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Remember the Titans (2000)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
5/04, 5/24
5/24:
I hate those "based on a true story" movies because it'll give me a lot of ammunition to rip them apart, no matter how good
they are.
This time, it's Remember the Titans. Granted, it scores well in a lot of areas that can sometimes be twenty times
Brian's Song on the high school level. Then, there are stuff that either never happened
or differed too much from the actual events. Finally, it loses me for good in the home stretch by being another football
picture.
Yeah, Gerry Bertier looks like a fine upstanding guy with great character traits, but the reality is that he drove drunk
and got himself in a single-car accident which occurred a few days after the state title game. At least, he'll be forever
remembered by being kissed on the lips by Sunshine who only received the nickname not because he's from California but of
his sensitive eyes when he's out in the sun. And no...the kissing part never happened in real life. Ether way, it's a
strange moment, indeed.
Racism? Nah, there was no such thing. Only a stone's throw from Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, had been an
affluent, integrated city for a long time. It's where many of the people connected to politics reside in. The whole film
was shot on location in Georgia to make Alexandria seem like the Jim Crow South that it never was.
How about racism on the football team? Nobody fought each other because of this issue but over starting positions because
there were too many good, albeit long-haired, players due to the merger of three high schools into one, making itself a
state football superpower. Hence, the 13-0 team rolled over its opponents by a scoring differential of 357-45 with nine
shutouts. All the schools they played against were also integrated. The state title game? Nah, it wasn't close but a 27-0
blowout. National runner-ups? Gee...only if there existed an actual game. The team was simply voted second in some poll. Of
course, there was no unique dance warm-up, either.
While watching the film, I became interested in this name: T.C. Williams. I had never heard of it before, and after
looking him up on the internet, it turns out he was a staunch segregationist. Now, this is extremely funny:
Remember the Titans is a Disney movie that's about overcoming fake racism at an integrated high school named after
a segregationist. Sometimes, the truth can be stranger than fiction. T.C. Williams High School was eventually renamed
in...2021. The people in Alexandria sure take the longest time to wake up, huh?
Oh, yeah...Coach Herman Boone...the big bad Boone. He's a mother, huh? It turns out his players hated him so much that
he was fired from his job, and Boone never found another coaching job. Again, racism had nothing to do with it; he was
rather hateful and abusive in the mold of Woody Hayes and Frank Kush who caused a mutiny among his players. Even three
of Boone's assistant coaches quit out of their own volition. After the movie came out, Boone capitalized on his new fame
by giving $10,000 or $15,000 speeches while making up stuff about himself and the team. Talk about winning the lottery.
By the way, 50,000 people didn't die at Gettysburg, but yeah, it remains the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil.
As for the performances, Denzel Washington is a '10' by playing himself to perfection, but he's rendered less effective
toward the end. I have to say that his character's single-minded focus is disturbing...it's only high school football.
Jeez, nobody cares. Will Patton is fine but has a weird, unexplainable moment when he decided to bench Petey (editing
issue?). Everybody else on the team is excellent even though roughly eight are featured a lot with Ryan Hurst standing out
the most as Gerry Bertier. The worst and most annoying character of the film is Yoast's little stupid daughter who
comically said at the beginning, "In Virginia, high school football is a way of life." Boone's girl should've yelled at
her, "Just the shut up! And go away forever!" If it's any consolation, the real-life daughter died of heart failure in
1996 at age 34.
All in all, "history is written by the winners" is the perfect tagline for Remember the Titans because they sure
made up a lot of shit.