Where else would I start but to review, arguably the greatest sports movie in history. The 1986 sports spine tingler, Hoosiers remains the pinnacle for sports movies and to this day, gives me the chills during the crescendo of the film. Directed by David Anspaugh, better known for his work on TV hits like Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice, pulls the real life tale of the 1954 Milan, Indiana high School basketball state champions into the fictitious Hickory Hoosiers. The names and faces aren’t real but the drama and character building feel like a true movie classic.

You can go to Wikipedia and get a full recap on the plot and cast here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosiers_(film) but on the Rewindables we will focus on the awards that should have been given out for the movies we select. Our categories for the golden Rewindables  include:

1. Most Rewindable moment – the moment where you are flipping the channels and you catch this part only to be sucked into rewinding to the start of the movie.
2. The “Did you touch my drum kit” award – not necessarily the quote that the world remembers but the one that someone who has seen the movie 25 times would know exactly what movie this is from. Bonus points if you know which show this quote is from.
3. Best “microwave” actor – the actor who hits the screen with their hair on fire and owns their scenes in such a dominating fashion. Small scenes, big value.
4. Best “Over the Top” acting moment – the actor who dials it up like this is the moment that he/she wants on the “In Memoriam” snippet at the 2044 Oscars.
5. The “What show have I seen him/her in before” award – you know, the actor who you’ve seen in 100 shows and never know their name. Every movie has that person.
6. The “That makes no sense moment” – You know what I mean when you see something that makes no logical sense. That moment.
7. Bonus category – Unanswerable questions – I love this stuff where the movie ends but the questions linger on. I have no answers but lots of questions.

Most Rewindable Moment

Like many movies, the climax of the show will always grab you but there are more subtle moments throughout where you see it and the remainder of the movie is like a freight train rolling downhill from there. The moment where the movie finally captures you and you are “all in”. for me that moment is when the town of Hickory is having a referendum about whether Coach Dale (Gene Hackman) is to be fired because he has crossed a line with the boys and the team. Basketball is a religion in Indiana, after all. Jimmy Chitwood, the team star player enters the town hall and egos the famous line to the community “Coach stays, I play. He goes, I go”. The captivating selflessness by the star player, saved the coach and turned the angry mob around. The rest of the movie is pure gold from here. Try and turn it off.

The “Did you touch my Drum kit” Award

I came around to the moment where Coach Dale walks the team into the cavernous championship stadium and the boys are immediately intimidated by the size and the possibility of the sheer number of fans who will come to watch them play. In a classic coach move, he tries to alleviate their concerns by proving to them that the dimensions of the court are exactly the same as the one on their small town school of 60 kids back home. Coach Dale pulls out the measuring tape to prove that the hoop is still 10 feet high and states “I think you will find that it’s the exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory.” Concerns alleviated and instant chills for an old ball coach like me.

Best “microwave” actor

Only one actor completely takes over the screen, every time they are on it even though they are not in more than a handful of scenes. Dennis Hopper hits the screen as Shooter Flatch, the father of one of the players and the local town drunk. Besides his favourite drink, he knows basketball and hits the screen hard with his mixture of a man who is grappling with his issues but grasping the opportunity to show his worth to the town folk and more importantly, his son. He is magnetic to the scenes he’s in and convinces the viewer that he is a fallen man who wants to do better. Magnetic.

Best “Over the Top” acting moment

Although, he is a tour de force in the movie, Gene Hackman (as Coach Dale) is always on the verge of over-hamming the world of coaching into something unrecognizable. He is by far and away the best performance in the movie but his desire to do it “his way” and make the whole community despise every move he makes is, at times, too much. Would I change a thing about the way he plays it? Not a chance. It’s this type of strong character that makes the whole movie work and leaves an indelible impression on the typecast for future movie coaches. Congratulations Gene!

The “What show have I seen him/her in before” award

This one has to go to our man Chelsie Ross, who plays the parent of one of the main players on the team but also represents the main antagonist in the movie. He speaks for the town folk and provides the biggest threat to Coach Dale until he can prove his hard-ass style is a winning style. Where has he been before? Most famously are his sports movies roles as the “only” starting pitcher the the Major League, Eddie Harris and in Rudy as Notre Dame head coach Dan Devine. He shows up here and there as “that guy” who builds the plot but no one knows who he is.

The “That makes no sense moment”

You could go a bunch of different ways here:

Why would a renowned college coach come to a hick town and coach a bunch of scrubs? What would he hire the town drunk to assistant coach when he knows it will go bad? What would possess him to take on the whole damn town that is clearly crazy for basketball?

I’m going with the final shot. It makes no sense to me as an amateur coach that the veteran coach of the South Bend Bears would allow Jimmy Chitwood (who has been dismantling them in the second half) isolate on the final shot of the game. I’m thinking the conversation went like this:

Coach: “Here’s what were going to do. Number 15 has been tearing us up for the past 25 minutes. He’s got about 30 points, made 1 layup and is lights out from the perimeter. We’re going to put Bobby on him straight up and force him to shoot from 20 feet.”

Players:

The rest is history and with it so went the Indiana lore of one Jimmy Chitwood. No doubt, it’s the exclamation mark on the movie and a well-shot sequence but equally perplexing why that was their strategy. On the other side, Coach Dale is going to be run out of town on a rail if he misses but everyone knew that shot was going in. Here is the moment for the sake of it.

Conclusion and Unanswerable Questions:

All in all, Hoosiers is a sports classic that isn’t without its flaws but completely rewindable if you come across it on TV. I was left with questions at the end of it:

Did Jimmy go to College or maybe even Pro? I say he had lot’s of interest from colleges in the area but his silent demeanour and tricky past always got in his way. He’s selling insurance in the nearest “big” town to Hickory.

Did Shooter actually kick the booze after drying out? Again, I say no. The sweet taste of Cherry Whiskey gets the best of him again and he succumbs to the pressures of fatherhood. The ending is not great for the Picket Fence mastermind.

Did Norman and Myra stay together after? I’m going yes here. He’s lucky to have a younger woman in his life and she is happy that he is going places with this coaching gig. He ends up coaching Div II college and she likes the fact that she can teach at the bigger high school in the area.

Truly unanswerable but awesome to think through. Add your comments on your favourites and watch for more Rewindable reviews in the coming weeks.

Papagrande