In 1966, coach Don Haskins and tiny Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) shocked America by knocking off legendary coach Adolph Rupp and all-white Kentucky to win the NCAA basketball championship. Haskins also started five black players in that game, a feat Glory Road would like you to believe was groundbreaking, even though Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were already battling it out in the NBA. Yes, Haskins and the team showed mettle in facing racism and slaying a giant, but this is no Jackie Robinson Story. Directed by James Gartner and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Glory Road throws down the broody machismo and slam-dunk thrills with bravado, and Josh Lucas shines with conviction as the young Haskins, whose roller-coaster takes him from girls’ high-school basketball to the top of the NCAA. It’s Hoosiers lite, driven by righteous grit.
