The Movie Glory Road

[TrueblueCATfan]

We just last night watched the movie Glory Road.........I have to say I thought the movie was awesome......Kentucky basketball was not even mentioned until the last part of the movie..I do not see Coach Rupp as a racist like everyone says..he coached blacks on a high school team before coming to UK..

[JPS]

TrueblueCATfan wrote: We just last night watched the movie Glory Road.........I have to say I thought the movie was awesome......Kentucky basketball was not even mentioned until the last part of the movie..I do not see Coach Rupp as a racist like everyone says..he coached blacks on a high school team before coming to UK..




I watched it in the movie theatre and thought it was a good, not great, film from an entertainment standpoint.

From a historical standpoint, it was terrible IMO. And not even really from how they portrayed UK. I was more put-off with the liberties they took and some of the fallacies they used regarding Texas Western.

To me, the biggest fallacy in the whole film (well besides the suggestion that Haskins not only came to Texas Western and won it his veryfirst year, but that he also integrated the programin one fell swoop(again in that very same year)) was the claim that Haskins decided to start five black players in the Finals because of some social reason. (and FWIW, Haskins has been stating for decades now that he didn't start five black players for any social reason).

The fact is that for most of the year Haskins started five black players, and his 7 black players played by far the most minutes of any of the other players on the team throughout the season. The only 'surprise' in the starting line-up was Haskins starting a three-guard lineup (by including Willie Worsley) to try to match UK's reported speed. But that move was replacing one black player for another. It's farshortof what is claimed/implied in the movie.

Jon

PS, I am still trying to find the supposed press conference that Haskins and Rupp and the other coaches were a part of prior to the game. All I've found is a teleconference that happened a few days prior to the teams arriving in Maryland. Nothing really noteworthy to date.

[Katfan74]

Saw the movie and thought it was entertaining, and 1966 was before my time. The one part of it that I don't buy is the "waving" of the confederate flag. Did that really happen? Or was it just to play the whole race angle for the movie?

[HOMEYCAT]

I was 16 that year. . I am certain that I would have heard about someone doing that.

I don't remember it being in the book. My instinct would call it a "theatricalization" So, my guess is that it did not happen. Maybe with smaller flags. Movies tend to take license for dramatic effect.

[Katfan74]

HOMEYCAT wrote: I was 16 that year. . I am certain that I would have heard about someone doing that.

I don't remember it being in the book. My instinct would call it a "theatricalization" So, my guess is that it did not happen. Maybe with smaller flags. Movies tend to take license for dramatic effect.

That's what I thought. Thanks HOMEY!!

[BamaCat86]

I have seen severalposts on earlier threads say that they were at the game and saw no rebel flags in the stands. Two other things in the movie that were not true was freshmen eligibility and the "Dunk" during the game.

[Katfan74]

BamaCat86 wrote: I have seen severalposts on earlier threads say that they were at the game and saw no rebel flags in the stands. Two other things in the movie that were not true was freshmen eligibility and the "Dunk" during the game.
What do you mean the "Dunk" during the game? Is that when the "Dunk" was banned? I thought the ban on the dunk didn't come until a couple years later, during the UCLA run of national titles.

[HOMEYCAT]

I do remember in the mid sixties thinking it ironic that you weren't allowed to dunk in college ball, but you could in high school ball. In Lexington, in those days, lots of players could dunk, but most had to concentrate with a dribble and run-up with no defense. It was rare during a high school game. One time in '63, I saw Catholic get beaten by Dunbar at old McAlister Auditorium at 4th and Broadway. Akid named Richards dunked on us, but it was on a break away.

By the way, there was certainly no Freshman eligibility.....

[Terry L. Wildcat]

BamaCat86 wrote: I have seen severalposts on earlier threads say that they were at the game and saw no rebel flags in the stands. Two other things in the movie that were not true was freshmen eligibility and the "Dunk" during the game.
Freshman were ineligible and the dunk was legal...I was a soph at UK the year of The Runts...Coach Rupp did not let his players dunk.

[HOMEYCAT]

Terry L. Wildcat wrote: BamaCat86 wrote: I have seen severalposts on earlier threads say that they were at the game and saw no rebel flags in the stands. Two other things in the movie that were not true was freshmen eligibility and the "Dunk" during the game.
Freshman were ineligible and the dunk was legal...I was a soph at UK the year of The Runts...Coach Rupp did not let his players dunk.

Okay, so I must have assumed it was illegal in all college ball at that time. But, wasn't it banned in college ball for a while? Not just Rupp? I seemed to remember that it was. One of the draws of Pro ball at the time, I thought, was the dunk....

It happened in those days so rarely in High School ball that it didn't matter.

[HOMEYCAT]

I just went and looked this up....

The dunk was, indeed, banned in college ball in 1967.......and reinstated in 1976...

So, in 1966, the year of the runts....it was legal. :thumbup

[Wildcatcrazy11]

Great movie... one of my all time favorites. If your looking for a documentary on the 1966 season, watch the history chanel. Its a given that any movie based on a historical eventwill have somedistortion in order to create drama. If you want a great movie check it out. Gets most of the big stuff correct without DRASTICALLY changing the story.

[Katfan74]

HOMEYCAT wrote: I just went and looked this up....

The dunk was, indeed, banned in college ball in 1967.......and reinstated in 1976...

So, in 1966, the year of the runts....it was legal. :thumbup

Thats what I thought, this was during the UCLA run of titles. They ran with from 67 til 73. I think.

[BamaCat86]

I wasn't referring to dunking be illegal in the 1965-66 season, I was referring the manner in which they depicted the dunk during the game. I have heard many who were at the game discuss the scene from the movie and they say it wasnt as dramatic in person.

[HOMEYCAT]

I haven't seen the movie, but, I can't remember any dunk from those days being as dramatic and ostentatious as today's dunks. In those days a person, unless he dunked the ball in a business like fashion, would be accused of showboating. (A real insult in those days)

He'd be accused of being a clown.

So, indeed, if the dunk was one of those prissy showy ones you see today, it was, at best, anachronistic.