Remember the Titans is an American sports drama, based on a true story, directed by Boaz Yakin and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Walt Disney Pictures, released in 2000. The film stars Denzel Washington as Coach Herman Boone. Remember the Titans centers on the football team of the newly integrated T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. The critical and commercial success of the movie led to Disney producing many other sports films.
Plot
In 1971, at the old desegregated TC Williams High School, Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), also derogatorily known as Coach "Coon" by racist elements during the time period, due to his African-American background, is hired as head coach for the school's football team, taking the place promised to former head coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton). Yoast at first refuses Boone's offer as the assistant head coach, but then changes his mind. The black and white members of the football team clash in racially-motivated conflicts on a few occasions throughout their time at football camp, but after forceful coaxing and team building efforts by Coach Boone, the team manages to achieve some form of unity, as well as success. Boone makes the camp quite rigorous; when the bus is leaving for the camp at the beginning all members are instructed to wear a shirt and tie; anyone not doing so will watch the season and not compete. At the camp, anybody who displays any sort of misconduct at practice is instructed to run a mile. One time during camp, Coach Boone wakes up the players at 3:00 am to take a run through the woods to end up at a Civil War battleground where he delivers a stirring speech on 'why that war was fought' ('...the same fight we are still having today').
The main conflict is taken to a personal level by the portrayal of the conflict between Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (Wood Harris), two players of equally outstanding athletic ability, but different ethnic backgrounds, who at first can't stand one another but eventually become sworn brothers (the turning point of their relationship becomes a focal point for the team in its racially divided ways giving way to true unity). Upon return from camp to school, the team runs through its regular season competition undefeated while battling the racial prejudice that was then typical of, though not exclusive to, the American South.
All-American player Gerry Bertier is paralyzed waist down in an automobile accident while celebrating one of the team's victories. Although Bertier is no longer able to play, the team goes on to win the championship, setting an example for the town in the process. The football team wins the AAA State championship game in Roanoke, and is first runner up in the national championship. Bertier later goes on to win a gold medal in the shotput event at the Paralympic Games. Ten years later, the team reunites at the end of the film to attend Bertier's funeral.
Cast
Trevor Rabin composed the instrumental score, of which "Titans Spirit" was the only cue (of 12 composed) added to the soundtrack. "Titans Spirit" was a rousing seven-minute exploration of the movie's energetic themes. It is used presently on many sports telecasts, particularly those on NBC, which has used the score during its closing credits montage for the last four Olympic Games (Salt Lake 2002, Athens 2004, Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008) as well as with the final closing credits montage for their 12-year run with the NBA in 2002. The song was also played as veteran New York Mets players crossed home plate during the closing ceremonies at Shea Stadium.
It was also used by during the 2008 Democratic National Convention to accompany the celebration and fireworks at Invesco Field after President Barack Obama gave his nomination acceptance speech, and also at Chicago's Grant Park immediately following Obama's victory speech upon winning the 2008 presidential election[1].
Reception
Remember the Titans received generally positive reviews from the critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie 71% freshness rating from 126 reviews.[2] However, some critics have complained the story being too "predictable". The movie grossed $115,654,751 in the U.S. box office alone, earning $136,706,683 worldwide.[3]
Locations
The film crew used several locations around metro Atlanta for filming. These included Druid Hills High School, Shamrock Middle School, Paulding County High School[4], the city square in Covington, GA, Newton County's Sharp Stadium, Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, the Grady High School gym, and the stadiums of Sprayberry High School in Marietta and Etowah High School in Woodstock,Georgia. The film also used Berry College in Rome, Georgia, the football practice field of Clarkston High School, Stone Mountain parking lot for the bus leaving scene and Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Perry High School Pride of the Crossroads Band from Perry, Georgia, played the T.C. Williams High School band.
Historical inaccuracies
Many scenes were heightened for dramatic effect, or fabricated and portrayed for the movie. Alexandria City Schools were already integrated when T.C. Williams HS opened in 1965, there are many historical inaccuracies in this film. The racial "heat" is somewhat elaborated by about a decade, the area ten years earlier had the problems outlined in the movie, but many area schools had moved beyond it.
T.C. Williams was a four-year high school until June 1971. The new T.C. Williams was a two-year, junior and senior (11th- and 12th-grade) school made up of the combination of all the students of the three Alexandria City high schools: George Washington (G.W.), Francis C. Hammond, and T.C. Williams. The Alexandria City school board created a single "senior" high school (April 1971) in response to the US Department of Justice's order to create a more widespread desegregation, given that housing patterns at the time caused disproportionate numbers of black students to go to G.W. and that Hammond had a disproportionately white student body in relation to the city's population. T.C. as a four-year school in the 1970-71 school year had a racial balance of two-thirds white and one-third black. After the combination in September 1971, T.C. Williams had a racial balance of 76 percent white and 24 percent black. The Alexandria high schools then had a perfect racial balance in relation to the city's population as a whole (which was the federal mandate.) George Washington and Hammond High Schools became two-year, freshmen and sophomore (9th- and 10th-grade) schools. Boundary lines for those schools were drawn to allocate a similar 1/4 to 3/4 black-to-white student ratio.
Like most historical dramas, the writers of the story took license to alter actual events in order to maximize dramatic effects. Among them:
Fairfax County Schools were already integrated when TC Williams opened. Langley High,(Saxons) Mclean Va. whih opened in 1966 had the first African American football coach in the Northern Va area, Coach Charles Price. He later went to Groveton HS after developing a suscessful athletic program for the Saxons. The other area High Schools George C Marshall which was portrayed in the movie as an all white team had been integrated during the 60s along with Mclean HS, Fairfax City, Falls Church, Herndon to name a few.
- While the movie depicts that the football team and the school at large were struggling with the integration of black players and students with white ones, there was another large area of tension at T.C. that school year, a turf war. The combination of three schools into one, in such a short time period, created angst from rising seniors of all three of the schools who previously had status and position with in their respective schools. Instead of three Senior Class Presidents, there would only be one. The same would be true for every position in Student Government, every Club, student musical groups, marching band, drama/theater, and every sports team - there would be only one starting quarterback, etc. Coaches (and even teachers) would be competing for position, every athlete, every student. There were a lot of unknowns as to who would be "in" and who would be "out" in every role in the school with the combination. The football team was a microcosm of this larger struggle when they commenced practice in August 1971. The '71 Titans football team and their coming together for victory's sake led to the resolution of this school-wide turf war and made for a more harmonious school and city.
- The character of Alan Bosley was fabricated and in fact was most likely added to show the tension of a white player benched for one of the African-American players, which played out in several small instances.
- 'Petey' Jones in real life played linebacker.
- The near 'Little Rock' level of protest did not occur. The on-edge nature of the hallways was an exaggeration of T.C. Williams, as the whole Alexandria City school system had been integrated a decade earlier.
- Gerry Bertier played in the championship game. His auto accident where he was paralyzed occurred the night of the fall sports banquet, the week after the state playoffs where the title was won.
- The Titans did not win the title on a last second, miracle play. In fact, they won by a solid margin of victory of 27 - 0.
- The Titans actually beat Andrew Lewis High School instead of Marshall for the Virginia AAA state championship at Victory Stadium.
- Bill Yoast actually had four daughters, not just the one shown in the film.
- Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass never kissed Gerry in the locker room, nor was he gay. (In the film, it was suggested that he might have been.)
- Hayfield Secondary was never segregated. It had in fact been integrated since it opened its doors in 1969, two years before the setting of the movie.
- The players were never woken up for a run through the woods. The run occurred in the evening before going to bed.
Source: [5]
Awards and nominations
Angel Awards
BET Awards
Black Reel Awards
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
Casting Society of America
- 2001
- Nominated- Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama- (Ronna Kress)
Image Awards
- 2001
- Won- Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture- (Denzel Washington)
- Won- Outstanding Motion Picture
- Nominated- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture- (Wood Harris)
- Nominated- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture- (Nicole Ari Parker)
- Nominated- Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress (Krysten Leigh Jones)
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
- 2001
- Nominated- Best Performance by a Youth in a Leading or Supporting Role (Hayden Panettiere)
Political Film Society
- 2001
- Won- Human Rights
- Nominated- Exposé
Satellite Awards
- 2001
- Nominated- Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Denzel Washington)
Teen Choice Awards
- 2001
- Nominated- Film - Choice Drama/Action Adventure
Young Artist Awards
- 2001
- Won- Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress (Hayden Panettiere)
- Nominated- Best Family Feature Film - Drama
References
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1856561,00.html?iid=tsmodule
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/remember_the_titans/
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rememberthetitans.htm
- ^ Remember the Titans (2000) - Trivia
- ^ http://www.71originaltitans.com
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