Hemdale. Dir David Anspaugh; Producer Carter De Haven, Angelo Pizzo; Screenplay Angelo Pizzo; Camera Fred Murphy; Editor C. Timothy O'Meara; Music Jerry Goldsmith Art Dir David Nichols
Gene Hackman
Barbara Hershey
Dennis Hopper
Sheb Wooley
Fern Persons
Brad Boyle
Hoosiers is an involving tale about the unlikely success of a smalltown Indiana high school basketball team that paradoxically proves both rousing and too conventional, centered around a fine performance by Gene Hackman as the coach.
During the opening reels, first-time feature director David Anspaugh paints a richly textured portrait of 1951 rural American life, both visually and through glimpses of the guarded reticence of the people. Dialog rings true, and the characters are neither sentimentalized nor caricatured. Tension is built nicely as the farmboys advance through the playoffs.
Pic belongs to Hackman, but Dennis Hopper gets another opportunity to put in a showy turn as a local misfit.
1986: Nominations: Best Supp. Actor (Dennis Hopper), Original Score
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1986. Running time: 114 MIN.
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