Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans

2000

Director: Boaz Yakin

Writer: Gregory Allen Howard

113 Minutes

In 1971, America was on the verge of racial change and that change was met with resistance, hate, and violence. And then there were the Titans.

The T.C. Williams Titans covered the range of hate and bigotry in this country having one black coach, one white coach, and a mixture of black and white players playing both offense and defense. Their goal was to put the best football team on the field, but their obstacles were far beyond their comprehension.

Not only did the Titans have to face all-white schools with no racial tension, but they needed to face their own egos, limitations, and preconceived notions of one another. Finally, this team had to confront a community unwilling to adjust to color barrier. It was triple the conflict most high school football teams encounter.

But, their coaches Herman Boone (Danzel Washinton) and Bill Yoast (Will Patton) helped them understand that the football field holds no color, no race. Football is supposed to be above hatred. Football, in the simply sense, helps unite a towns, cities, states that face the change that needs to be accepted. Moreso, football will help unite thirty-odd boys who hate each other.

Boone and Yoast take their boys to camp at Gettysburg College where they experience pain, dehydration, and exhaustion. Yet, they still haven’t learned to get along. Boone makes them interview one another, but still they continue to hate. And finally, Boone marches them to the battlefield at Gettysburg and explains this:

“This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today."

That does it. That was the turning point for the team. But, then the team returns to the real world.

And the real world hasn't changed, thus the team falls back into the same sticky, racially charged situation as before they left. You can take a hateful person out of the city and show them peace in the country, but when they return to the city, they'll most likely forget the country.

That’s what happened to the Titans.

They needed to remind themselves what they learned at camp and how unimportant skin color is. They needed to dance.

In the scene above, the Titans tell Boone and Yoast they wanted to enter onto the field a little “differently.” The teams forms five lines, packs together, and dances/sings their way onto the field.

They line up and continue to dance, showing themselves and the crowd they are one united front above everything else. They stick together past black and white. And every game after, they march onto the field the same way to have the same results.

Victory.

The T.C. Williams Titans needed this moment. They needed to dance onto the field to bond them together. They have long forgotten their days at camp and needed to remember what it felt like to join together as a team.

That's what makes teams great: the bond. And even though the Titans faced enormous obstacles, they had a bond. And their bond was together as one, just by dancing.

In the end, we take this from the final line in the film:

“…but before we reach for hate, we must always, always, remember the Titans.”

Their teams spirit lives on. The Titans live on. And their message lives on.

Sideways

Sideways

2004

Director: Alexander Payne

Writer: Alexander Payne, Rex Rickett, and Jim Taylor.

126 Minutes

Two friends, one more colorful, unique, and flawed than the other, set out for a week in Southern California’s wine country, which changes both of their lives for the better.

Miles (Paul Giamattie) is a depressed 8th grade English teacher and a struggling novelist, while Jack (Thomas Haden Church) is a C-list actor with infidelity problems. Together, they make for a right vs wrong, good vs bad, and screwed up vs really screwed up team trying to have a “great weekend” away. It’s unfortunate that these two define “great weekend” differently.

Miles defines great weekend as food, golf, and wine. Jack defines it as sex, sex, and more sex.

Miles holds marriage in high regards, though Jack simply sees it as a means to the end. This creates conflict, which is two fold for our hero.

Miles's external conflict is getting Jack to his wedding on Saturday, while Jack dabbles in several women along the journey. Yet, Miles's secondary, internal conflict is he's divorced, unable to move on, and is depressed.

Why?

Miles believed his marriage would last forever. He thought he was set for life. He holds his x-wife as such high esteem, where even Jack tries to remind him how imperfect she was.

“She had the best pallet I’ve ever known,” Miles explains, but with hope and love in his voice.

Why can't he move on? Because he cannot let go.

It happens. People hold onto love like old report cards or missing socks, when it’s better to simply throw them away. Though often times, we can’t. We hold onto objects, items, and love because we believed they were the one and only.

They are not.

But, this is true in Miles case. He cannot let go. And in the wake of it, Miles holds onto a rare bottle of wine: 1961 Chateau Cheval Blanc. He was saving it for his wedding anniversary that will never come to light.

And the 1961’s are peeking now.

Miles does make it through the weekend and gets Jack to his wedding, eliminating the external conflict. At the wedding, he runs into his x-wife and her new husband. She tells him he’s pregnant. He’s floored. At this moment, he knows all hope is gone. All love is gone. The hope that sometime his x-wife will realize her mistake and come back is over. Now, he can move on and eliminate the internal conflict.

In the scene above, Miles, having heard the news about his x-wife’s pregnancy, retires to a fast food restaurant with his 1961 Cheval Blanc. He drinks out of a Styrofoam cup, eating a cheeseburger, in the company of no one.

It’s not special, nor significant.

That information [pregnancy] is what he needed to move on with his life. He needed to let that relationship/marriage die before he could move forward. He needed to drink that bottle of wine in order to progress.

His arc was not only getting Jack to the wedding, but getting out of the slump and move onto something better.

And who is better than the beautiful Maya (Virginia Madsen), Miles’s love interest in the film.

All in all, Sideways is a dark comedy about rich characters. No one does it better than Alexander Payne, in that regard. He’s pure genius and unafraid to use real people, real situations, and real problems.

Alexander Payne uses his films to help humans understand humanity.

In the end, that’s why we should go to movies: to understand.

Bull Durham

Bull Durham

1988

Director: Ron Shelton

Writer: Ron Shelton

108 Minutes

“Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.” – Crash Davis

Besides this being the turning point in Annie Savory’s (Susan Sarandon) feelings for this man, this is why we love Crash David (Kevin Costner).

He’s no bullshit. He’s just Crash.

And there is more:

The amount of respect, dignity, and admiration Crash Davis has for the game of baseball is the movie. He’s confidently passionate. He’s plays his heart out. And he’s one of the greats.

Crash Davis is a true American: opinionated and solid.

It’s why baseball is the America’s pastime. It’s why we sit in the blazing sun, drinking warm beer, and eat plain hotdogs. It’s because of players like Crash Davis. And he is why we watch baseball.

But more importantly, someone with that much conviction, knowledge, and nerve to say this to a beautiful woman, then say goodnight, and then walk out the door is why we watch movies.

In the scene above, Annie is debating between two men to have sex with. One being Crash Davis and the other a hotshot pitcher named Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins). Annie's plan is to take “care” of one player each season, help him with his game, and then set him free for the major leagues. Here, her debate is between these two. But, Crash has another thing in mind:

“After twelve years in the minor league, I don’t try out…”

After some contesting statements, Crash delivers this speech. Nuke looks bored, but Annie is fixated, lingering on every word, and opening her heart (over her legs) to someone who really knows life, love, and baseball - she sport she deems "The Church of Baseball."

Crash plays no games, nor talks shit. He calls a spade a spade. He can’t beat’em, joins’em. Cause when you’ve played in the show (the majors), you know how great life can be:

“Yeah, I was in the show. I was in the show for 21 days once - the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.”

It’s Crash Davis...as his finest.

American Beauty

American Beauty

1999

Director: Sam Mendes

Writer: Alan Ball

122 Minutes

“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world."

American Beauty is a social commentary about suburban life explained by one man, Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey). In this life, some are happy, sad, gay, straight, in love, out of love, depressed, etc.

But, that’s the beauty of America. It’s the beauty of flipping burgers when you are a teenager. Or getting the car you always wanted. The beauty of an innocent young girl or realizing every material possession you have is meaningless if you are not happy.

Lester experiences all of these things on his quest for happiness.

And there is more. From floating bags to smoking pot. And great motel sex to getting healthy. And even Nazi china to self redemption. The beauty of the American Dream is so evident, so present in this film than in any other.

The scene above is the ending. Lester is shot in the back of the head by Col. Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) after their homosexual encounter. The truth shall never be heard.

In the original script, Frank Fitts had a love affair with a military personal who was killed in battle, thus Fitts repressed sexual motivations come out when he suspects Lester is on par and Fitts makes his move. Unbeknownst, Lester is not gay and Fitts’s hate speech about “fags” is spoiled in his own hypocrisy.

But, this scene is about an expression. He’s happy. He realizes something about life that many seem to forget. Life is priceless – ever changing and wonderful. For the first time, Lester has joy.

“How are you?”
“It’s been a long time since someone asked me that. I’m great, “ replies Lester.

He stares at a picture of his family, once happy and then a gun is placed to the back of his head. In this moment, he could die a happy man. And he does.

Most of us are old when we die. We can’t move, back hurts, sick with disease, or taken when we are too young. Lester was happy when the bullet entered his brain. We should all be so lucky.

In the end, all this is a mystery. Everyone in and around that house had motivation to kill Lester. Jane (Thora Birch) and Ricky (Wes Bentley) recorded a conversation about killing him and are moving to New York. Carolyn (Annette Bening) had a gun in her purse and was caught cheated. Angela (Mena Suvari) got rejected. Buddy (Peter Gallagher) was having an affair with his wife.

I’m sure Col. Frank Fitts’s military career was spotless. Why would the cops question him? What would he say? Why even confess?

But Lester, our hero, is happy. The rest of the world can sit and clean up the mess because in life, we only get a couple moments of happiness. It’s better to appreciate life than to clean up the blood, sweat, and tears of others.

Lester knew that and simply put it as: spectacular.