Hoosiers

An unexpected late-1986 box-office hit, Hoosiers tells the true story of a group of underdogs who become champions. Set in the 1950s, Hoosiers is about a hard-luck, unemployed college basketball coach (Gene Hackman) who gets a chance to coach a small-town Indiana high-school basketball team. Facing ...more

No matter the quality of the film or its box office success, Gene Hackman has been one of the most consistently interesting actors since 1969's Bonnie and Clyde. In the decidedly straightforward Hoosiers, he could have played his role as written and gotten away with a cliched characterization. As usual, though, he brings a genuine human complexity to his single-minded basketball coach with something to hide. It's somewhat similar to one of Hackman's greatest roles, Harry Caul in The ...more