They`re doing big business down at the Video Man store in Hebron, Ind., these days.
It happens all over small-town Indiana come March, and Hebron, a town of about 2,100, 14 miles south of Valparaiso, is no exception. The tape that the locals clamor to watch again is David Anspaugh`s 1987 film ”Hoosiers,” as a kind of emotional psyche-up before the annual Indiana basketball tournament begins in earnest.
”I`ve heard of a lot of basketball coaches showing it to their teams in the last week or two,” said Hebron High School coach Dennis Foster, who doesn`t need to get his team up.
Hebron, with an enrollment of 240 students, finished its regular season unbeaten and ranked 13th in the state as the tournament began.
In only a few years, ”Hoosiers” has become something of a cult classic among prep basketball enthusiasts, especially those rooting for teams similar to the film`s fictional Hickory High.
Gene Hackman stars in ”Hoosiers” as a well-traveled coach who, in his first year at Hickory, takes his underdog team to the state championship. Based on the true 1951 story of Indiana`s tiny Milan High, the sentimental film struck a chord in the basketball-crazed Midwest.
”Hoosiers” rates as the best in a relatively weak field of basketball-related movies (especially when compared with the number of fine baseball flicks), but here are some suggestions on how to kill time between tournament games this month:
”Fast Break”: Back in the smarmy disco era, when John Travolta was raking in megabucks with ”Saturday Night Fever,” his ”Welcome Back, Kotter” co-star tried to cash in with this low-budget flick about big-time basketball. Gabe (whatever happened to . . . ) Kaplan stars as the owner of a Brooklyn deli who quits to become a big-time college coach in Nevada.
”Teen Wolf”: Michael J. Fox stars in this 1985 comedy as the hairiest basketball player since Bill Walton. Fox plays a high school hoopster who turns into a werewolf and suddenly takes his losing basketball team into the championship game-a logical progression.
”The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh”: It must have seemed as though you weren`t anyone in the pros in the late 1970s, unless you were in at least one movie. There were Bernard King (”Fast Break”) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
(”Airplane”), and then there was Dr. J, Julius Erving, who made his debut in this silly Gilbert Moses comedy about a basketball team on the verge of bankruptcy that turns to the stars (astrologically speaking) for help.
”The Absent-Minded Professor”: Upon closer examination of Michael Jordan`s shoes, one will find that his incredible leaping ability is due to the presence of ”flubber” on his soles. Not really, but in this classic black-and-white 1961 Disney tale, Fred MacMurray plays the wacky professor who accidentally invents flubber, or ”flying rubber.” It doesn`t take a nuclear physicist to figure out that the invention will eventually be used by the local high school basketball team.
”One on One”: The story of a small-town high school star who suddenly has to cope with being a benchwarmer for a successful college team is told in this 1980 disaster, starring Robby Benson.
”The Gambler”: Last year`s Pete Rose gambling saga made this film seem even more realistic than when it opened in 1974. Although it`s more a psychological profile of an insane sports/gambling junkie than a true basketball flick, it nevertheless has some great hoops-related scenes. James Caan plays a college professor who is also a compulsive gambler.
”Angels With Dirty Faces”: Okay, so this movie has almost nothing to do with basketball. Even so, this 1938 film directed by Michael Curtiz has one of the all-time great basketball games in it, as an ex-con played by James Cagney volunteers to referee a neighborhood basketball game.
”March Madness”: Subtitled ”The Official History of the IHSA Basketball Tournament,” this is a must for Illinois high school hoops junkies. It contains many memorable moments in the tournament`s 81-year history, and features players such as Isiah Thomas, Cazzie Russell, Mark Aguirre and Quinn Buckner.
”Michael Jordan: Come Fly With Me”: Himself, performing various dunks, finger rolls, buzzer-beating shots and the like.
