Cheap Hoosiers (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD) (Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey) (David Anspaugh) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hoosiers (2-Disc Collector's Edition)

A classic and good all around sports movie.
What a great movie this is. It has everything in it. Good Basketball, drama and ultimately triumph. A movie that shows a team or character that beats the odds and comes out a winner is always great to see. Even better is when it happened in real life. This is what this movie is based on, a tiny farming town in 1950's Indiana that rose above the odds and became the state champion by between a high school powerhouse that was at least 6 or 7 times bigger in population than the little high school.

Gene Hackman plays the coach of the team who has a mysterious background. He reminds me a bit of how the famous Bobby Knight is, a hard disciplinarian who instills pride, respect and total commitment to being the best. Barbara Hershey plays his protaganist at the beginning of the movie, but later becomes the love interest. Dennis Hopper, plays the town drunk, but who is also the source of basketball strategy that the team rely's on.
The high school basketball team players are unknown actors, but who cares? They do a great job.

It is also nice to see how the town really is supportive of the team, but that is how Indiana Basketball is in reality. The "innocence" of the 1950's is also shown in the movie, when things were a bit simpler and people had alot of faith in religion. That is nice to see as well, since I know alot of small farming communities do rely on the local church for their needs.

But all in all this is a great sports movie. It would seem hard to believe that such a small school can become a champion in sports, but that is what makes it great! I like to see it when an underdog can overcome and become a champion, like what Chaminade University did in 1983, when it beat the mighty Ralph Sampson and the University of Virginia in a pre-season tournament, or when Villanova beat the mighty Georgetown to become NCAA Basketball Champions in 1986 (I think).

Anyways this is a HIGHLY recommended movie!

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Magical
From the opening scenes of this film--majestic shots of a car traveling the rural midwest on a crisp autumn morning--HOOSIERS serves notice to the viewer that he or she is in for a wonderful movie experience. Set in a tiny Indiana town half a century ago, HOOSIERS captures the look and feel of rural Americana, of a hardworking people with a single commonality: their love for basketball. The pure innocence of this film, innocence long lost over the subsequent decades, is magical.

Gene Hackman portrays Coach Norman Dale, an outsider who comes to basketball-crazy Hickory, Indiana, to coach the high school team. Haunted by mistakes made in his past, Dale is eager for the second chance he has been given. Immediately, his no-nonsense, stress-the-fundamentals coaching philosophy puts him at odds with the town, yet Dale refuses to compromise his principles. He survives--barely--a petition for his ouster, and the rest of the movie warmly portrays the town of Hickory and its high school basketball team coming together, a team that makes a magical run through the Indiana State Tournament.

Barbara Hershey as Myra Fleener, Hickory's assistant principal, and Sheb Wooley as superintendent/principal Cletus--the man who hires Dale--are solid. Yet Dennis Hopper gives the best performance as Wilbur "Shooter" Flatch. Shooter, a former great player himself and father of one of the boys on Coach Dale's team, is the town drunk; despite his alcoholism, his knowledge of the game is immense, and Dale enlists his aid. The reformation of this character--the feeling and depth that Hopper gives this role--is exceptional.

Director David Anspaugh gives us a sensational "feel good" movie, augmented by Jerry Goldsmith's powerful musical score. HOOSIERS tells a beautiful story, so magical in its depiction you'll be cheering from your chair. Highly recommended.

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Hoosiers a real life story
I lived in Milan,Indiana when this happened and if all that enjoyed the movie want the real story as told by Bobby Plump the hero just get the book "Bobby Plump Last of the small town heros" A wonderful film but a wonderful happening in real life..sort of the small guys winning over the big guys and who doesn't love that..