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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Turner Home Ent
Salesrank: 74743
Released: January 10, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.48 |
| Used Price: $1.16 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A true story of a priest (Andre Braugher) in New Orleans who formed a group of black players and challenged an all-white prep school basketball team in the 1960's. Eventually events like these signaled the pivotal turn in the games' history leading to the integration in today's sport. Directed by Steve James (Hoop Dreams), these basketball players didn't just make shots, they made history.
Description of Passing Glory:
In this drama, set in New Orleans just as the civil rights movement was about to send shockwaves through society, Andre Braugher plays a priest from Baltimore who has offended his superiors and is sent southward to teach at a Catholic high school for young African American men. Braugher's character, Father Verrett, is to teach history and stay out of trouble, but before long he's making problems by raising the consciousness of his students. Named as the school's basketball coach, Verrett succeeds in instilling pride in his team, especially when, in a scene fraught with tension, he drives the team bus to a "whites only" diner after a game and insists on being served. As the sports leagues in New Orleans are segregated, Verrett's team will never play the team from the all-white high school that is supposed to be the best in the city. But one of his energized players issues a challenge to the white team, and a real championship game ensues. This all may sound simplistically moralistic, but the film does provide a multilayered look at segregation, and especially at the tensions it created within families when the younger generation sought change. And though the plot's outcome may not be surprising, the film's strongest points are the fine performances, in particular Braugher as the idealistic if abrasive priest. --Robert J. McNamara
Passing Glory Reviews:
AN OVERLOOKED MADE FOR TV GEM 
2009-03-22 - This made for TV movie is based on a true story. It's 1965 in New Orleans and St. Augustine's Catholic High School (boys) does an admirable job of educating young men from the black community and preparing them for life ..... in the black community. They know their place and their limitations. They were turned down by a vote of 185-11 to be a member of the Louisiana State High School Athletic Association so they must continue to compete against other black schools. They have never played a white school in their history. They can only wonder how their championship teams would compete against the white champions. This is all about to change when Father Verrett, a black priest from Baltimore is transferred to St. Augustine. He grew up in New Orleans but has tasted freedom in the North. He doesn't have the patience to be passive while the white community decides the fate of the black community. Father Verrett turns the school, students and parents into an activist community that is willing to take on the system, albeit pretty reluctantly, having already experienced the retaliation of some whites. The film builds to a climax of the first ever racially mixed high school basketball game in New Orleans. Another terrific film about the struggle of black Americans for the equal rights guaranteed to all citizens but at that time only available if you had the correct skin color. The acting is excellent and the screenplay was written by an actual member of the 1965 team, veteran actor Harold Sylvester. Magic Johnson was an executive producer. An overlooked TNT gem.
A small gem
2007-06-23 - Based on a true story, the mixture of morality, sports, and quality acting and directing makes for a winning combination, especially for teenage viewers and the young at heart.
Great Movie
2006-09-18 - I love basketball and history, so when these two elements are mixed together, I'm automatically hooked. This movie tells the story of the 1965 St. Augustine High (black school) Purple Knights and their trials and tribulations to play against the Jesuit High (white school) Eagles for the New Orleans high school basketball championship. Prior to that blacks could not play for the city title. They could only sit home and wonder "what if". The acting by Andre Braugher and his supporting cast was superb, but i wasn't feeling those accents that Travis and Boo had. I've live in New Orleans, and black folks don't talk like that. Other than that, it was a good movie.
Well Done!
2003-10-26 - I can't get enough of watching this movie. It was well-written, well-acted, and even though it was easy to figure out the outcome of the final game, that really isn't the point. The point was that the game happened at all. I am actually in the movie (yes, I am an extra-sitting next to one of the parents during the final game), so I saw it first-hand many, many times in real-life during filming. Yet, I still find myself watching it once again to see the story yet one more time. This should be required viewing for high school kids.
In A Class By Itself
2000-02-14 - TNT has often called itself the best movie studio on telivision. PASSING GLORY would suggest that maybe it is. This is a first rate production. The performances are gripping. The basketball sequences are thrilling. I have rented this movie over and over again. It is truly a classic. This is a small gem that no one should miss.
