The director of \Coach Carter,"" Thomas Carter, spent much of the past two decades bouncing around filming various television shows such as ""Hill Street Blues"" and ""UC: Undercover."" Only recently did he find his niche, directing such fare as ""Save the Last Dance"" and the aforementioned ""Coach Carter.""
Thomas Carter's movies typically involve plot lines centering around underprivileged, mostly minority students with the odds stacked against them, who attend a rough, urban high school and are looking for the path to a better life.
With these predictable elements, it is easy to think when viewing a preview of Carter's latest offering ""Coach Carter,"" ""Ugh, this movie has already been made!"" That thought would not be inaccurate.
However, it is not unfair to say that Thomas Carter's films are clich??; they are. What makes Carter's style so long-lasting, particularly with ""Coach Carter,"" is that within the ""I know what is going to happen next"" bits he packs an unseen surprise that throws audiences for a loop but doesn't alter the positive, feel- good ending of the movie.
Samuel L. Jackson plays Ken Carter, a very disciplined and moral individual, who becomes the basketball coach for Richmond High School in California. Upon taking the volunteer position, he knows his challenge is to mold a group of street smart, tough, cynical and crass young men into educated, honorable and successful student athletes.
To enact such changes, Coach Carter immediately has his players sign a contract mandating specific standards including a certain minimum grade point average for every player.
After a series of fairly impressive wins, the result of which left the team undefeated, Coach Carter is under the impression that the players are making massive strides both athletically and academically.
However, he soon discovers that while their performance on the court is stellar, their performance in the classroom leaves little to be desired. In a drastic move, Coach Carter benches the team and forfeits two games to teach the young, mostly black men the importance of academics, particularly in Richmond where, as Carter says, ""You are more likely to go to jail than you are to go to college.""
As is to be predicted, the team learns a valuable lesson, they go back to playing basketball and wind up in the state championship.
In one sense the movie ends there-a bunch of poor teens who enjoy playing basketball get a rude awakening into the real world from stern Coach Carter. That aside, they have a fantastic season and fulfill their dreams by qualifying for the state championship.
In another sense the movie does not end there. It goes beyond the game of basketball and toward a coach who transforms himself into a mentor for youth in severe need of guidance.
The primary success of ""Coach Carter"" stems from its challenge to the ugly reality that in some communities athleticism, even though it can be short-lived, is valued far more than the lifetime education a person would receive from high education.
The secondary success of the film is that it portrays real people, real events and how ultimately, those people were able to come away from those events and excel in the future.
Clearly, the director Carter has learned that even if his films seem clich??, that's all right as long as it has substance because everyone loves a happy ending. Which according to clich??, 'Coach Carter' has.
primary success of ""Coach Carter"" stems from its challenge to the ugly reality that in some communities athleticism, even short lived, is valued far more than the life time education a person would receive from high education. The secondary success of the film is that it portrays real people, real events and how ultimately, those people were able to come away from those events and excel in the future. Clearly, the director, Carter, has learned that even if his films seem clich??, that is all right as long as it has substance because every viewer loves a happy ending.
