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Hoosiers (1986)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
8/04, 2/25
2/25:
After watching Hoosiers, somebody asked me what the word meant, and I admitted not knowing the
precise answer despite the fact that Indiana had always been called the Hoosier State.
After some research, it turned out that nobody else knew for sure, either. They came up with three possible
theories: 1) In the 1820's, a guy named Samuel Hoosier wanted to hire men from Indiana, not Kentucky, for work,
so they came to be known as Hoosier's men; 2) Surveyors were assigned the task of looking at public land which
was filled with squatters, so they felt obliged to call out, "Who's here?" that got morphed over time into
"Hoosier?"; and 3) Immigrants settling in the mountains of South Indiana were nicknamed "hoozers" because "hoo"
meant "hill" in Old English.
There's truth to one of the characters saying: "This town doesn't like change much, so we thought we'd get
together here tonight and show you how we do things here. We trust that you're a fine, upstanding, God-fearing
man with Christian morals and principles who'll set an example and a standard of leadership for our boys."
What he meant is that Hickory hates black people.
In fact, Indiana is a former Klan state that once boasted the highest membership in the United States by the
early 1920's, having elected more than half of them in local and state governments including a Grand Dragon for
the gubernatorial position. This knowledge makes it extremely hard for black people to get into Hoosiers, a
film about white high school basketball players in a white town against white opponents until the state
championship game when they improbably beat a team with some black players.
However, the serious issue lies within the construction of the story. It's so basketball-focused all the time. All
I see is basketball, basketball, basketball. What about the characters? Who are most of the eight guys
on the team? Even the town drunk is barely developed. Gene Hackman is just there for the rah-rah part, and
Barbara Hershey's character suddenly has a problem with her beloved Jimmy Chitwood being ensnared into the
middle of it. By the way, it's a serious mistake to have the coach kiss her; he's way too old,
and the scene adds nothing to the grand scheme of things.
Now, did everything in Hoosiers happen for real? Milan Indians won it all, but that was in 1954, not 1951, and
there was no Norman Dale. It enrolled 161 (64 in the film) students and, as heavy favorites, beat a bigger school
(Muncie Central) in the state final by a last-second winning shot. That kind of success wasn't a one-time thing as
it had done well the year before, falling short in the state semifinals, and expected a return of four lettermen.
It would mark the last time ever a school this small won Indiana high school basketball state championship. Small
schools usually could advance several rounds of tournament play but always lost when they were finally paired up
with a team from big cities. Here's a fun fact: sophomore Oscar Robertson's Crispus Attucks of Indianapolis lost to Milan
by 13 points in the quarterfinals, but his team won the next two state tournaments, being the first all-black
high school ever in the nation to do so.
As for the performances, they are all terrific. Gene Hackman thought the movie would fail and end
his career permanently. Strangely, Dennis Hopper was Oscar-nominated when he should've gotten it for
Blue Velvet, both released during the same year. Ditto for Maris
Valainis, who plays Jimmy Chitwood, getting so much attention and then almost nothing after finally joining the team.
All in all, Hoosiers is a nice feel-good picture set in the 50's with strong cinematography.