Details

Release year: 2000

Storyline

In 1971, Virginia high-school football was everything to the people of Alexandria, but when the school board was forced to integrate an all-Black school with an all-White one, the foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.

Top credits

Directors

Boaz Yakin

Writers

Gregory Allen Howard

Cast

Denzel Washington — Coach Herman Boone
Will Patton — Coach Bill Yoast
Wood Harris — Julius Campbell
Ryan Hurst — Gerry Bertier

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Did you know

• Gerry Bertier was injured in an automobile accident and paralyzed for the rest of his life from the waist down. However, this did not happen until after the 1971 regular football season was already over; he played in all thirteen games. It was also not, as depicted, due to being hit by another car: Bertier lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a utility pole; the cause was determined to be mechanical failure in the engine's motor mount. Following his surgery, many other teammates besides Julius Campbell also used the pretense of being immediate family to see him in the hospital.

• There is one scene in the film where a brick is thrown through Coach Boone's window. In real life, it was an old toilet that was thrown, but filmmakers thought that would add humor to the serious situation.

• According to Coach Herman Boone in an article published by ESPN, he really did integrate the buses before they left for football camp. Boone said "I forced them on each other, I forced them to learn each other's culture. I forced them to be a part of each other's lives."

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