Hoosiers

HOOSIERS (aka BEST SHOT) (PG)

D: David Anspaugh

Orion/Hemdale (Carter DeHaven & Angelo Pizzo)

US 1986

114 mins

Sports

W: Angelo Pizzo

DP: Fred Murphy

Ed: C. Timothy O'Meara

Mus: Jerry Goldsmith

Gene Hackman (Norman Dale), Barbara Hershey (Myra Fleener), Dennis Hopper (Shooter), Sheb Wooley (Cletus), Fern Persons (Opal Fleener)

Gene Hackman plays the belligerent coach of a hick high school basketball team in the 1950's, pushing them to success in the state finals.

Typical American sports film which pushes the moral that any kind of achievement is enough to absolve your past sins. Hackman even employs town drunk Dennis Hopper as a coach to drill this point home.

Titled 'Best Shot' in the UK, where audiences didn't know what the hell Hoosiers meant. Jerry Goldsmith provides an energetic music score and the performances are good, but the film itself is nothing special.

6/10