In most of our lives, there has been a teacher that inspired us to achieve
far more than we ever thought we were capable of doing. In most cases they were
tough, pushing us when we wanted to give up. They might have seemed like the
worse person in our lives at the time but looking back they were the best thing
that could have happened to us. Because of this Hollywood as turned to
inspirational teachers and coaches for stories made into films. With movies like
‘Stand by Me’ and ‘Stand and Deliver’ treating the audiences to a chance to see
one person affect the lives of the young minds under his charge. One of the
latest in this long line of films is ‘Coach Carter.’ It is about a man coaching
high school basketball who forces his team to place academics above the sport
they love. He wants them to be well rounded, intelligent adults instead of
dreaming of making it big in sports. Like most movies of this genre, the story,
based on real life. In this case, the experiences of Kenneth Carter flawlessly
played by Samuel L. Jackson. This film combines two genres that are usually
described as inspirational, teaching and sports. In the sports movies, you
usually get an underdog that works hard to achieve the win that everyone thought
was impossible. The school elements always place an importance on the need to
set boundaries and goals for students. The film was produced for a modest budget
of $30 million by MTV. While they had once been known as the first music video
cable network and now, seemed to have moved on to so-called reality shows, they
do come up with films on occasion. This was one of their better achievements and
became their highest grossing film release to date. Like many film biographies,
some liberties were taken with the facts. As always this was done to enhance the
dramatic effects. Hopefully, the film will inspire the young people and adults
watching to look up the real Coach Carter and discover the facts of his story.
The film does have some technical flaws, but the most important thing is the
message comes across loud and clear. This is a film that should be watched as a
family. It directly addresses the current popular attitude that fame and fortune
is something worthwhile to pursue. It stresses the core values of education,
dedication and hard work.
Coming up with the script here is John Gatins and Mark Schwahn. Gatins has
some experiences that lead to a film like this. His two previous screenplays
included a sports flick ‘Hard Ball’ and a teen-oriented comedy-drama ‘Summer
Catch.’ Schwahn penned the teen comedy ‘The Perfect Score’ and a teen slanted
remake of ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,’ Whatever it Takes.’ In this case, the experience
translates nicely to understanding the c, ore audience of teens, suitable for an
MTV production. Gatins and Schawhn get the point across with a combination of
sports and the underlying moral lesson. The script does ramble a bit. It takes a
little too long to get the point across and could have been shortened. It is
also heavy handed with the message of books over basketball. The concept is
pounded into the audience frequently and too forcefully. Perhaps it was felt
that this was necessary to get through to the tee, ns watching, but that is not
giving them enough credit to know what is being said here. There is little here
that hasn’t been said before. You don’t see a film like this for the story as
much as how it is treated. This is a by the numbers story with personal crisis
and parental disagreement coming right on cue. You know how the tale will end
with the kids realizing that Coach Carter’s way is the best for them and out of
all the adults in their young lives he is the only one who cares enough to
believe, in them.
Thomas Carter is also a man who knows his way around the more serious side of
a teen-targeted movie. His credits are far ranging and encompass films like
‘Save the Last Dance’ and ‘Swing Kids’ to television work on some of the most
successful series as ‘Hill Street Blues’ and ‘St. Elsewhere’. This principle
drawback of this film is the need for tighter editing. Clocking in at over two
hours and fifteen minutes Carter allows the plot to drift. What is needed was a
sharper more intense approach. The concentration was on emulating the music
video style engendered by the production company. Despite its length, the film
is a dizzying collection of fast-paced cuts. The images pass through the screen
as rapidly as possible. Perhaps the younger crowd get to make something out of
this methodology, but older viewers are likely to be turned off to some extent.
With a story as potentially powerful as this more steak and less sizzle would
have worked better for a wider audience.
Like many high schools, Richmond High in California has a focus on their
sports teams. Their basketball team, the Oilers, had a lot of problems. As the
film opens, we see that the team members are prone to fighting the other team
instead of outplaying them. The boys are tough in their own eyes, and most have
rather large chips on their shoulders. The school board decides to bring in a
new coach for them, Kenneth Carter. He had once attended the school and set some
records on the basketball court that was still unbroken. This was to be a
relatively minor, part-time position with a salary of only $1,500 for the whole
season. When he initially meets the team, he finds them undisciplined,
self-absorbed and disrespects to any adults in a position of authority. His
first course of action is to make the players sign contracts with him. This
specified a set of firm rules that everyone on the team must follow. They had to
maintain a 2.3-grade point average, above what is required by the league.
Players would be expected to attend class sitting in the front row and dress in
jackets and ties on game days. This change in the way things were done did not
go over well at all with the players. One of their stars, Timo Cruz (Rick
Gonzalez) walks out of practice after a heated argument with Carter. He is
followed by two of the leading scorers on the team. In support for Carter, his
son Damien (Robert Ri'chard) goes against his father’s wishes quitting the
private school he attended to transfer to Richmond and join the team. Some of
the players have more than their share of personal problems off the boards.
Kenyon (Rob Brown) has a pregnant girlfriend Kyra (Ashanti) and plans to give up
on college to marry her and raise the baby. This is admittedly a touch of stunt
casting using popular singer Ashanti to draw in the MTV viewers. To her credit,
she deports her self very well here. Things come to a head when the team fails
to live up to their academic requirements as per the contract. Although they met
the league standards their fell short of Carter’s requirements; his reaction was
to lock them out of practice and games for a week. This resulted in the loss by
default of two games ruining their winning streak. The parents are up in arms,
but Carter is certain that unless they boys learn the importance of education
they will not make it in the world.
The new Blu-ray release of this film is excellent. The video brings new life
to an old story in such a way that you will be mesmerized by the clarity and
quality of it. The Dolby True HD audio gives you a sound stage that not only
reflects reality but is exciting especially when you consider the pounding
soundtrack. Some extras consider the production of the film as well as the real
coach Carter. Of course, since this is an MTV production, there is a music video
included. This is not the best of the genre but well worth watching as a family.