Movie

Hoosiers

1986 · 114 min

A sincere, slow-building underdog story that wins you over with quiet grit, small-town warmth and a lump-in-the-throat finish.

Tagline: They needed a second chance to finish first.
Overview: Failed college coach Norman Dale gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to coach a high school basketball team in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher persuades star player Jimmy Chitwood to quit and focus on his long-neglected studies, Dale struggles to develop a winning team in the face of community criticism for his temper and his unconventional choice of assistant coach: Shooter, a notorious alcoholic.

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: warmstrength 3 of 3
earneststrength 3 of 3
upliftingstrength 2 of 3
melancholicstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: redemption
found family
friendship
ambition
grief
Places: small town
school
Era: period
Audience: family
Form: ensemble
true story
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex none

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	4
Horror	0
Humour	3
Realism	8
Romance	2
Tension	5
Darkness	3
Complexity	3
Emotional weight	7

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Details

Genres: drama, family
Directed by: David Anspaugh
Written by: Angelo Pizzo
Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper, Sheb Wooley, Maris Valainis, David Neidorf, Brad Long, Steve Hollar
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography: Fred Murphy
Runtime: 114 min
Country: United States of America, United Kingdom
Languages: English

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Hoosiers

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