Setting
It is important for a film to establish itself in time, place and social group every quickly. Mood and atmosphere are important too. As you answer the following questions, consider not just what you are told, but HOW it is made clear. A signifier is any item that signals time or place (or character). E.g. a decorated tree is a signifier of Christmas; a white cane is a signifier of a blind person.
Ä How many signifiers can you identify that signal time and place?
Accents, street signs and shop signs, vehicles, clothes, etc
Questions asked in Task-sheet 1 cover the initial setting of time and place. Add any additional information about the setting that you have noticed in later scenes.
Ä How does Gettysburg High School differ from T.C. Williams?
It seems older, more established, more traditional, more beautiful. Rural rather than urban. Dormitories suggest it is a boarding school.
Ä How much of T.C. Williams do we actually see?
The hall and the football field; the gym and the coach's office.
Ä Where does most of the action take place?
Apart from the games and the practices, which are on the field, the action is on the street.
Ä How much of the homes of Boone and Yoast do we see? What is the effect of this?
Yoast's backyard, and his office.
Boone's living room and his porch.
The story is about them as coaches, not as men, or fathers, although that is important to both of them. That Yoast has an office at home suggests he is dedicated. Boone watches game film at home – the same applies. He has no office – Nicky says they have cleared the kitchen table for him to work on – a signifier, too, that she is becoming involved herself. Sheryl's VO has told us that her mother left because her father worked so hard – they both involve their families.
Ä 1971 was a difficult year politically in the US, but nothing of that is shown in the film. Why not?
The decision was made to avoid any references to political events outside of the story as a way of keeping the film timeless, of not locating it too specifically in that time, since the issues are seen to be timeless.
Ä Comment on the costumes. How much do they locate the film in a specific time and or place?
For the same reason, the costumes and hair are correct to their period but avoid any of the extremes of 1971, so they too are correct without being specific. Ronnie's shirt is floral but still not outrageous; his hair also is not exclusively 1971. Jackets, ties etc are classical.
The clothes worn by Sheryl and Nicky are contrasted to make the point about the differences between them; children's fashions don't change much anyway.
Ä Select any brief scene and examine its mise en scène.
Characters and Actors
Herman Boone / Denzel Washington
Screenwriter: I wrote this with Denzel in mind, because Herman has to be a bastard but he must be a lovable bastard, so there is a very fine line. Denzel is always likable in all his movies; no matter how bad the character is he might be playing, people like him, so he can get away with more. He can get away with screaming at a player. And Denzel has himself coached football for well over 10 years, so he knows the game well. Some of Denzel's dialogue was actually words from the mouth of the real Boone
Much of the success of the film, particularly its transcendence of the schmaltz factor, is a result of Washington's performance.
The real Herman Boone was a dictator, who insisted on doing things his way. He was cantankerous, sharp-edged, intelligent, opinionated – and a driven man who stepped on quite a few toes. Boone came in like a bull at a gate, and there was quite a bit of conflict between him and Yoast. Their basic approach to the game differed; Boone believed in a few simple moves done well; Yost liked more fancy moves, what Boone called 'dipsy doodle' plays. However, they soon developed a good working relationship. Yoast said, 'I knew early on that Herman was a football man." (i.e. one who knows it, understands it, is really good, who eats, sleeps and breathes football.)
Boone: I was just the right person at the right time.
treated everybody the same
helped Louie get his grades up
good family man
a 'race man' i.e. was proud of his race and worked for it
drive to win – a 'winner'
strong disciplinarian, would drive the boys; inspirational
Washington is of course the linchpin; he's a commanding actor in a commanding role, and, as memorable as he was in The Hurricane, this is ultimately a better film, if not a subtler part. Coach Boone is an enigmatic hero, a self-made tyrant of tremendous pride and principle, seemingly impassive yet also easily wounded. He will surely seem familiar to anyone who grew up in integrated public schools staffed by the tough-minded, self-motivated generation of black teachers and coaches who emerged from the civil rights movement. Boone knows it's not quite fair to take Yoast's job, but is far too ambitious to refuse. He wants to coach a winning football team, and he believes that crushing his players' wills with brutal, military-style discipline is ultimately the best thing he can do for them. (Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com)
Someone who never sets a foot wrong, Washington is an actor it's impossible to remain unmoved by. Even in a conventional role as one tough hombre of a football coach, a straight-talking, square-shooting 1970s family man who says things like "you're overcooking my grits" when he's irked, Washington makes us believe no matter how cornball the situations become. (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times)
As played by Washington, Boone is more than tough. He is a man of keen observation and restraint, and some of the film's best moments provide a glimpse into his inner world. (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle)
I admired the way the screenplay doesn't make Boone noble and Yoast a racist, but shows them both as ambitious and skilled professionals. There are times when Boone treats his players more like Marines than high school kids, and Yoast tells him so. And times when Yoast tries to comfort black players who Boone has chewed out, and Boone accuses him of coddling blacks as he would never coddle his fellow whites. These scenes are tricky, and Washington and Patton find just the right notes to negotiate them. Washington is gifted at delivering big speeches without sounding portentous or seeming to strain. There's an early morning training run that leads the players to the Gettysburg battlefield, and his remarks there place their experiences in a larger context. (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)
With the Titans' on-pitch action disappointingly routine, the film's most rewarding aspect emerges in Denzel Washington's performance. Following on from The Hurricane, another liberal sports drama, Washington resists the temptation to sleepwalk the role and laudably offsets some of the picture's preachy worthiness by accentuating Boone's authoritarianism. Both he and Bruckheimer regular Will Patton lend delicacy to the difficult relationship between Boone and assistant coach Yoast - although their climactic moment of post-victory conciliation is marred by an exchange ("You were the right man for the job!"; "You're Hall of Famer in my book!") that summons up the gung-ho spirit of Bruckheimer's 1986 Top Gun.
Matthew Leyland, Sight and Sound)
Bill Yoast / Will Patton
Screenwriter: Bill is a very sweet, warm man - one of the nicest men I have met. He started out in life wanting to be a preacher; but became a coach as a way of reaching young people.
He seems laid-back but he wanted to win just as much as Boone did.
a good man, decent, honourable; will not win his job back through cheating
has his pride but is able to subdue it in the interests of the team
strong paternal affection for the boys
treats Sheryl with respect as well as love
Gerry Bertier / Ryan Hurst
Bertier was respected statewide for his ability, his temperament, his never-give-up attitude. He was definitely heading for pro football; at 18, he was already fast enough.
Starts as a racist but Julius becomes his best friend; he is too decent, too honest, too honourable to accept Ray's betrayal of the team. Puts the team first.
Most movies have trouble portraying teams, whether they're football players, companies of soldiers or merry bands of computer whizzes. Titans has its share of walking clichés. There's the obligatory enormous defensive tackle, for example, and another character whose only personality note is that he likes to sing. Yet for the most part, the film succeeds where other movies have failed, finding ways to personalise its characters.
Ryan Hurst is particularly memorable as Bertier, a white All-America player who starts off the film loyal to Yoast and hostile toward Boone. Bertier's inner growth is rendered by Hurst largely without dialogue. It's all in his face. At first resentful of the black players, he becomes increasingly disgusted at the prejudice around him. Hurst gives us the beautiful spectacle of a very young man slowly but definitely coming into his humanity.
(SF Chronicle)
Quick snapshots
Julius – angry, brilliant player, respects Gerry's ability, and his ability to change.
Rev - a 'brainiac', deeply religious, a decent, likeable boy; offers to tutor Louie.
Louie - 'white trash', from a poor background, and not a scholar; singer and dancer; open-minded – "I'm with everybody."
Petey – oversensitive, self-centred, has to learn to put the team ahead of himself.
Sunshine – has a personality to match his name.
Blue – sees life through music; but also shows grit, determination.
Ray – invented character to represent the intransigent racist.
Mr Yakin . . . paints his characters in vivid, cartoonish colours. There's the fat white guy who's too goofy to be racist; the beefy black guy who sings, jokes and dispenses inspiration; and the golden-haired hippie, a transplant from Southern California, with a throwing arm that's also pure gold. Happily, the younger members of the cast form a loose, funny, heartfelt ensemble; Ryan Hurst as Gerry Bertier and Wood Harris, as his rival and comrade Julius Campbell, are especially fine. Mr Washington and Mr Patton are strong, complex enough presences to make up for the script's deficiencies. (A.O. Scott, New York Times)
Adjusting History answers
The issue of how accurate true stories need to be on film is a vexed one. In this case, the changes that were made in the interests of a coherent and dramatic presentation were relatively small.
Ä Consider the following historical facts. For each say how it was altered for the film and suggest the reason for this. Rule up a page of your own paper so you have room for the answers.
Ä Are any of these alterations unacceptable?
historical fact / movie / reason for changeThree schools were combined – a white school, a black one and a mixed one. / Two schools – a white one and a black one / Simpler to deal with; three would take much more explanation
Herman had a coaching staff of 6 or 7. / Only two – Doc Hinds and Coach Tyrell. / Too many characters are confusing. Hinds was real; Tyrell is a composite character invented for the film
Many of the boys took weapons – sticks, tyre-irons etc – to camp, expecting race trouble. / They have a fist-fight but no weapons are seen. / They apparently didn't use the weapons they took.
The team did come together at camp – and there was no dissension after that. They just got on with winning. / A number of crises occur: the bar incident, Gerry and Emma; Bertier's mother; the plot to dispose of Boone / The middle of the film would be dead if there were no drama. Easy success is not cinematically dramatic.
Lewis Lastik came from an integrated area and the mixed school in Alexandria. He was a great singer and dancer and was very popular. / Louie comes from outside, from a navy family, and this is why he has 'no people'. He is a good singer but very fat. Still very likeable. / With only two schools in the script (and the integrated school left out), Louie had to come from somewhere else.
Back at school, Bertier had his car vandalised and a radio stolen; Boone told them they had to look after one another and the black team members tracked down the black thief and dealt with him. / Petey is attacked by some white boys; the team comes to his aid; Julius and Gerry sort it out. / More dramatic, more active. Stealing a radio, holding a meeting, investigation would take much too long; this provides a situation for Gerry and Julius to re-establish their friendship.
Boone's new neighbours got up a petition to try to get rid of him from their white neighbourhood. / They peer through the curtains and make racist comments. / The point is made – and the film is about the team rather than his home situation.
A toilet was thrown through Boone's window. / A brick is thrown through the window. / A toilet would probably get a laugh – and that would undermine the gravity of the moment.
When the team won the region, Boone chartered a jet to fly them home. / They return by bus and the town is waiting. / The film's budget did not run to a plane.
Gerry Bertier was actually injured after the final, not before it. / He is injured before the final / Since the state final is the climax of the film, it ups the emotional stakes by having Gerry already injured.
His car slid in ice and snow. / He is broad-sided by a truck in the town centre; he is not paying attention because of the adulation. / The budget did not run to snow; juxtaposition of celebration and tragedy is poignant
The Titans won the final by about 50 points, not by a last minute touchdown. / They win in a cliff-hanging final moment touchdown. / A final game whitewash would have no tension or excitement.
Their hardest game was against Ed Henry, but it was mid-season. / They face Ed Henry in the final game. / as above
Boone's older daughter's name is Sharon. / She is called Nicky. / Yoast's daughter is Sheryl; Sheryl and Sharon would be confusing. Sheryl is a more important character.
There was no Virginia High School Hall of Fame (though there is now). / Yoast is nominated for the Hall of Fame and loses it. / It provides a focus for what Yoast is losing by supporting Boone and the team.
1971 was a traumatic time in the US with controversy over the Viet Nam War etc. / There is no reference to anything outside the immediate story. / The film is in its own time – so that the story becomes timeless.
Interesting Facts