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VINTAGE MOVIES

Vintage Movies: “Hoosiers”

MAGNET contributing writer Jud Cost is sharing some of the wealth of classic films he’s been lucky enough to see over the past 40 years. Trolling the backwaters of cinema, he has worked up a list of more than 100 titles—from the ’20s through the ’80s—that you may have missed. A new selection, all currently available on DVD, appears every week.

Hoosiers (1986, 115 minutes)

Hoosiers instantly delivers that musty gym smell when basketball players wore hi-top black sneakers and shorts that didn’t droop below the knees. The game was played on courts surrounded by unforgiving walls that began about four feet beyond the baseline, with the closest spectator seats perched five feet above the playing surface. This was basketball contested below the rim, a game that relied more on passing, team defense and set shots than the gravity-defying, “phi slamma jamma” high-wire act of today.

Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is hired to coach Hickory High School in rural Indiana in 1951. After being fired from a high-profile college program for punching one of his players, Dale has exhausted all other avenues of employment. “It’s gotta work out this time, or that’s it for good,” he tells principal Cletus Summers.

“You’re not the new coach?” asks fellow teacher Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey) on Dale’s first day on the job. “You were expecting somebody different?” replies Dale. “Younger, I guess,” says Fleener. “Sorry to disappoint you,” snaps Dale. “I misunderstood Cletus when he said he was hiring someone who’d never coached high school before,” apologizes Fleener. “I coached in college,” says Dale.

Minutes into his first practice, Dale sacks the interim coach and begins unorthodox drills: endless wind sprints and slalom-like dribbling runs between folding chairs. “No team of mine will run out of steam before its opponent. With only six players, we can’t afford to,” says Dale. “This team will be like five pistons, all firing together.” Ollie, his shortest player, gasps, “It seems like we’re in the army.” “You’re in my army,” says Dale, “every day between 3:00 and 5:00.”

Dale attends an impromptu gathering of rabid basketball fans, curious to meet the unorthodox new coach. “Which do you prefer, zone defense or man-to-man?” asks the local pastor who doubles as the team’s bus-driver. The coach just nods his head and smiles. “If Jimmy Chitwood transfers to Terhune, we don’t have a prayer this year,” grouses another, referring to a hotshot local player who hasn’t decided where he’ll suit up this season. The coach shakes a few hands, then shocks the crowd by announcing, “Gentlemen, it’s been real nice talking with you. Good night.”

Under the smoke of burning autumn leaves, Dale watches Chitwood (Maris Valainis) drain shot after shot at an outdoor hoop next to a deserted softball diamond. Mud on the ground makes dribbling difficult, forcing Jimmy to work hard to retrieve the ball. He doesn’t say much, but he’s certainly listening. “You have a special talent,” assesses Dale. “But I can tell you this: I don’t care if you play on the team or not.” The soft-sell works. Jimmy decides to play ball, and the Hickory Huskers are off on the wildest ride of their young lives.