Y'know the ones like Miracle where the underdog US Hockey team succeeds because of the awe-inspiring coaching ... or Rudy, where the star does whatever he needs to get to Notre Dame to play football ... We Are Marshall where the football team is killed in a plane wreck and a brand-new, untried coach needs to step up and re-build the morale of the team and the school ... or Radio where the team gets a new assistant "coach" who they first abused ... or movies like Glory Road or Remember the Titans -- both movies about racial inequalities righted on the playing field ... or The Rookie where
Well, tonight we watched such a movie ... but this one has a bit of a twist. Believe in Me is about a small town high school in Oklahoma. A small town high school where the girls' basketball team is nothing ... gets only the boys' hand-me-downs and little funding ... gets only left-over coaches. That is until Coach "Driscoll" (real-life coach's name is Jim Keith) ... a man who thought he would head-coach the boys but gets "stuck" with the girls ... and leads them to succeed. This is a great underdog wins type of movie ... a great, spirit is more important than funding type of movie ... a great dedication brings success type of movie. Don't forget to watch thru the credits as there is an interesting bit at the very beginning ....
Staring Bruce Dern as the bad "this is my town" character, Jeffrey Donovan as the Coach and Samantha Mathis as his wife, this movie far exceeded our expectations. Check any of these out (and pardon the language in some -- these are better for kids who know better than to direct-quote a movie!) and you'll enjoy a great family move night!
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4 comments:
Ooooh! Thanks for the suggestions. We are always on the look out for those kinds of flicks. Two that I can recommend (with a language caution only because it has been a while since I've seen them) are The Greatest Game Ever Played and Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius. One that would probably be strictly for the grown-ups is The Flying Scotsman.
Also... Glory Road. Again, I don't remember for what age it might be appropriate.
Mary, while Patrick Swayze is cute, it is Dennis Quaid that plays the Rookie. He is a Texas boy (the rookie that is). Dennis is one of my favorite actors.
Ooops, my bad! Of course it's Dennis Quaid (who I think is cuter than Patrick Swayze, dear Carole!).
THANKS for the correction .... I've fixed the post.
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