Hoosiers
Overview
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
high school basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team that wins the state championship. It is loosely based on the Milan High School team that won the 1954 state championship
1954 Milan High School basketball team
The 1954 Milan High School Indians were the Indiana state high school basketball champions in 1954. With an enrollment of only 161, the Indians were the smallest school ever to win a single-class state basketball title in Indiana. The team and town are the inspiration for the 1986 film Hoosiers...
.
Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
stars as Norman Dale, a new coach with a spotty past. The film co-stars Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey , also known as Barbara Seagull, is an American actress. In a career spanning nearly 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema, in several genres including westerns and comedies...
and Sheb Wooley
Sheb Wooley
Shelby F. "Sheb" Wooley was a character actor and singer, best known for his 1958 novelty song "Purple People Eater"...
, and features Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
as the basketball-loving town drunkard. His performance earned him an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination.
The movie was written by Angelo Pizzo
Angelo Pizzo
Angelo Pizzo is an American screen writer and film producer, best known for Hoosiers and Rudy. Pizzo grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of a Sicilian immigrant, and attended Indiana University where he received his bachelor degree in political science. He and his family lived in Ojai,...
and was directed by David Anspaugh
David Anspaugh
David Anspaugh is an American television and film director.Born in Decatur, Indiana, Anspaugh studied at Indiana University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts, after which he taught high school in Colorado. His work as an associate producer on television movies led to his producing and directing...
.
Unanswered Questions
Quotations
If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners.
Stick with your man. Think of him as chewing gum. By the end of the game, I want you to know what flavor he is.