Synopsis

Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is a high school basketball coach whose checkered past has led him to a position with a last-chance team. Made to feel unwelcome by squad members, an icy fellow teacher (Barbara Hershey) and townspeople who nearly have him fired, Dale perseveres with an unwavering passion for the game.

Disk Information

**Theatrical Feature Blu-ray

**Audio Commentary by Director David Anspaugh and Writer Angelo Pizzo
**Hoosier History: The Truth Behind the Legend
**Deleted Scenes - with Introduction by Director David Anspaugh and Writer Angelo Pizzo
**Milan vs. Muncie 1954 Indiana High School Championship Game
**Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Gene Hackman ... Coach Norman Dale

Barbara Hershey ... Myra Fleener

Dennis Hopper ... Shooter

Sheb Wooley ... Cletus

Fern Persons ... Opal Fleener

Brad Boyle ... Whit

Steve Hollar ... Rade

Reviews

Critic Reviews Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes

Richard Schickel TIME Magazine | August 01, 2008

Hackman is wonderful as an inarticulate man tense with the struggle to curb a flaring, mysterious anger.

Rick Groen Globe and Mail | March 21, 2007

Shameless, yes, but open your eyes, close your mind, sit back and enjoy.

James Berardinelli ReelViews | March 21, 2007

Basketball movies don't get any better.

Variety | March 21, 2007

Pic belongs to Hackman, but Dennis Hopper gets another opportunity to put in a showy turn as a local misfit.

Janet Maslin New York Times | May 20, 2003

This film's very lack of surprise and sophistication accounts for a lot of its considerable charm.

Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times | January 01, 2000

It's a movie that is all heart.

Paul Attanasio Washington Post | January 01, 2000

The movie's enormous craftsmanship accumulates till you're actually seduced into believing all its Pepperidge Farm buncombe. That's quite an achievement.