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Hoosiers

Hoosiers

Drama · Family · 1986

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.

Movie details

Hoosiers

“They needed a second chance to finish first.”

1986 Drama · Family 1h 54m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Hoosiers?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

David Anspaugh

Written by

Angelo Pizzo

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman

Norman Dale

Barbara Hershey

Barbara Hershey

Myra Fleener

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

Wilbur "Shooter" Flatch

Sheb Wooley

Sheb Wooley

Cletus Summers

Maris Valainis

Maris Valainis

Jimmy Chitwood

David Neidorf

David Neidorf

Everett Flatch (#21)

Brad Long

Brad Long

Buddy Walker (#14)

Court is in session

Put Hoosiers on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.