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MAR26001

(2006), PG [PG-PG*] (1hr 48min)

Analysis Date
CAP Final Score
CAP Influence Density
MinMax
January 12, 2006
78 out of 100
0.40
-59

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Christian Long Distance

SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:
(This section may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)

If Scriptural references appear, the full text appears at the end of the Summary / Commentary.



(2006), PG [PG-PG*] -- Talent was rich but style had to be loosed.


Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database
Production (US): Glory Road Productions LLC, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Walt Disney Pictures
Distribution (US): Buena Vista Pictures
Director(s): James Gartner
Producer(s): Jerry Bruckheimer, Andy Given, Chad Oman, Pat Sandston, Mike Stenson
Written by: Chris Cleveland, Bettina Gilois
Cinematography/Camera: Jeffrey L. Kimball, John Toon
Music: Trevor Rabin
Film Editing: John Wright
Casting: Craig Fincannon, Lisa Mae Fincannon
Mark Fincannon, Ronna Kress
Production Design: Geoffrey Kirkland
Art Direction: Kevin ConstantViewed At: Driftwood Theater 6


I fully expected Glory Road to earn a CAP G equivalence since I was able to spend more time watching than taking notes. However, once the number crunching was finished, the CAP analysis model proved itself again. Glory Road earned a final score of 78 which places it squarely in the middle of the scoring range earned by PG films (68 to 86 out of 100) in the comparative baseline database. In some ways, that is good news. But in some ways it is not.

The scoring was hit hard in Impudence/Hate (I) due mainly to racism and racially derogatory comments, insults and behaviors. [Prov. 15:17, Gal. 5:19 - 21] The three/four letter word vocabulary was not ignored as seven of them bellowed from the speakers. [Col. 3:8] Fortunately, there were no instances of the most foul of the foul words.

The next severe scoring drain was in Drugs/Alcohol (D). Booze, drinking and drunkenness were rather thick. It doesn't matter whether the players really did drink and get drunk, portrayal of it in and as entertainment is dangerous. I would like this to be clearly noted since the American College of Physicians (ACP) and others such as the University of Connecticut have found that the presentation of alcoholic beverages in the entertainment and advertising media has been directly linked to abuse of alcohol by youth. In the case of the ACP finding, the middle school age stratum was the study population. [Eph. 5:18] Please be aware of this reality.

While there were a couple uses of God's name in vain without the four letter expletive, there were no uses with it noted. Nevertheless, with or without the foul letter expletive, God doesn't like us using His name in vain. [Deut. 5:11]

Though both the Impudence/Hate and Drugs/Alcohol investigation areas revealed programming morally equivalent to many R-rated films, each of the remaining four investigation areas (Wanton Violence/Crime [W], Sexual Immorality [S], Offense to God [O] and Murder/Suicide [M]) revealed programming clearly equivalent in magnitude to G-rated films in the comparative baseline database.

Kevin Costner look-alike Josh Lucas plays Coach Don Haskins, the high school girls basketball coach who took the 1965 Texas Western College basketball team to the NCAA championship. What is unusual is that he did it with black players; with an all-black starting line-up. This had never been done before and was not looked upon kindly by the local population nor the basketball officials ... until they won the NC2A. Thus the tag line "Winning is everything."

This real life drama film is about a pivotal point in the history of US basketball. The Miners of the small and poor Texas Western College climb from an all-white losing team to NCAA champions in one year, winning by one point over four-year title holders, University of Kentucky Wildcats under "Baron" Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight).

The Miners were well on their way to the championship until they met a team who were exceptionally skilled. Coach Haskins had drilled the Miners into playing basic basketball without all the twists, leaps and hoop-hanging until Texas Western's star guard Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke) begged Haskins to let the Miners use their own individual styles. And it worked. Their 27-1 record helped but it wasn't enough. Talent was rich but style had to be loosed.

For most of the first half of the film, Haskins and his assistants Russ Moore (Red West) and Moe Iba (Evan Jones), recruit the new team from curbstone and chainlink fence ball players from all over the country. Hill hailed from Detroit. Nevil Shed (Al Shearer) was pulled from the streets of New York City. Both Harry Flournoy (Mehcad Brooks) and Orsten Artis (Alphonso McAuley) came from the steel mills of Gary, Indiana. David "Daddy D" Lattin (Schin A.S. Kerr) was brought from Houston. Rounding out the team are Willie Cager (Damaine Radcliff), Jerry Armstrong (Austin Nichols), Dick Myers (Mitch Eakins), Louis Baudoin (James Olivard), Togo Railey (Kip Weeks).

Echoing Bruckheimer's Remember the Titans, the racial blockades ingrained into so many evaporate as dependence on fellow teammates slowly conquers color and social conditioning. While the on-court racial jeers and off-court racial violence threaten to tear down the teammanship that developed as the mixed-race team fought for the same "cause", Bruckheimer is successful in repairing the damage done by society and history. Glory Road is the same formula as Titans with a little more sinister added.

As with most moving films, there is much more to the story and plot but these matters are for your discovery should you opt to see this film. My job is to give you the information to hopefully put you in a better position to make an informed moral decision whether a film is fit for your family.

Most of the racially negative programming was in slurs, insults, jeers and other verbal jabs at the African American race. One instance of racial hatred was in the form of splashing blood about the motel room some of the black Miners were using and writing words of hate in blood on the walls.

While Glory Road indeed portrays a magnitude of racial hatred equivalent to some R-rated films, each portrayal of it was not as cold and bitter and acidic as in most R-rated films. As "sanitized" or minimized as the racial hatred might be for this PG film, the power of the film to effectively express the richness of camaraderie found in teamwork is not daunted by the "sanitization" of the racial hatred. Contrast is quite adequate to jerk the tears and fill the heart with joy as racial barriers are overcome and destroyed.

Please consider well the listing of findings in the Findings/Scoring section before you make your decision whether to view this Disney film which retells the story of the redirection of basketball.


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SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S)
If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page.

CHAPTER/VERSE

  • Prov. 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
  • Gal. 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those [unforgiven] who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
  • Col. 3:8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
  • Deut. 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. [Vain is shav' {shawv}: emptiness, nothingness, vanity, such as an expletive. With or without the four letter expletive, the use of God's name in any way other than respect, reverence or thoughtful discussion is in vain. That includes the popular three syllable sentence with His name trailing it AND the misuse of Jesus' name.]
  • Eph. 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ["Wine" can be any intoxicating substance including illegal drugs or abuse of prescription drugs. This issue is do not get intoxicated. Though it is not a sin to drink, it is a sin to get drunk OR to influence to get drunk or to drink in defiance. A study by the American College of Physicians (ACP) has found an undeniable link between the presentation of alcoholic beverages and tobacco in and as entertainment and abuse of them by adolescents. And teaching/causing youth to abuse alcohol/tobacco (or drugs) by emboldening youth with them in and as entertainment invokes Luke 17:2. If alcoholic beverages in entertainment were not a problem for our young, why would there be and why has there been such a push to get and keep booze commercials off prime time broadcast TV? Even the University of Connecticut unknowingly corroborates the ACP finding.]

    ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry***
  • Ps. 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men [e.g., create progressively vile/offensive entertainment with impunity and no consequences to younger and younger audiences every year when enough people continue to defend it, embrace it, pay for it, enjoy it, want it].
  • Col. 2:8 Beware lest any man [by his influence] spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
  • 1 Cor. 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
  • Rom. 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
  • Jude 1:4 For there are certain men* crept in unawares [secretly slipped in among us], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation [whose condemnation was written about long ago], ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [a license for immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [*men: anthropos {anth'-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]
  • Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto [or for] one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto [or for] me.
  • Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. ["Offend": skandalizo - to entice to sin; to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away. "Little ones": mikros - little;, small of age; younger which can include at-home teens].
  • Ps. 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me [let no sin rule over me].
  • John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
  • 1 Thess. 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. ["Evil" includes all things that are sinful.]


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    As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie.
  • FINDINGS / SCORING:
    (The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary/
    Commentary section.
    )

    Glory Road (2006) CAP Thermometers

    Wanton Violence/Crime (W)
  • physical assault, once
  • unsportsmanlike conduct ordered by the coach (Rupp)

    Impudence/Hate (I)
  • seven uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary
  • "Rule #1 ... let's get into some trouble"
  • racially derogatory insults, comments and slurs, repeatedly
  • crime against men based on race - spreading blood about a black men's motel room

    Sexual Immorality (S)
  • adult in towel only
  • adult in underwear, twice

    Drugs/Alcohol (D):
  • bar, repeatedly
  • booze, repeatedly
  • drinking, repeatedly
  • drunkenness, repeatedly

    Offense to God (O)
  • two uses of God's name in vain without the four letter expletive

    Murder/Suicide (M)
  • none noted











  • Christian Educators Association International







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    There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our more than eight years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings.



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