"Hoosiers" - A Small Town Kid Can Dream

I’m appearing on the Hoosier Heartland podcast (run by my childhood and lifelong friend Ben Malcomson) tomorrow night to discuss Hoosiers, so of course I had to write about it. These are just my short thoughts on this classic sports film. For a much more in depth discussion featuring many more viewpoints (plus all of our personal top five favorite sports films), check out the podcast, and go ahead and subscribe to it while you’re at it. Ben puts out a lot of great, in depth content featuring guests from every facet of Indiana sports.

Essential Indiana Viewing

Growing up in a small town in Indiana, Hoosiers is pretty much required viewing. I had a very typical childhood and young adult life in Indiana. Basketball was a constant focus, even though I was average at best and the teams I was on never had a winning record. Basketball was just something that was part of your life. 

Hoosiers does a terrific job of capturing this mentality, and the film is still relevant despite the changes in sports culture in Indiana over the years. It takes place in the 1950s, when basketball was the main point of entertainment for many small towns. It came out in the 1980s, when basketball was still a major form of entertainment and Indiana University basketball was in its Bob Knight heyday. And now, in 2020, the film still rings true, although to a lesser degree. Many small schools have been consolidated, and basketball now has to compete with the internet for kids’ attention. But in small towns like mine, basketball is still a big deal. The crowds at the games have shrunk to mostly just parents and family at this point, but everyone still has an opinion about the coach, and we all still care about our local team, even if the passion has lessened over the years.

Watching Hoosiers brings that passion right back. The David vs. Goliath narrative, the music, the cast, the locations...it all comes together to recreate a way of life for this part of the country. Personally, the locations are the most effective aspect. My gym in Cannelton, Indiana, was considered for the film but ultimately not used. The fact that it was considered meant that our gym still felt like old Indiana basketball. Beyond the gym, the high school they used in the film eerily mirrors the high school I went to (and eventually taught at for nearly a decade). I can identify with this movie on a level that I can’t with any other film. 

In the behind the scenes material, the writer (Angelo Pizzo) and director (David Anspaugh) talk about how they worried the film would end their careers and were amazed they were given the money to make it because who cares about Indiana high school basketball outside of Indiana? It turns out a significant portion of America cares. I believe it’s largely the Midwest and small towns, but plenty from all over find something to identify with in this film. It is very much a basketball movie, but it’s also about people; people who feel stuck in a small town, people who are on their last chance, people who have been dismissed but have one chance to prove themselves. Basketball is actually secondary when you consider character arcs of all the people in the film.

Watching the film this time, Dennis Hopper’s character stuck out to me the most. As the town drunk, Hopper is taken in by Gene Hackman and given a chance to help coach. The goal is to get sober so he can stop embarrassing himself and his son. In the most memorable scene (for me, at least), a drunk Hopper stumbles onto the court yelling at the refs. He had been doing great up to that point, but then he fell off the wagon. He spends the rest of the film in the 1950s equivalent of rehab. I like this subplot for multiple reasons. First, I like the realism of it. Hopper is seeking treatment at the end, but he’s definitely a work in progress. Helping the team didn’t cure him. Alcoholism is presented as a tough problem rather than something that can be fixed if given a bit of responsibility. Secondly, Hopper’s character represents another generational aspect of small town life: drinking. The gyms I played in during high school were within walking distance of bars, and some fans would spend halftime there. No one ever pulled a Hopper, but his character still shines a light on that part of small town life. It’s not all rah rah basketball and good farm living. 

That written, Hoosiers does ultimately leave feeling pretty fucking rah rah by the end of the film, and that’s the lasting effect of the film. I grew up playing on my backyard basketball court (one of four in my neighborhood) pretending to take the game winning shot of a sectional or state championship. Even at a young age, I knew the likelihood of playing in such a game, much less hitting the winning shot, was very slim, but a kid could dream. And Hoosiers helped keep that dream going. In the end, basketball in Indiana isn’t just about winning (at least it certainly wasn’t for me). It’s about the chance to win. Hoosiers helped keep us going throughout junior high and high school. Yeah, we were never a good team, but if Hickory could win it all, then Cannelton could, too. We never did during my playing days, but we always felt like we had a chance, and Hoosiers captured that feeling perfectly.

Why Do I Own This?

To steal a joke from Wayne's World, if you live in Indiana this movie is issued to you. Actually, though, I had to buy it recently. It's a movie I watched so much growing up that I didn't feel the need to own it. But I'm glad I have it now to revisit again in the future.

Random Thoughts

For the record, Cannelton did win a sectional in 1998 (the year before my high school career began), the first year of class basketball. I still remember that weekend. It was definitely our town’s Hoosiers moment.

Been a while since I’ve watched this...and I cannot believe how much the school looks like my high school.

Jimmy Chitwood is a dick. He's like a reluctant dildo superhero. 

I love the music, but at times it is not fitting and almost sounds like something out if Romero's Day of the Dead.

I forgot how deadly serious this movie is. 

I love seeing Chelcie Ross disappointed. 

There are some jarring cuts in this film. The main one that comes to mind is the break in the winning montage to show Hackman shoving Hopper's face under water.

We always sucked in high school, but sectional time still felt as important and exciting as this movie made it seem like. 

..

"Little Red Wagon"

Directed by David Anspaugh, written by Patrick Sheane Duncan, starring Chandler Canterbury, Anna Gunn, Daveigh Chase, Frances O'Connor, and Dylan Matzke - Rated PG

 

I don't usually go for the feel-good movies, but this one really did make me feel good...

 

 

“Family friendly” is not a term that normally defines the type of films that I watch and enjoy.  If you skim over my past reviews, you’ll see that I stick to a steady diet of blockbuster/sci-fi films and art house fare, with an occasional deviation.  I do this because I feel like my purpose as a “critic” is to weigh in on movies I would normally seek out and like-minded individuals can use my opinions to decide what they watch (or people can just read it and tell me how wrong I am).  I don’t review many family films because they are not meant for me.  That said, I recently watched Little Red Wagon, directed by Indiana native David Anspaugh (of Hoosiers and Rudy fame).  I checked out this inspirational, family friendly film for three reasons: the Indiana connection, my love of getting early access to films, and it sounded like an interesting story.

 

Little Red Wagon is about a little boy, Zach Bonner(Chandler Canterbury), in Florida who begins a charitable mission to raise awareness (and donations) for homeless children.  It begins small, with Zach going door to door in his neighborhood picking up donations and hauling them away in his red wagon.  Zach is helped by his teenage sister and single mom.  His charitable nature eventually attracts the attention of the media and politicians, and his cause grows by leaps and bounds to the point that Zach decides to walk to the state capital.  To add effect to the story, a parallel narrative follows a widowed mother and her young son as they struggle with poverty. 

 

This is a story that could easily fall into cheesy “gee whiz!” material, but it does manage to rise above the gloss and deal with serious issues throughout.  You wouldn't know that listening to the score, however.  The music that accompanies this film sounds like stock music from an after school special in the 1980s.  Normally a score wouldn't raise many issues with me, but the music nearly took me out of the film entirely.  At some points, it even takes away the emotional impact of some scenes, as if to say, “We don't trust that you'll understand how the characters feel, so here's some music just to be safe.”  It's insulting and annoying.

 

Little Red Wagon survives the atrocious score thanks to some truly emotional moments.  The struggle between Zach's sister, Kelley, (Daveigh Chase, Donnie Darko) and mother, Laurie, (Anna Gunn, “Breaking Bad”) struck me as the most real moments of the film.  Kelley might come off as a selfish teenager when she complains about being forced to help out with Zach's cause, but it's not that simple.  When Zach decides to walk to the capital, he doesn't seem to realize what that means for his sister and mother.  He has good intentions, but it causes them to drop everything for his cause.  Sure, there's always the argument that they should be charitable and stop thinking about themselves, but the reality of the situation is that most people wouldn't be happy being forced to be charitable. 

 

The parallel storyline has the most compelling moments, though.  Frances O'Connor does a fine job portraying the struggling mother as she drags her son from one terrible situation to another.  It borders on melodrama, but the performances keep it afloat, particularly that of child actor Dylan Matzke.  He seems so genuine when he is frightened or excited.  You can't complain about melodrama when the performances add up.  In fact, Matzke may have been the better choice for the lead role.  Canterbury carries the film, but there are a few weak moments throughout the film.  He just can't sell his excitement and disbelief like Matzke can. 

 

These critiques don't really add up to the main purpose of the film, which is why I am not necessarily suited to write about it.  But as I watched, it occurred to me that this would have been a film that could have inspired me when I was younger.  This is truly a film for children because it speaks to them. 

 

Little Red Wagon is a family friendly inspirational tale with moments of raw emotion.  The music nearly deflates many moments of the film, but it makes it through.  This is still not the type of movie I would normally get excited about, but it is a moving piece of cinema and should be extremely effective with its core demographic.