman as Coach Norman Dale, Barbara Hershey as Myra Fleener, Dennis Hopper as Wilbur “Shooter” Flatch, Sheb Wooley as Cletus Summers, Maris Valainis as Jimmy Chitwood, David Neidorf as Everett Flatch, Brad Long as Buddy Walker, Steve Hollar as Rade Butcher, Brad Boyle as Whit Butcher, Wade Schenck as Ollie McLellan, Kent Poole as Merle Webb, Scott Summers as Strap Purl, Fern Persons as Opal Fleener, Chelcie Ross as George Walker, Robert Swan as Rollin Butcher, Michael Sassone as Preacher Purl, Gloria Dorson as Millie, Michael O’Guinne as Rooster, Wil Dewitt as Reverend Doty, John Robert Thompson as Sheriff Finley, and Hilliard Gates as Radio Announcer.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,485

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