Coach Carter

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Coach Carter
Promotional poster for Coach Carter
Directed by	Thomas Carter
Produced by	David Gale Brian Robbins Michael Tollin
Written by	Mark Schwahn John Gatins
Starring	Samuel L. Jackson Robert Ri'Chard Rob Brown Debbi Morgan Ashanti Rick Gonzalez Antwon Tanner Nana Gbewonyo Channing Tatum
Music by	Kenneth Burgomaster DMX Paul Linford Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Sharone Meir
Editing by	Peter Berger
Distributed by	Paramount
Release date(s)	January 14, 2005
Running time	136 min.
Language	English
Budget	$ 30 million
IMDb profile

Coach Carter is a 2005 film, directed by Thomas Carter. It is similar to the 1986 movie Hoosiers, both being centered around a high school basketball team. It is based on a true story, in which Richmond High School (Richmond, California, USA) head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.

Tagline: It begins on the streets. It ends here.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Trivia 3 Critical Reception 4 Box Office 5 Soundtrack 6 Awards/Nominations 7 Cast 8 External links

[edit] Plot

At the start of the movie, Coach Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) takes a part-time, low-paid ($900 for the whole basketball season) job coaching the basketball team at his old high school, an inner-city public school in Richmond, California. At first, the boys are unruly and disrespectful. They also lost almost all of their games the previous season.

Coach Carter sets strict new rules for the team -- they must maintain a 2.3 grade point average (C+), they must attend classes and sit in the front row, and they must wear jackets and ties on game days. One of the boys, Timo Cruz (Rick Gonzalez), walks out of practice on the first day after an altercation with Carter. We later see Cruz hanging with his older, drug-dealing cousin.

Under Carter's leadership, the team starts winning games. Carter's son, Damien, a good student who attends private school and plays basketball there, quits the private school (against his dad's wishes) and transfers to Richmond High School to play basketball on his dad's team.

Another player, Kenyon (Rob Brown), has a pregnant girlfriend, Kyra (Ashanti) who has given up on her plans for college in favor of having the baby, even though she sees first-hand how well that has gone for her cousin.

Cruz goes back and forth between dealing drugs and playing on the team, even though he has to fight his way back on the team. Carter makes him do a ridiculous number of suicides -- a sprinting drill -- and pushups in one week, and when he comes very close but not quite up to that number, the other boys impress Carter by offering to do the rest of the suicides and pushups for Cruz ... so Carter lets Cruz back on the team.

Even though the boys are winning games, Carter eventually realizes that they are developing a bad attitude about it by being arrogant and taunting the other teams, and that many of them are not living up to his academic requirements, which is attending class and maintaining a 2.3 average.

Carter cracks down on them, even locking them out of the gym in the midst of an undefeated season. He cancels basketball practice, forfeiting some games, and makes the team spend the practice time in the library, being tutored by some of their teachers. All this going on leads to Cruz quitting the team a second time.

Eventually, the school board and the parents fight back. The board eventually votes 4-2 to end the lockout, the dissenting votes being the school's principal and the chairwoman of the board. Carter is on the verge of quitting over this, but when he arrives at the gym to pack up his things, he finds the boys sitting at school desks in the gym, with their teachers tutoring them there. Heartened by this, Carter stays.

Cruz has gone back to working for his drug-dealing cousin. One night, his cousin is gunned down on the street while Cruz is saying hi to his friends from the team. Fortunately, Cruz ends up at Carter's house that night; Carter brings Cruz into his house, lets him back on the team, and saves him from a future like his cousin's.

Kenyon then gets a full scholarship to college. He goes to his girlfriend, with whom he's been on the outs, and tells her the college even wants to help them, as married students with a baby. She tells him that she chose to abort the pregnancy. Regardless of that, they do get back together.

The big climactic game takes place at the state tournament against their arch-rivals; St. Francis. The score, with four seconds to go, is 70-69 Richmond. In the last possible second, St. Francis scores one last basket, taking the score to 71-70 St. Francis. The team is understandably disappointed by the loss, but Carter gives them a really good talk about all they've accomplished, and tells them that this loss doesn't take that away.

Over the closing song, it is told that six of the players went on to college (this was a school at which only about 50% of students graduated, and a very small percentage usually went to college). Kenyon, Junior, Worm and Cruz were among those who went to college, and Kenyon and Cruz graduated from college. It wasn't clear whether Junior and Worm did. When he graduated three years later, Damien got a scholarship to West Point.

[edit] Trivia

• "Our greatest fear" by Marianne Williamson is referenced throughout the film by Coach Carter, and a wayward youth (Timo Cruz) recites the full poem to prove his reformation.
• There is an anachronism in the movie: St. Francis star player Ty Crane is referred to as “the next LeBron James” by a media reporter, although James was a barely known freshman at St. Vincent - St. Mary High School in 1999.
• The movie falsely states that Coach Carter attended George Mason University. In actuality, Carter attended George Fox University.
• The fictional St. Francis player Ty Crane is a reference to former high school phenom and current NBA player Tyson Chandler

[edit] Critical Reception

The reviews for the film were mixed, but it currently has a 64% fresh meter at rottentomatoes.com. Critics gave Jackson considerable praise for what they believed to be his strongest performance.

[edit] Box Office

The movie debuted at #1 on the U.S. Box Office and has grossed over $67 Million so far. Worldwide the movie was not as big of a hit however only managing to bring in $9 Million overseas for a total of $76 Million.

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Coach Carter (soundtrack)

The film features the song "Hope" by Twista and Faith Evans as the main song off the film's soundtrack. An extensive list of songs is featured on the soundtrack which differs from the soundtrack recording. The recording has five songs which were not featured in the film : About da game by Trey Songz; Balla by Mack 10 featuring Da Hood; Beauty queen by CzarNok; What Love Can Do by Letoya; and Wouldn't You Like to Ride, Kanye West; Malik Usef, Common.

[edit] Awards/Nominations

• Black Movie Awards
  • Outstanding Achievement in Directing: Thomas Carter (Winner)
  • Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture: Samuel L. Jackson (Nominated)
  • Outstanding Motion Picture: David Gale, Brian Robbins & Michael Tollin (Nominated)

• Black Reel Awards
  • Best Director: Thomas Carter (Winner)
  • Best Actor: Samuel L. Jackson (Nominated)
  • Best Breakthrough Performance: Ashanti (Nominated)

• Image Awards
  • Outstanding Motion Picture: (Nominated)
  • Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Samuel L. Jackson (Winner)
  • Outstanding Director for a Motion Picture: Thomas Carter (Nominated)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Ashanti (Nominated)

• MTV Movie Awards
  • Best Female Breakthrough Performance: Ashanti (Nominated)

[edit] Cast

• Samuel L. Jackson — Coach Ken Ray Carter
• Robert Ri'chard — Damien Carter
• Nana Gbewonyo — Junior Battle
• Rob Brown — Kenyon Stone
• Channing Tatum — Jason Lyle
• Rick Gonzalez — Timo Cruz
• Antwon Tanner — Jaron 'Worm' Willis
• Ashanti — Kyra
• Debbi Morgan — Tonya
• Denise Dowse — Principal Garrison
• Vincent Laresca — Renny
• Octavia Spencer — Willa Battle
• Dana Davis — Peyton
• Adrienne Bailon — Dominique
• Sonya Eddy — Mrs. Willis
• Texas Battle — Maddox

[edit] External links

• Official movie site
• Official Coach Carter Soundtrack
• Coach Carter at the Internet Movie Database
• Coach Carter (non-film)