You changed my life, coach!

  🚨All of the 'You Changed My Life, Coach!' posts contain major spoilers 🚨 'Pride' is a film released in 2007 starring Terence Howard. Here's the Wikipedia page . It's not to be confused with the 2014 film with the same name  that I should watch although that one isn't an inspirational sports movie. I've seen this film at least twice before. It is a genre favourite of mine. 'Pride' is based on the true story of Philadelphia swimming coach Jim Ellis. I note Wikipedia says it is 'loosely based'. A film about a black swimming team in 1970s Philadelphia looks improbable on paper but all the genre elements are in here an it works pretty well. The opening where we see Terence Howard's dreams of competitive swimming dashed in the 1960s by a profoundly racist society set the scene well. The setup where Terence Howard is struggling to get a job and finds himself living in a rundown leisure centre where he brings the swimming pool back to lif...

  🚨All of the 'You Changed My Life, Coach!' posts contain major spoilers 🚨 Wildcats is a film released in 1986 starring Goldie Hawn. Here's the Wikipedia page . Goldie Hawn plays Molly McGrath, the daughter of an American football coach who wants to coach high school American football. The system is against her because women don't coach American football. Then Molly gets an opportunity to coach at a deprived inner city Chicago school but naturally it's a poisoned chalice. Can she turn it around against all odds and so on?  SPOILER ALERT she turns it around against all odds because this is an inspirational sports film. I really enjoyed this film. It was the first time I'd seen it. One of the main things that struck me was just how great Goldie Hawn is, I'd forgotten. So much charisma, carries the whole show, and is a mainstream female movie star headlining films in the 80s. Also Molly turns it around against all odds without turning into a macho hardass wh...

🚨All of the 'You Changed My Life, Coach!' posts contain major spoilers 🚨 42 is a film released in 2013 about Jackie Robinson , the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball. Here's the Wikipedia page . It stars Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. I find any film with Chadwick Boseman a bit sad at the moment. He was such a good actor, a really magnetic star. The film also has Harrison Ford in it and it's a Harrison Ford performance where he isn't just being Harrison Ford which is rare. The film shows how overtly racist society was and the struggles for black Americans plus there are hints that violence is around too. But as is often the case with this kind of film racism has a tendency to magically go away thanks to sport and I'm never really sure about that. Jackie Robinson's decency, stoicism and non-violent approach come across and I think that's something the film did well, because it's tense and uncomfortable at times. Alan Tudyk...