To sum up the 2000 movie “Remember the Titans” in a word, all you have to do is look at the title: it is memorable. This movie inspires your faith in humans and arouses your love of football and team sports, making you leave the theater feeling happy and hopeful.
The movie follows Coach Boone (Denzel Washington), the new African-American head coach of the T.C. Williams High School Titans football team. The movie is set in 1971, when white and black high schools had just merged to form T.C. Williams, despite racism still being strong. Coach Boone is replacing the Titans’ previous head coach, Coach Yoast (Will Patton), who is white.
All of the white players refuse to play under Coach Boone, firmly against having an African-American coach. While Coach Yoast is angry about being demoted from the head coach spot, he still does not want to jeopardize his players’ football careers just because of the skin color of their coach. Thus, Yoast decides to join Boone’s staff as an assistant, convincing the white players to play.
With the white and black players now playing as one team, the coaching staff must face the challenge of making them cooperate and work together.
Details I Enjoyed
This movie does a great job showing what it is like to be a part of a team sport, specifically football. Coming together as a team and forming special bonds with teammates is something that cannot be described in words, yet this movie does a great job conveying this feeling in just 113 minutes. You get to watch the teammates overcome racism and realize that they aren’t so different after all, forming unique and deep relationships.
For example, at the start of the movie, Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (Wood Harris) despise each other, frequently disrespecting each other in practice. Eventually, Bertier and Campbell learn to see past each other’s skin color, becoming best friends and joining together as leaders of the team. By the end of the movie, they refer to each other as brothers and form a special bond.
The acting in the movie is incredible, making these characters seem like real high school buddies you would talk to in the locker room. Bertier and Campbell’s development in their relationship is very well done. Donald Faison does a great job portraying Petey Jones as the “hothead” and jokester that must learn to take things seriously on the field. Shoutout to Jerry Harris (Craig Kirkwood) and Louie Lastik (Ethan Suplee) for the amazing singing, and Alan Bosley (Ryan Gosling) for the amazing dance moves.
Speaking of the singing, the soundtrack is also spectacular. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell leads the soundtrack, and it is a great song. One way the black and white players begin to join together is through music, and they unify over very lovable songs.
Criticisms
I don’t have much to criticize about this movie, as nearly every aspect is very well done. If I had to criticize one thing, it would be the kind-of predictable plot. It is a stereotypical feel-good story, and while I won’t spoil the ending, you walk out of the theater feeling happy. In a sense, this might allow you to predict the plot, but there are many unexpected twists and turns throughout the movie, including a shocking twist near the end.
Conclusion
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It paints a great picture of a team environment that makes you feel like you’re great friends and teammates with all of the characters.
Final Rating: 9.5/10
If you are interested in watching this movie, it is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
