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New York Times
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Gene Hackman in ‘Hoosiers': On Camera, ‘He Really Went to Town'
Gene Hackman portrayed a long list of acclaimed characters in his career: Buck Barrow, Little Bill Daggett, Popeye Doyle. But one of his most beloved roles was that of Coach Norman Dale in 'Hoosiers,' a 1986 film that is often cited as one of the greatest sports movies ever made. In the film, set in the 1950s, Hackman's character arrives at tiny Hickory High in Indiana. Ups and downs, and eventual sporting triumph, await. The story is inspired by the real success of Milan High, a small school that won an Indiana state title in 1954. While Hackman, who was found dead on Wednesday in New Mexico, didn't win either of his two Academy Awards for the film, his character's presence and quotability make him one of the actor's most memorable creations. After Hackman's death, we spoke to cast members from the film about working with him to make an enduring underdog story. 'Leave the ball, will you George?' 'My first day on the set was the 'Leave the ball, George' scene,' said Chelcie Ross, who played George, the movie's antagonist. In the scene, George starts coaching the team without permission, only to be ordered out of the gym by Coach Dale, who says: 'First of all, let's be real friendly here. My name is Norm. Secondly, your coaching days are over.' 'As a young actor walking in to do a scene with Gene Hackman, it was a little intimidating,' Ross said in a phone interview. 'I was very nervous, and we did the one and only rehearsal. 'He didn't like to rehearse a lot. He didn't like to rehearse at all. Wanted to just do it.' Ross fondly remembered asking Hackman for tips and being told: 'No, you've got this. Do what you're doing.' The scene established George as a bit of a jerk (he eventually tries to have Hackman fired). Ross said he was told that after his audition the decision makers said, 'That's the jackass we're looking for.' 'Have fun Coach, trying to win with five.' Early on, Coach Dale has problems fielding a full team, especially after Buddy, played by Brad Long, quits. 'In the script, it called for me to be kind of surprised,' Long said in a phone interview. 'Gene took me aside and said, 'Brad, I think you might be more angry.' And so I played that scene kind of angry. 'I walked out, and I smacked the door on my way out. That was improvised, and he told me that was a really good choice. We make our own choices, but he would give tips and advice, and I always cherish that.' 'I don't want to be a Terhune Tiger.' That's a line you won't remember unless you watched the deleted scenes on the DVD version of the movie, one of which shows Buddy rejoining the team after deciding not to play for a different school. 'I share about a five-minute dialogue with Coach Dale, where I get my second chance, where I see the error of my ways,' Long said. 'It's just he and I; it's a kind of a tender moment, and it doesn't make it to the screen!' Long said that while the director and writer of the film felt it was a crucial scene, the producers thought that he looked too much like another character, Jimmy, and that audiences would be confused. 'That is a scene that will stick with me,' Long said, 'because I remember concentrating on the scene, and then somebody grabbed me from behind. It was Gene, who said, 'That was great.' And I never forget that came from Gene Hackman.' 'I love you guys.' Hackman's whispered words to his team are one of the movie's emotional high points. 'I was behind a locker, standing back there, just listening,' said Ross, who was not in the scene. 'He didn't make an emotional thing out of it; he did not emote at any point. But just the power of the sincerity of it struck me.' 'You're in my Army. Every day between 3 and 5.' Hackman was an actor who knew what he wanted on set, much like the no-nonsense coach he played. 'He refused to do scenes that he knew instinctively were not going to be in the film, that were extraneous and were a waste of his time,' Ross said, 'and he absolutely would refuse to do them. 'I think he had an aversion to authority figures and would get his back up and be real stubborn about some things.' Long said: 'He played Lex Luthor in 'Superman.' He played Popeye Doyle in 'The French Connection.' He could have come in and been a real prima donna. Gene did not do that. He came in and said, 'Hey, I want to learn; I've never played a high school coach before.' 'And so we proceeded to get him to some high school practices. And he learned their body language, he learned their verbiage. I thought, Man what a pro. There's an old dog that is willing to learn some new tricks.' Long added: 'Gene was kind of quiet. It's when he got in front of the camera when he really went to town. I don't think he ever did the same scene exactly the same. I noticed that whenever we would do two or three takes, his choices were different every time.' 'In my book, we're going to be winners.' That line, which Coach Dale delivers to his players before the big game, exemplified the collegiality that other actors said Hackman showed on set. 'I think initially we were somewhat intimidated, maybe even scared,' Long said. 'But I would tell you that from the moment that we met him, just all that fear melted. He made us feel so at ease.' Ross said: 'He stopped to talk to people and sign autographs, and when we got in the car, he said, 'You always want to remember that, ultimately, dinner is on them. They're paying your paycheck.' 'He had a great sense of humor. You think of some of the later films that he did, 'Heartbreakers,' 'The Royal Tenenbaums.' You really in those films got to see how funny he was.' 'Hoosiers' is a movie that people continue to watch almost 40 years later, sometimes for the third, 10th or 30th time. 'Any time you have an 'underdog makes good,' that is a recipe for success,' Ross said. 'Because that makes people feel good about themselves, and think that they might be able to overcome something. So I think that's always going to play well.'
Fox Sports
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox Sports
His team was on the floor: Remembering Gene Hackman, everybody's coach
About 10 minutes into the 2000 movie "The Replacements," Gene Hackman's character asks Keanu Reeves' washed-up quarterback Shane Falco if he knows who he is. "You're that old coach from the '80s," Falco says. Hackman, who died Thursday at age 95, hadn't acted in the last 20 years, but his passing brought back fond memories for generations of filmgoers of decades of memorable roles and lovable characters. It's impossible to distill his career down to just a few movies, but for sports fans, they'll think of two, and especially the clever nod from Falco to the 1986 classic "Hoosiers," which had Hackman as Norman Dale, a fictional high school coach in 1950s Indiana. If "The Replacements" has a cult following for one of Hackman's final acting roles, "Hoosiers" is one of his most iconic. Both characters are out-of-work, out-of-luck coaches leading underdog teams to predictable movie success, though "Hoosiers" is a little more subtle in unfolding its story. Hackman was convincing as anything — a cop, a lawyer, a cowboy, a soldier, heroes and villains alike — but he always seemed right to play a coach. Even back in 1969, when he wasn't even 40 yet, he played Robert Redford's ski coach in "Downhill Racer," always conveying toughness, authority and respect — and of course, a great quotability. "My team is on the floor," Coach Dale famously tells the official expecting him to replace a player who has fouled out of the team's first game. Dale was unrelenting in his desire for his team to pass the ball at least four times before taking a shot and proved his point by choosing to finish the game short-handed. "It was Dentyne," Hickory High's Buddy Walker says to Dale, long after his coach had told him he wants him to play defense so pressing that he knows what brand of gum his opponent is chewing. "Hoosiers" was set 35 years in the past, yet was so ahead of its time. We learned about meddlesome parents and boosters, the fear of a high school athlete's life peaking at 17 years old and quick-cut musical montages of a team's steady improvement. I still like the little things you notice: The actor who plays principal Cletus Summers is Sheb Wooley, who sang "The Purple People Eater" back in the 1950s, and the assistant coach who proclaims "Coach stays!" is also the Mountie who says, "I don't approve of your methods" in "The Untouchables." "Hoosiers" was in the middle — some would say the heart — of an amazing five-year run of sports movies, after "The Natural" and leading up to "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams." You can argue "Hoosiers" is one of the best, if not the best, sports movies ever, still good for goosebumps in the state final no matter how many times you've seen it. So much of that is Hackman, playing a flawed character who has to win the audience over as he does the team and the town. We lost Hackman on Thursday, but we also found him again, with social media flooded with old clips from a career so long and varied you'd forgotten huge movies he was in, scenes you hadn't seen in decades, like Hackman himself. The back-and-forth with Denzel Washington in "Crimson Tide," the absolute camp of his Lex Luthor in the Superman movies, the frenetic car chase in "The French Connection." I spent $3.95 to rent "Hoosiers" on Thursday, and it holds up so well almost 40 years later, the formula for so many sports movies that followed. You know Hickory is going to win the unlikely championship, and you still watch the old coach from the '80s. Sports was just a small part of his body of work, but for a trip back in time as Norman Dale, Hackman was irreplaceable. Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman . Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
New York Times
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Hoosiers' star Gene Hackman will leave a lasting impression on basketball fans
'Don't get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game. If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book, we're gonna be winners … OK?!' Gene Hackman's portrayal of coach Norman Dale in 'Hoosiers' represented the soul of the legendary 1986 movie. Advertisement On its face, 'Hoosiers' was intended to be a snapshot of the unique hysteria of small-town high school basketball in Indiana, culminating in Hickory High's improbable run to the state title. Dale was a hypercompetitive former big-city East Coast college coach who arrived in rural Hickory, Ind., brimming with bemusement and befuddled by the norms of the small town. His transformation — and redemption — throughout the film was the heartbeat of the box-office classic. 'Hoosiers' fans lost their Coach Dale on Wednesday. Hackman and his wife were found dead in their home Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office according to multiple reports. Hackman was 95. Part of the nostalgic obsession Generation X has for 'Hoosiers' is that so many had contemporaneous high school sports experiences with coaches like Dale, who preached 'my practices aren't designed for your enjoyment.' Many of those coaches then would probably qualify now as undeniably toxic, but Hackman's portrayal of Dale transcended that archetype. Dale's strict standards are conveyed early on through classic lines: 'You are in the Army. You're in my Army. Every day between 3 and 5 (p.m.).' The magic of Hackman's performance is how he evolves the character from there. Rest in Peace to the great Gene Hackman! 🙏🏀🎥And thank you for your contributions to Indiana high school basketball as Coach Norman Dale in the 1986 movie, "Hoosiers". — IHSAA (@IHSAA1) February 27, 2025 Hackman was not a stranger to playing a movie coach: Along with Dale in 'Hoosiers,' he also played U.S. ski coach Eugene Claire in the 1969 film 'Downhill Racer.' Thirty-one years later, Hackman was football coach Jimmy McGinty in 'The Replacements,' a comedy about misfit scab players taking over a pro football roster. Advertisement But Hackman will be remembered most as Dale, who had his own story within the big-picture story. Exiled from college basketball coaching for the cardinal sin of putting his hands on a player, Dale became loyal to the six Hickory players who stuck with him. A classic line from Dale as he introduced the players to his philosophy: 'Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team — no one more important than the other.' Dale displayed a powerful empathy for his volunteer assistant coach Wilbur 'Shooter' Flatch (played by Dennis Hopper). He fell for basketball skeptic Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey), and he found a way to relate to her surrogate ward, Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis). It isn't all redemption arc: Part of the enjoyment of watching Hackman immerse in the role of Dale are those moments where he delivered memorable outbursts at the refs, opposing coaches and opposing fans — even at ornery townsfolk. A post shared by Robert Reames (@realrobertreames) To the townspeople: 'I would hope you would support who we are, not who we are not. These six individuals have made a choice to work, a choice to sacrifice, to put themselves on the line 23 nights for the next four months, to represent you, this high school. That kind of commitment and effort deserves and demands your respect! This is your team.' (Hackman's delivery of 'deserves and demands your respect' is incredible.) To the refs, after Dale benched a petulant player, leaving him with only four players: 'My team's on the floor!' And, of course, during the film's climax during the state championship game's final moments in a huddle: 'I love you guys.' As the film hit that crescendo of Dale's redemption arc — and remember, this was amid the 'Rambo' and 'Terminator'-led mid-1980s — it was a stunning demonstration of vulnerability from a coach who, 90 minutes earlier in the movie, was a cynical, just-win tough guy. Nearly 40 years later, it is impossible to imagine any actor other than Hackman embodying Dale, a nuanced and commanding performance in what could have otherwise landed as a schmaltzy sports flick. If there is a Mount Rushmore of coaches portrayed in modern U.S. sports movies, I would argue the following three are locks: Hackman's Dale, Denzel Washington's Herman Boone in 'Remember the Titans' and Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi in 'The Karate Kid.' Advertisement Fourteen years after 'Hoosiers,' Hackman would play McGinty in 'The Replacements,' who might be considered a campy version of Dale. Then at 70 years old, Hackman had fun with the role; his performance as McGinty, however, might not have resonated as much had moviegoers not had the collective memory of his performance as Dale. Dale's 'We're gonna be winners' quote just before Hickory takes the court for the regional finals is worth watching (and rewatching) in its original form. The part that gets me — the genius of Hackman in this role — is not the stemwinder of the end of that monologue. It is the pause just after that. With his speech left hanging in the air, he delivers the visceral 'OK?!' Right then, it clicked for his players. It wasn't enough that he delivered a rah-rah pep talk. That 'OK?!' is the culmination of everything Dale went through: Exile from college basketball, arriving in Hickory, changing (and being changed by) the town, the pressure and overall promise of what lies ahead. In that moment, Dale is at his most exposed. Hackman showed why, for many sports fans, Norman Dale is a coach we all wanted to have.
