Remember the Titalns (2000) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris and Ryan Hurst. Written by Gregory Allen Howard. Directed by Boaz Yakin.
Any football coach with a lick of smarts should take his team - en masse - to see "Remember the Titans."
Not because it is a great movie - it is very good, despite its usual quota of sports clichés - but because it is a film that amply displays how a team is forged and how the concept of team can overcome even the most hardened social structures and ideologies.
Alexandria, Va., 1971. The last vestiges of segregation are dying as the school district is finally integrated. At T.C. Williams High School football coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton) has a new assistant coach, Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), a black man with years of coaching experience in South Carolina.
Later, in a political move to appease the black community, Yoast is demoted and Boone is named head coach, but with a codicil: His team cannot lose one game or he will be fired.
This situation causes tension and animosity not only among the coaching staff, but among the players. Boone, though, is determined to fight through these obstacles. He surprises the black players by refusing to show them preferential treatment. Nor will he brook any insubordination from the white players or his assistant coaches.
His message is simple and direct: The only colors on the football field are those on the Titan uniform.
He is first tested when his players board buses to ride to practice. The white players get on one bus, blacks on another. Boone makes everyone disembark and the buses are designated for offense and defensive players, no matter what that player's color.
Washington creates a towering figure in Boone. He never allows his guard to fall, always appearing in control, self-confident, unswaying, single-minded and ferocious in his commitment to forge one cohesive unit from his diverse group of young men.
And Washington accomplishes this feat without being flashy or showy. He is steel, an uncompromising locomotive steaming over all who get in his way, including his assistants.
Washington's Boone is a bully, a tyrant, driving his players to the point where they focus all their thoughts on him, forgetting their differences and uniting in self protection. W orking uneasily at first Boone and Yoast mold these young men into a dynamic, winning team, triumphing over the town's prejudice and the intolerance of many of the people around them.
Patton's Yoast is a less flashy character than Washington's Boone. But in his quiet way, he is as strong as Boone, seeing what the coach is trying to accomplish and helping him along without calling attention to himself.
Patton's performance is something that should be studied by acting students. He serves the purpose of the supporting character, which is to advance the story without hogging the spotlight from the film's nominal star. In this Patton succeeds wonderfully, and he deserves a best supporting actor Oscar nomination if not the statue itself for his portrayal.
Two young actors also deserve recognition: Wood Harris as Julius Campbell, leader of the black players, and Ryan Hurst as Gerry Bertier, the Titans' captain. Like their elders these two begin their relationship under a cloud of distrust and suspicion.
But they rise above their preconceived biases, forging an alliance that puts team ahead of any personal glory.
"Remember the Titans" is a moving, heartfelt drama. It is masterful, packed with emotion and some humor. It is an inspiring movie that should not be missed.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Reviews by Bloom can be found on the Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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