Remember the Titans - Discussion about the movie...

[admin]

I currently live in Germany and was just able to see the movie last night. I appreciate what they were trying to say, but I think Hollywood over sensationalized the events. I was a student at Groveton for 1969 to 1973 and and I will admit that there was a bit of unrest the summer of 1971. I recall the incident of the black man who was shot and kill at the 7-11 in Del Ray. I also know that there was reluctance on the part of both blacks and whites regarding the busing to TC Williams, but Groveton and all the other Fairfax County Schools were not full of racist as the movie depicted. I know because I was a black student at Groveton. There were probably racist both black and white at our schools, but as a whole and at that time, we got along well together.
:cool_yel:
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Originally posted by gskeen@hotmail.com 06 APR 2001</span>

[admin]

Hollywood can never just let a story speak on its own. That was my senior year, and I always took some pride that in general we got along so well. I remember at Fort Hunt basketball games taunting their lilly whiteness with "S-o-u-l Soul Team!" What I resent, and I do resent, is that the movie manages to elivate the anti-deluvian Alexandria City School system, who remained segregated until 1971, into the courages advanced thinkers that led the way for hicksville Virginia. I started school in Virginia at Bryant in 1966 and we were well integrated.

Once more, I am sure that when TC looked at playing the Groveton Lion-Tigers, they talked loud and long about stopping Alvin. He was THE man. But according to the movie he never existed. That's just plane rude.

:spiny:
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Originally posted by Jeff Merriam 12 APR 2001</span>

[admin]

Wow, what a great day at work today. It was just like being back in school, when you'd walk into class and see the movie projector, and know you'd basically have a free hour.

Today at IBM in Rochester, MN, we had to attend our annual "diversity training" class, and they showed "Remember the Titans"! I had already seen it, so thought about trying to get out of it, but I couldn't resist since it was actually such a good movie. I enjoyed it even more the second time, I think, and really thinking about it in terms of how diversity does really help us to embrace new ideas and be more successful. So many lines in the movie went straight to this point.

I loved the music in the movie: "Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" and "Heard it through the grapevine," etc., so many songs I remember singing on pep buses or in basketball games.
:biggrinyel:
Originally posted by Jennie Dancy 21 MAY 2001

[admin]

Does anyone know why they called us the Groveton Lions in the movie and not the Groveton Tigers?

How upsetting.
:mad:
Originally posted by K.Hale 22 JUN 2001

[admin]

I dunno Kendra.

I guess we now know how historically inaccurate Hollywood can be. They also said in the movie that T.C. was the only mixed race school. As far as I know, that was total bullshoot.  My brother played on the Groveton team when they played T.C., and there were plenty of African Americans on the team. I guess no one remembers the Felds brothers. Now I know not to believe any "historical" movie produced by Hollywood.
:grumble:
Originally posted by credd@aol.com 23 JUN 2001

[admin]

Someone on classmates.com speculated that Hollywood changed Groveton to the Lions because Tigers sounded too much like Titans. As good a reason as any...

:confused:
Originally posted by Jennie Dancy Lemire 24 JUN 2001

[admin]

Here I am with a Masters in Film Production, and I haven't seen "Remember the Titans"! But that's by choice, based on what I read at the time of its release.

As I remember it (albeit many beers ago), TC was a MAMMOTH high school -- a conglomeration of three high schools, closer in size to a small college, a powerhouse in athletics. In fact, I remember thinking what a joke it was to have them competing with other area high schools. This was no level playing field... it was a preordained slaughter.

So, the idea of TC struggling against the odds is laughable guff. And I agree with Jeff's earlier comments about Alvin Cowans, easily the most talented and formidable player on our team, yet eliminated from the Hollywood version because he (along with Vince Bailey, Larry Jackson, Herbie Hines, Glenn Williams and Mike Fells) would have countered this whitewash of history.

So, that's why I skipped it...
:shocked:
[i]Originally posted by asher@erols.com 15 JUL 2001

[HandySam]

Saw this comment posted by someone calling himself "Dave Groveton" on the netflix.com site:

"This is another formulaic, but passable, football movie. But to heighten the drama of what purports to be "based on a true story," the scriptwriters grossly manipulated the historical background. I won't even get into the highly exaggerated portrayal of community racial tensions. But as a student at a local "rival" school during the era, I can highlight a few fundamental falsehoods in the movie's politically correct mythologizing of the Titans. Movie myth: T.C. Williams was newly integrated in the year (1971) that Coach Boone (Denzel W.) was brought in. Truth: TCW was founded as an integrated school in 1965, six years earlier. MM: The opposing schools were all-white, so "they didn't have to deal with integration." Truth: All of the schools and teams were integrated. MM: TCW was an underdog against the teams it faced that year. Truth: In the 1971 season TCW was an overwhelming powerhouse -- for an obvious reason -- that year it had all of the 11th and 12th graders (no 9th or 10 graders) combined from THREE high schools (Hammond, George Washington, and TCW). So it had a larger enrollment than almost all of its opponents, and its students were all juniors and seniors. Most of the tension on the TCW team that year was because the players from three schools were competing for spots on one team. Contrary to the movie's portrayal, TCW steamrolled over almost all of its opponents that year. But these inconvenient facts don't make as good a story."

[james forrester]

Howdy Phil and Admin guy!

Yes, I remember Hubert "The Atom" Avery at T C Williams. I have never seen an athlete of that calibre before or since. The hated Cowboys should have drafted him right out of High School. I saw him bounce off of tacklers all the way down the field several times and after seeing him have not been impressed by anything I've seen in the NFL!

To portray Groveton HS or Alexandria in 1970-71 as a Racist enclave is ridiculous. Give me the head of the screenwriter. I was there. It ain't so!!! Must have been a film school student born after 1960. Denzel was cool in the movie though. But Will Patton as a villian strikes me wrong. Not in real life.

Interesting that someone in Holly Would could imagine us as the Center of the World for a short period of time thus confirming our deepest beliefs.

Be sure to watch this flick.

James

[james forrester]

Sorry to have missed HandySam who must be Sam Handy a great athlete in his own right.

How the heck are ya?

For a minute I thought that "Dave Groveton" was our distinguished coach Dave Carter ! Then I saw the remark about being a 'student'. Mr. Carter is still an idol. I hope he is well and listening here.

James from the baseball team