Denzel Washington in "Remember the Titans."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Denzel Washington Director: Boaz Yakin Rated: PG, with mild profanity and innuendo Length: 113 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(September 28, 2000) -- Remember the Titans stars Denzel Washington in a successful, if sentimental, rah-rah football drama about a team whose most important victory is off the field.

Based on a real incident, Remember the Titans tells of a 1971 Virginia high school football team confronted with court-imposed integration -- and a new coach.

The fact that the new coach is black (Washington) -- and the deposed coach is a much-loved and admired white man -- only compounds the challenges.

Washington is Herman Boone, a tough-as-nails coach with a military style who diligently imposes his will on both the white and black players who try out for the Titans. But he also discreetly builds bridges, first by rehiring the former coach, Bill Yoast (Will Patton), as his assistant.

By working together -- at first grudgingly -- the players learn not only to respect each other, but also how to win football games. Along the way, the people in the community also benefit, as they rally around a team that seems headed for an undefeated season and a state championship.

To tell their uplifting story, director Boaz Yakin and writer Gregory Allen Howard leave few emotional stones unturned: Players come off the bench to make great plays, the team is forced to overcome racist opposing coaches, corrupt referees, and prejudiced parents, and a much-loved captain suffers a serious injury, resulting in an around-the-hospital-bed team rally.

And the soaring strings of Trevor Rabin's music score adds superfluous exclamation points. Fortunately, an impressive range of late-'60s, early-'70s rock and soul music counters the sweetness.

But Remember the Titans overcomes the paint-by-numbers sentimentality, thanks to its appealing range of young characters and the largely unknown actors who play them. We grow to care about Big Julius (Wood Harris) and Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst), two hard-headed youths who struggle to overcome the ingrained racism of their respective black and white backgrounds, and the gigantic and gregarious Lewis Lastik (Ethan Suplee) whose color-blind attitude forms the team's first bridge between the races.

More important, though, is the charismatic star power and believability of Washington. Despite being forced to carve out a performance mostly with platitudes and coaching orders, he elevates Remember the Titans from potential status as an after-school TV special.

He, and to a lesser extent Patton, ultimately offer intriguing portraits of two decent men trying to turn distrust and hatred into respect and victory.