Hoosiers (1986)

This week, Shat The Movies heads to small-town Indiana, where basketball is life, second chances are rare, and Dennis Hopper is cold, coach—real cold. Commissioned by fantasy football champion Stephen J., 1986’s Hoosiers is one of the most celebrated underdog stories in sports cinema, often hailed as the “best basketball movie ever made.” But does it hold up nearly 40 years later?

Gene and Big D debate whether Gene Hackman’s Coach Norman Dale is a genius strategist or just a guy yelling “four passes!” while waiting for Jimmy Chitwood to show up. Along the way, we question the town’s obsession with high school hoops, the authenticity of Dennis Hopper’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of Shooter, and whether the film skips a pretty important historical context about race in 1950s basketball.

Was Hoosiers a masterclass in sports nostalgia, or just a paint-by-numbers blueprint for every “inspirational coach” movie that followed? And more importantly, should Ollie have ever touched the ball?

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