Hoosiers (1986)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

David Anspaugh

Writer:

Angelo Pizzo (written by)

Release Date:

14 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

They needed a second chance to finish first.

Plot:

A coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the championship.

Plot Keywords:

Team | Coach | Indiana | High School | Small Town

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 12

8:00 PM

CW

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Coach Norman Dale
Barbara Hershey	...	Myra Fleener
Dennis Hopper	...	Shooter
Sheb Wooley	...	Cletus
Fern Persons	...	Opal Fleener
Chelcie Ross	...	George
Robert Swan	...	Rollin
Michael O'Guinne	...	Rooster
Wil Dewitt	...	Reverenf Doty
John Robert Thompson	...	Sheriff Finley
Michael Sassone	...	Preacher Purl
Gloria Dorson	...	Millie
Mike Dalzell	...	Mayor Carl
Skip Welker	...	Junior (as Calvert L. Welker)
Eric Gilliom	...	J. June

Also Known As:

Best Shot (UK)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (CFI)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Brownsburg, Indiana, USA

Company:

De Haven Productions

Trivia:

The scene with Jimmy and Coach Dale talking while Jimmy shot baskets was filmed in one take. Maris Valainis said that he "wasn't even listening to him." "I was just concentrating on making them and I made one and they kept going in."

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the basketball scenes at the State Finals, the edges of the backboards are padded. Backboard padding wasn't added until years after the movie setting.

Quotes:

Coach Norman Dale: You know, if everyone is as nice as you, country hospitality is gonna get an awful name.
Myra Fleener: What a pleasant thing to say.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Jane Pauley Show: (2004-10-08)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Do Lord

A superb time-capsule of mid-century, mid-western Americana.

This movie is authentic nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the mid-west in the 50's and 60's. It's what life looked like when I myself "came down to this planet" in the late 1940's and experienced my teens in the 60's.

The old school with high ceilings and gleaming wooden floors, the gyms with the gold-toned wall-tiles, even the hospital scene with the nurse in her starched white uniform -- all evoke a peculiar beauty that you no longer find today.

There is even a scene where a young teen girl yells "NO!" to an unjust referee call, and her pointy glasses and pony tail look so much like me back then, it feels like a glimpse into a parallel dimension.

I'd say this is a must-see experience for people my age -- although all ages can thoroughly enjoy the basketball action.

I'm glad for the social progress since then. But there is a "peculiar beauty" from those times that is starkly missing today.