Rousing, Rah-Rah — And Surprisingly Sentimental — Football Film In ‘Titans’

Back in 1978, Warner Bros. had a great tagline for Superman: the Movie: “You will believe a man can fly.”  After seeing Walt Disney’s new release Remember the Titans, a brawny sports movie also blessed with brains and a big heart, I found myself (and judging from the sound of unsuccessfully stifled sobs echoing round the theater, others as well) fighting back tears during the film’s surprisingly poignant moments. Perhaps the studio’s slogan should be, “You will believe a grown man can cry.”

Remember the Titans is a rousing, rah-rah football drama based on a true story of an Alexandria, Va. high school that is forced to integrate in 1971. Introduced into this racially charged fray is championship-winning football coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), a former South Carolinian and passionate perfectionist (and black), who is sent into the school to supplant current coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton), himself a popular, championship-winning leader (who happens to be white). As Yoast goes, so go the current, all-white members of the football team, who threaten to walk if Yoast leaves. Thus, in an attempt to quell an increasingly volatile situation, Boone offers Yoast a position as assistant coach, which he grudgingly accepts for the sake of his players.

Remember the Titans essentially has two sections: the second catalogs the season and the team’s exploits in the midst of an unsettled school; the first one is the team’s journey to training camp, prior to the start of school. This segment is critical to the film’s success because it establishes the characters and gives us reason to care about what happens to them later. The key figures in the team’s chemistry are the two defensive stars, linebackers Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius (Wood Harris).

They are at odds from the moment they must room together at camp, and their intense rivalry and fierce disrespect for one another fuels the team’s disharmony. If the Titans are to come together, these team leaders must be the catalysts, not the unflinchingly tough Boone or the sympathetic Yoast, but the teens themselves.

While one expects a top-notch performance from the ever-reliable Washington (which we most surely receive) and sturdy character actor Patton (who helps make Yoast an intriguingly three-dimensional character), perhaps most rewarding is the work of the young actors, especially Hurst and Harris. This duo helps propel the middle portion of the film and their budding relationship becomes one of the strongest and most moving in a sports film since perhaps Brian’s Song. These young talents and their castmates help us realize that while the film, on the surface, may be about football (and gridiron fans will surely have their adrenaline pulsing), it’s mainly about relationships and seeing beyond another’s outside appearance and looking beyond preconceptions.

Having said the above, I can imagine some may grouse that a film that seeks to deal with race issues realistically cannot be as clean-cut as this film attempts to be. They might also complain that serious race issues are ignored because the town of Alexandria comes together solely on the basis that when the Titans return to town and begin the school year, they win games. Racial reconciliation begins not because of any philosophical awareness or enlightenment, but exclusively because of victories on the football field. If the Titans had lost their games, then surely the town would have remained divided.  Perhaps. But then, isn’t progress, whether socially or individually, made in small steps and not great bounds? Isn’t it more realistic to believe that people might come together more quickly over a shared love of football (or any other pursuit or affection, for that matter) than it is to think that they would instantly begin to see clearly from one another’s worldview?

Remember the Titans is rated PG for mild language and some thematic elements. It is a film I can highly recommend without reservation. Washington, when asked about the film, appropriately said the following: “It shows you don’t need all the swearing and nonsense to be an effective film. People think a film doesn’t seem to have a reality or an edge unless it’s dirty, and this proves that’s not true.”  I couldn’t have said it better.