Hoosiers
1986
hoosiersarchive.com/the-years-after-hoosiers/interviews/#anspaugh
Above link goes to various interviews from the actors and film makers.
Above link goes to various interviews from the actors and film makers.
The 1954 Milan High School Indians were the Indiana state high school basketball champions in 1954. With an enrollment of only 161, Milan was the smallest school ever to win a single-class state basketball title in Indiana. The team and town are the inspiration for the 1986 film Hoosiers. The team finished its regular season 19–2 and sported a 28–2 overall record.
Unlike most states, Indiana held a single-class tournament in which all schools competed for the same championship in one of America's largest and most popular high school tournaments, until the separation into enrollment classes in 1997. Indiana still possessed a large rural population well into the 1950s and rural school consolidation was still in its infancy. As a result, most Indiana high schools of the era had what today are considered extremely small enrollments. Many of these small schools had realistic expectations of advancing several rounds into the tournament in that era, but they would almost inevitably fall in the regionals to urban schools from places such as South Bend, Evansville, Gary, Terre Haute, Muncie, and Indianapolis.[1]
1954 Milan High School Basketball TeamCoach Marvin Wood was hired two years previously, at the age of 24, after a collegiate playing career at Butler University and a coaching stint in French Lick. His hiring was controversial, coming on the heels of Superintendent Willard Green's firing of coach Herman "Snort" Grinstead, who ordered new uniforms without authorization. Wood's coaching style was the opposite of Grinstead's in many ways. He closed practice to outsiders, an act that removed one of the major forms of leisure time entertainment for the town's basketball-crazed population and angered many. He was impressed by the unusual scope of size and talent available in such a small school among the many boys trying out for the team, talent forged by a strong junior-high program. He taught them more patience than the run-and-gun Grinstead, culminating in a four-corner ball control offense he called the "cat-and-mouse".
Expectations were higher in the 1952–1953 season. These were realized as the Indians won their first regional game in school history, but they went on to shock the state by winning the regional title and sweeping the semi-state to advance to the final four, finally bowing out in a 56–37 semifinal blowout to the Bears of South Bend Central High School. The nucleus of that team returned for the 1953–54 season with expectations of tournament success unprecedented for such a small school.
Unlike most states, Indiana held a single-class tournament in which all schools competed for the same championship in one of America's largest and most popular high school tournaments, until the separation into enrollment classes in 1997. Indiana still possessed a large rural population well into the 1950s and rural school consolidation was still in its infancy. As a result, most Indiana high schools of the era had what today are considered extremely small enrollments. Many of these small schools had realistic expectations of advancing several rounds into the tournament in that era, but they would almost inevitably fall in the regionals to urban schools from places such as South Bend, Evansville, Gary, Terre Haute, Muncie, and Indianapolis.[1]
1954 Milan High School Basketball TeamCoach Marvin Wood was hired two years previously, at the age of 24, after a collegiate playing career at Butler University and a coaching stint in French Lick. His hiring was controversial, coming on the heels of Superintendent Willard Green's firing of coach Herman "Snort" Grinstead, who ordered new uniforms without authorization. Wood's coaching style was the opposite of Grinstead's in many ways. He closed practice to outsiders, an act that removed one of the major forms of leisure time entertainment for the town's basketball-crazed population and angered many. He was impressed by the unusual scope of size and talent available in such a small school among the many boys trying out for the team, talent forged by a strong junior-high program. He taught them more patience than the run-and-gun Grinstead, culminating in a four-corner ball control offense he called the "cat-and-mouse".
Expectations were higher in the 1952–1953 season. These were realized as the Indians won their first regional game in school history, but they went on to shock the state by winning the regional title and sweeping the semi-state to advance to the final four, finally bowing out in a 56–37 semifinal blowout to the Bears of South Bend Central High School. The nucleus of that team returned for the 1953–54 season with expectations of tournament success unprecedented for such a small school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM1Tj4URX38
Link to Dennis Hopper's home in Venice:
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Trivia
For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper wanted a ten-second notice before calling action. At the ten-second notice, he spun around in circles until action was called, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk. He remembered James Deandoing the same thing on Giant (1956) - he asked George Stevens for 30 seconds so that he could spin around to better feel the inebriation.
The scene with Jimmy and Coach Dale talking while Jimmy shot baskets was filmed in one take. Maris Valainis said that he "wasn't even listening to him." "I was just concentrating on making them and I made one and they kept going in."
In the locker room before the final game, on the blackboard are the last names of the players on the opposing team. These are the real last names of the actors who make up the Hickory team.
Maris Valainis was told that whether he made the last shot or not, people were going to rush the floor because of the need for a wide shot of the court. Luckily, he made it as shown in the movie.
The movie was renamed "Best Shot" in Europe because most Europeans wouldn't know what a Hoosier was.
The announcer at the final game is Hilliard Gates, who announced the "real" game.
Steve Hollar was actually playing basketball for DePauw University at the time. The NCAA noticed when the film was released. The NCAA eventually decided that Hollar had been hired as an actor, not a basketball player. He still got a three-game suspension and was told to return 5% of his pay.
Jimmy Chitwood has only 4 lines of dialogue in the whole movie. He has 3 lines in the scene where Coach Dale wins the vote to keep his job, then "I'll make it" in the climactic game.
An actual Milan Indian Guard, Ray Craft, was in the movie. Craft was the person that greeted the Huskers when they got to the state finals, and he also was the one that told Coach Dale that it was time to take the court before the state final.
Jack Nicholson wanted to play Coach Norman Dale but he was unable to take the role because he was serving as a witness in a lawsuit, which sidelined him for six months.. He told the producers he knew they were on a tight schedule to shoot, and if they found another actor, to go ahead. If not, he could do it the next year. Gene Hackman then signed on for the part. After the film came out, Nicholson said to David Anspaugh that the movie and its stars were great, but that it would have been a "megahit" if he been its star.
The actual game was played between the Milan Indians and the Muncie Central Bearcats. For the movie, the South Bend Central Bears were the opponent. The true championship took place in 1954, not 1952 as in the movie, and the score was Milan 32, Muncie Central 30.
The actor playing Ollie once left the set to watch his high school basketball team play. He was a junior on the team when he got the role and was feeling homesick, so he decided to go watch them. The crew had to contact his mother to get him to return.
While delighted with his Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Dennis Hopper privately admitted to friends and colleagues that he felt the Academy nominated him for the wrong film. He thought he should have been nominated for his performance in Blue Velvet (1986).
Wade Schenck, who plays equipment manager/reluctant player Ollie McClellan, has his real-life sister Libbey Schenck encouraging him during the games as a Hickory cheerleader (credited).
Inspired in part by the 1954 Indiana State champs, Milan Indians.
The filmmakers had trouble filling the FieldHouse with extras for the final game, and needed to move people around when shooting different angles. Extras were given 1950's hairstyles and their clothing was checked for anachronisms.
Ranked #4 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Sports" in June 2008.
After this film became a hit, Kent Poole earned the nickname "Hollywood" back home in Indiana. Poole was a small-town Indiana high school basketball star. In 1982, Poole helped Western Boone High to a "near miss" in the Indiana State Finals. Unlike Hickory, Poole's team lost their playoff game by one basket. The director knew Poole loved small school spirit, and felt he could deliver the movie's famous line, "Let's win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here," with true heartfelt emotion.
Harry Dean Stanton turned down the role of Shooter. In 2013 he expressed regret over saying no to the film, and couldn't remember his reasons for declining it.
Steve Hollar (Rade) played high school basketball in Warsaw, Indiana. Warsaw was the state champion in 1984, when Hollar was a junior.
The theater that was closed for the final game burned down in 1999.
Dennis Hopper appeared in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956) with James Dean, a native Hoosier who played on the Fairmount, Indiana high school basketball team in the late 1940's.
Jerry Goldsmith's score is well known for its "Americana" essence, but the music was performed by the Hungarian State Opera orchestra in Budapest. American orchestral unions were reportedly upset with Goldsmith for choosing a foreign orchestra for a lower budget film.
The team's real-life coach was Marv Wood, who ended his coaching career coaching the St. Mary's College basketball team in South Bend, Indiana.
During one of the games, Hickory is shown playing Decatur. The Director was born in Decatur, Indiana.
The Travel-Aires, who sing the national anthem, were never auditioned for it. The national anthem wasn't included in the script until the end of filming. No one heard the group sing the national anthem until the night it was filmed, all in one take, for the very first time!
Dennis Hopper was also reluctant to play Shooter, as he had "just stopped drinking".
During a happy montage of Hickory winning a string of games, Dale was shown saying something to Shooter on the bench that made Shooter laugh. It wasn't until years later that David Anspaugh learned what Dennis Hopper was laughing at: Gene Hackman had told him, "Hopper, I hope you've invested well, because you and I are never gonna work after this movie. This is a career-ending film for both of us."
In the original script, Shooter leaves rehab to watch the state championship. Dennis Hopper, who had just gotten sober, thought it was detrimental to the story. "We sat down over coffee, and he said, 'Guys, I wish I had brought this up earlier. I knew there was something that bothered me about this scene. It doesn't work. It can't happen. It would suggest Shooter didn't take his sobriety seriously. And I know from experience that Shooter made a real commitment, and there's no way he would leave that hospital,'" Anspaugh recalled. "And Angelo and I had been living with that scene in our heads for years. And we really argued against [cutting] it. And Dennis said, 'No, trust me.' And we trusted him, and he was absolutely right."
Gene Hackman insisted on viewing the movie before he agreed to go in to re-record some of his audio. "Angelo and I knew that if he didn't like the movie, he wouldn't show up at the studio to re-record his dialogue," David Anspaugh said. "But he showed up. He walked in to the room, took his glasses off, looked me in the eyes, and said, 'How the f*ck did you do that?'"
David Anspaugh and Angelo Pizzo wanted to release their two-hour-and-48-minute version of the movie. The studio insisted that they needed to cut it down to 114 minutes. Among the many scenes excised was Buddy (Brad Long) asking back on the team and two scenes that developed Norman and Myra's budding romance more. Anspaugh said "the audience really got cheated and robbed" over the cuts.
Gene Hackman and David Anspaugh clashed throughout most of the production. "Gene had me on the verge of a nervous breakdown," Anspaugh told Vulture. "He gave me my first anxiety attack: One morning I woke up and I couldn't walk, the room was spinning. I thought every day on the film was going to be my last because Gene's agent was trying to get me fired."
According to Anspaugh, the only thing that saved his job was the dailies. "The producers said, 'Look, David's not getting fired,'" the director recalled. "And we showed a half-hour of dailies to Gene's agent and he saw that what we were making was actually pretty good."
For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper wanted a ten-second notice before calling action. At the ten-second notice, he spun around in circles until action was called, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk. He remembered James Deandoing the same thing on Giant (1956) - he asked George Stevens for 30 seconds so that he could spin around to better feel the inebriation.
The scene with Jimmy and Coach Dale talking while Jimmy shot baskets was filmed in one take. Maris Valainis said that he "wasn't even listening to him." "I was just concentrating on making them and I made one and they kept going in."
In the locker room before the final game, on the blackboard are the last names of the players on the opposing team. These are the real last names of the actors who make up the Hickory team.
Maris Valainis was told that whether he made the last shot or not, people were going to rush the floor because of the need for a wide shot of the court. Luckily, he made it as shown in the movie.
The movie was renamed "Best Shot" in Europe because most Europeans wouldn't know what a Hoosier was.
The announcer at the final game is Hilliard Gates, who announced the "real" game.
Steve Hollar was actually playing basketball for DePauw University at the time. The NCAA noticed when the film was released. The NCAA eventually decided that Hollar had been hired as an actor, not a basketball player. He still got a three-game suspension and was told to return 5% of his pay.
Jimmy Chitwood has only 4 lines of dialogue in the whole movie. He has 3 lines in the scene where Coach Dale wins the vote to keep his job, then "I'll make it" in the climactic game.
An actual Milan Indian Guard, Ray Craft, was in the movie. Craft was the person that greeted the Huskers when they got to the state finals, and he also was the one that told Coach Dale that it was time to take the court before the state final.
Jack Nicholson wanted to play Coach Norman Dale but he was unable to take the role because he was serving as a witness in a lawsuit, which sidelined him for six months.. He told the producers he knew they were on a tight schedule to shoot, and if they found another actor, to go ahead. If not, he could do it the next year. Gene Hackman then signed on for the part. After the film came out, Nicholson said to David Anspaugh that the movie and its stars were great, but that it would have been a "megahit" if he been its star.
The actual game was played between the Milan Indians and the Muncie Central Bearcats. For the movie, the South Bend Central Bears were the opponent. The true championship took place in 1954, not 1952 as in the movie, and the score was Milan 32, Muncie Central 30.
The actor playing Ollie once left the set to watch his high school basketball team play. He was a junior on the team when he got the role and was feeling homesick, so he decided to go watch them. The crew had to contact his mother to get him to return.
While delighted with his Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Dennis Hopper privately admitted to friends and colleagues that he felt the Academy nominated him for the wrong film. He thought he should have been nominated for his performance in Blue Velvet (1986).
Wade Schenck, who plays equipment manager/reluctant player Ollie McClellan, has his real-life sister Libbey Schenck encouraging him during the games as a Hickory cheerleader (credited).
Inspired in part by the 1954 Indiana State champs, Milan Indians.
The filmmakers had trouble filling the FieldHouse with extras for the final game, and needed to move people around when shooting different angles. Extras were given 1950's hairstyles and their clothing was checked for anachronisms.
Ranked #4 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Sports" in June 2008.
After this film became a hit, Kent Poole earned the nickname "Hollywood" back home in Indiana. Poole was a small-town Indiana high school basketball star. In 1982, Poole helped Western Boone High to a "near miss" in the Indiana State Finals. Unlike Hickory, Poole's team lost their playoff game by one basket. The director knew Poole loved small school spirit, and felt he could deliver the movie's famous line, "Let's win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here," with true heartfelt emotion.
Harry Dean Stanton turned down the role of Shooter. In 2013 he expressed regret over saying no to the film, and couldn't remember his reasons for declining it.
Steve Hollar (Rade) played high school basketball in Warsaw, Indiana. Warsaw was the state champion in 1984, when Hollar was a junior.
The theater that was closed for the final game burned down in 1999.
Dennis Hopper appeared in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956) with James Dean, a native Hoosier who played on the Fairmount, Indiana high school basketball team in the late 1940's.
Jerry Goldsmith's score is well known for its "Americana" essence, but the music was performed by the Hungarian State Opera orchestra in Budapest. American orchestral unions were reportedly upset with Goldsmith for choosing a foreign orchestra for a lower budget film.
The team's real-life coach was Marv Wood, who ended his coaching career coaching the St. Mary's College basketball team in South Bend, Indiana.
During one of the games, Hickory is shown playing Decatur. The Director was born in Decatur, Indiana.
The Travel-Aires, who sing the national anthem, were never auditioned for it. The national anthem wasn't included in the script until the end of filming. No one heard the group sing the national anthem until the night it was filmed, all in one take, for the very first time!
Dennis Hopper was also reluctant to play Shooter, as he had "just stopped drinking".
During a happy montage of Hickory winning a string of games, Dale was shown saying something to Shooter on the bench that made Shooter laugh. It wasn't until years later that David Anspaugh learned what Dennis Hopper was laughing at: Gene Hackman had told him, "Hopper, I hope you've invested well, because you and I are never gonna work after this movie. This is a career-ending film for both of us."
In the original script, Shooter leaves rehab to watch the state championship. Dennis Hopper, who had just gotten sober, thought it was detrimental to the story. "We sat down over coffee, and he said, 'Guys, I wish I had brought this up earlier. I knew there was something that bothered me about this scene. It doesn't work. It can't happen. It would suggest Shooter didn't take his sobriety seriously. And I know from experience that Shooter made a real commitment, and there's no way he would leave that hospital,'" Anspaugh recalled. "And Angelo and I had been living with that scene in our heads for years. And we really argued against [cutting] it. And Dennis said, 'No, trust me.' And we trusted him, and he was absolutely right."
Gene Hackman insisted on viewing the movie before he agreed to go in to re-record some of his audio. "Angelo and I knew that if he didn't like the movie, he wouldn't show up at the studio to re-record his dialogue," David Anspaugh said. "But he showed up. He walked in to the room, took his glasses off, looked me in the eyes, and said, 'How the f*ck did you do that?'"
David Anspaugh and Angelo Pizzo wanted to release their two-hour-and-48-minute version of the movie. The studio insisted that they needed to cut it down to 114 minutes. Among the many scenes excised was Buddy (Brad Long) asking back on the team and two scenes that developed Norman and Myra's budding romance more. Anspaugh said "the audience really got cheated and robbed" over the cuts.
Gene Hackman and David Anspaugh clashed throughout most of the production. "Gene had me on the verge of a nervous breakdown," Anspaugh told Vulture. "He gave me my first anxiety attack: One morning I woke up and I couldn't walk, the room was spinning. I thought every day on the film was going to be my last because Gene's agent was trying to get me fired."
According to Anspaugh, the only thing that saved his job was the dailies. "The producers said, 'Look, David's not getting fired,'" the director recalled. "And we showed a half-hour of dailies to Gene's agent and he saw that what we were making was actually pretty good."
Where did the filmmakers get the idea for Hoosiers?
They were inspired by the 1954 Indiana state champion Milan Indians, the smallest school in state history to win Indiana’s one-class basketball tournament, and by Hoosier Hysteria and small-town life in general.
The real Milan Indians were quite different from the fictional Hickory Huskers. Why didn’t screenwriter Angelo Pizzo stick more closely to the Milan story?
After Pizzo researched the story of the real-life Milan team, he said, “I realized that I needed much more liberty to create drama. These were pretty good boys who did their job, went to school and played as they were told. There wasn’t really much conflict. … …it was just easier for me as a writer to create from my imagination rather than reality.” (Source: “The genesis of ‘Hoosiers.’” Muncie (IN) Star, November 24, 1985, D1) As a result, the Milan story served only as inspiration, not a factual basis, for Hoosiers. Most of the movie’s plot points were Pizzo’s invention.
What are some of the differences between the Milan story and Hoosiers?
Originally the filmmakers hoped to find one Indiana location where they could film the downtown, school, and game scenes. But no such perfect location could be found, so they ended up shooting primarily in three central Indiana locations. New Richmond was used for the street scenes, the school was in Nineveh, and the home gym was located in Knightstown. Read more about all the filming sites.
Were the young men who played the Hickory Huskers good basketball players in real life?
Brad Long (Buddy) had played college basketball, and Steve Hollar (Rade) was a freshman on his college team. Wade Schenck (Ollie) was a senior on his high school team. Brad Boyle (Whit), Scott Summers (Strap), and Kent Poole (Merle) all played in high school. Maris Valainis (Jimmy) tried out for but was never chosen to be on his high school team.
How were the Huskers chosen to be in the movie?
An open casting call was held in Indianapolis, at which hundreds of 18-to-22-year-olds demonstrated their basketball skills. At subsequent callbacks, during which the large group was winnowed each time, they were asked to read from the script, talk about themselves in a group setting, undergo interviews, and do some improvisation. Seven of the Huskers were from Indiana. David Neidorf, who played Shooter’s son, was the only one who was chosen at a Los Angeles casting session. Some of the young men who auditioned to be Huskers were cast as players on opposing teams.
When Norman enters Cletus’s office for the first time and finds the principal sitting cross-legged on the floor, Cletus says he’s “floatin’.” What does this mean?
Pizzo explained that “floating” is a colloquialism for “meditating.”
Buddy is kicked out of the first practice but appears in later games without explanation. What happened?
A scene was filmed in which Buddy expresses regret that he transferred to neighboring high school Terhune after the incident at the first practice. Buddy tells Norman that, soon after he transferred, he decided not to play on Terhune’s basketball team after all. Coach Dale agrees to let Buddy return and play for the Huskers. During the movie’s editing stage, film distributor Orion insisted that Hoosiers run no more than two hours, forcing the filmmakers to cut many scenes. Director David Anspaugh and writer/producer Pizzo were adamantly opposed to deleting the scene in which Buddy discusses his transfer, believing that its absence would confuse the viewers, but they were overruled. This scene is included with some other deleted scenes on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs. Read more about all the deleted scenes.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes all his shots at the outdoor court (except the last one)?
This scene was done in one take. Valainis was a good-enough shooter to make all the shots the first time around. This was a good thing, because the late-afternoon light was fading, and it was about to rain.
Was Jimmy supposed to miss his last shot at the outdoor court?
The script didn’t say that Jimmy misses at the end. Valainis said he was focused intently on making baskets during Gene Hackman’s speech. When Hackman was done talking and walked away, Valainis stopped concentrating and missed.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes the last shot at the state finals?
When the cameras rolled, Valainis hit this shot on his first try. During rehearsals, he missed repeatedly. So the excitement, amazement, and joy displayed by the crowd are real, because they saw him miss many times prior to that. The filmmakers did shoot this scene one more time just to be on the safe side.
Why can dried-up cornstalks be seen standing in the fields during what is supposed to be late winter?
Indiana’s corn harvest is finished by early or mid-December—sometimes much sooner. The outdoor scenes were filmed before the harvest, which may have been delayed by the unusually rainy autumn of 1985.
What plant is being ground up in the scene at Opal and Myra’s farm?
Sorghum, which can be made into syrup.
During production, did the filmmakers and actors feel confident that the movie would be a hit?
Just the opposite. Anspaugh and Pizzo had serious misgivings about how the film was turning out. Pizzo even went so far as to say “Every day I thought we were making a terrible movie.” Hackman was openly negative, opining that Hoosierswould be a flop and calling it a career-killer. Dennis Hopper, though not as outspoken as Hackman, also had his doubts.
They were inspired by the 1954 Indiana state champion Milan Indians, the smallest school in state history to win Indiana’s one-class basketball tournament, and by Hoosier Hysteria and small-town life in general.
The real Milan Indians were quite different from the fictional Hickory Huskers. Why didn’t screenwriter Angelo Pizzo stick more closely to the Milan story?
After Pizzo researched the story of the real-life Milan team, he said, “I realized that I needed much more liberty to create drama. These were pretty good boys who did their job, went to school and played as they were told. There wasn’t really much conflict. … …it was just easier for me as a writer to create from my imagination rather than reality.” (Source: “The genesis of ‘Hoosiers.’” Muncie (IN) Star, November 24, 1985, D1) As a result, the Milan story served only as inspiration, not a factual basis, for Hoosiers. Most of the movie’s plot points were Pizzo’s invention.
What are some of the differences between the Milan story and Hoosiers?
- Milan Coach Marvin Wood was nothing like the Huskers’ Coach Norman Dale. Wood was a soft-spoken, even-tempered, churchgoing family man who was only 24 when he arrived at Milan. The Indiana native and Butler University graduate had coached at French Lick the previous two seasons.
- The Indians needed a new coach not because the previous one had died, but because he had been fired.
- The Milan story didn’t include a town drunk who became an assistant coach or a female teacher who wanted to keep the star player off the team.
- Milan High School had no shortage of basketball players. Dozens of boys tried out for the team.
- The Indians didn’t have players who quit the team.
- Milan’s state-championship game unfolded differently than the movie’s final matchup. In the real game, Wood’s team slowed down the action in the final quarter. With five and a half minutes to go, Bobby Plump held the ball for over two minutes. Near the end of the quarter he held it again for 27 seconds.
- When the Indians won the state title in 1954, it was their second trip to the state finals. The year before, they lost to South Bend Central in the first game of the finals.
Originally the filmmakers hoped to find one Indiana location where they could film the downtown, school, and game scenes. But no such perfect location could be found, so they ended up shooting primarily in three central Indiana locations. New Richmond was used for the street scenes, the school was in Nineveh, and the home gym was located in Knightstown. Read more about all the filming sites.
Were the young men who played the Hickory Huskers good basketball players in real life?
Brad Long (Buddy) had played college basketball, and Steve Hollar (Rade) was a freshman on his college team. Wade Schenck (Ollie) was a senior on his high school team. Brad Boyle (Whit), Scott Summers (Strap), and Kent Poole (Merle) all played in high school. Maris Valainis (Jimmy) tried out for but was never chosen to be on his high school team.
How were the Huskers chosen to be in the movie?
An open casting call was held in Indianapolis, at which hundreds of 18-to-22-year-olds demonstrated their basketball skills. At subsequent callbacks, during which the large group was winnowed each time, they were asked to read from the script, talk about themselves in a group setting, undergo interviews, and do some improvisation. Seven of the Huskers were from Indiana. David Neidorf, who played Shooter’s son, was the only one who was chosen at a Los Angeles casting session. Some of the young men who auditioned to be Huskers were cast as players on opposing teams.
When Norman enters Cletus’s office for the first time and finds the principal sitting cross-legged on the floor, Cletus says he’s “floatin’.” What does this mean?
Pizzo explained that “floating” is a colloquialism for “meditating.”
Buddy is kicked out of the first practice but appears in later games without explanation. What happened?
A scene was filmed in which Buddy expresses regret that he transferred to neighboring high school Terhune after the incident at the first practice. Buddy tells Norman that, soon after he transferred, he decided not to play on Terhune’s basketball team after all. Coach Dale agrees to let Buddy return and play for the Huskers. During the movie’s editing stage, film distributor Orion insisted that Hoosiers run no more than two hours, forcing the filmmakers to cut many scenes. Director David Anspaugh and writer/producer Pizzo were adamantly opposed to deleting the scene in which Buddy discusses his transfer, believing that its absence would confuse the viewers, but they were overruled. This scene is included with some other deleted scenes on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs. Read more about all the deleted scenes.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes all his shots at the outdoor court (except the last one)?
This scene was done in one take. Valainis was a good-enough shooter to make all the shots the first time around. This was a good thing, because the late-afternoon light was fading, and it was about to rain.
Was Jimmy supposed to miss his last shot at the outdoor court?
The script didn’t say that Jimmy misses at the end. Valainis said he was focused intently on making baskets during Gene Hackman’s speech. When Hackman was done talking and walked away, Valainis stopped concentrating and missed.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes the last shot at the state finals?
When the cameras rolled, Valainis hit this shot on his first try. During rehearsals, he missed repeatedly. So the excitement, amazement, and joy displayed by the crowd are real, because they saw him miss many times prior to that. The filmmakers did shoot this scene one more time just to be on the safe side.
Why can dried-up cornstalks be seen standing in the fields during what is supposed to be late winter?
Indiana’s corn harvest is finished by early or mid-December—sometimes much sooner. The outdoor scenes were filmed before the harvest, which may have been delayed by the unusually rainy autumn of 1985.
What plant is being ground up in the scene at Opal and Myra’s farm?
Sorghum, which can be made into syrup.
During production, did the filmmakers and actors feel confident that the movie would be a hit?
Just the opposite. Anspaugh and Pizzo had serious misgivings about how the film was turning out. Pizzo even went so far as to say “Every day I thought we were making a terrible movie.” Hackman was openly negative, opining that Hoosierswould be a flop and calling it a career-killer. Dennis Hopper, though not as outspoken as Hackman, also had his doubts.
Filming Sites
Downtown Hickory
New Richmond, population 400, in northwestern Montgomery County, was chosen for the town scenes.
Hickory High School
This 78-year-old high-school-turned-primary-school, located in Nineveh in southern Johnson County, became the Hickory school. The building housed 172 students in grades K through 4. The facility was scheduled to close at the end of that school year, and the students would move to a new school in nearby Trafalgar.
The Hickory gym
The 1921 Knightstown gym in southwestern Henry County was selected as the Huskers’ home court. It hadn’t been used much for basketball since 1966, when the town’s students moved to their newly constructed high school.
The Cedar Knob gym
The gym of St. Philip Neri Catholic School in downtown Indianapolis was built in 1926. It was transformed into the yellow and green gym of the Cedar Knob Knights for the film’s away game.
The site of the film’s sectional game
The 800-seat 56-year-old College Avenue Gym in Brownsburg, in northeastern Hendricks County, hosted the movie’s sectional game. It hadn’t been used as the high school’s home court since 1957, when a new gym was built.
The site of the film’s regional game
The 2,200-seat Memorial Gymnasium was built in Lebanon, in central Boone County, in 1931. Rick Mount, the first high school athlete to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, played there from 1962 to 1966. The gym and the 1922 high school next door were vacated in 1968 after a new school and gym were constructed in another part of town. The newly renamed Memory Hall saw sporadic use after that.
Butler Fieldhouse, site of the state-finals game
Hinkle Fieldhouse, on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, originally was named Butler Fieldhouse. Built in 1928, with 15,000 seats it was the largest basketball gym in the U.S. until 1950. The high school basketball state finals were played there until 1971. The facility was renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1966 to honor legendary coach Tony Hinkle, who led the Bulldogs for 41 seasons. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Terhune (seen in the opening credits and in a deleted scene on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs)
This town of about 65 residents was located in northeastern Boone County.
The small white church in the opening credits
This tiny 96-year-old church was located between Pittsboro and Lebanon, in southern Boone County, at the northeast corner of the intersection of W 600 S and S 25 W (Pittsboro Road).
The white barn with a basketball hoop in the opening credits
This barn stood west of Sheridan on Indiana 47, just west of N 1200 E, in far eastern Boone County.
The “town meeting” church
The 91-year-old Elizaville Baptist Church was situated west of U.S. 421 and just south of State Road 47 in northeastern Boone County, at 5946 N. Howard Street.
The red barn on which GO HUSKERS is being painted
This barn, seen in the montage before the sectional game, was located southeast of New Richmond on W 750 N.
The hospital where Shooter enters rehab
The Wishard Nursing Museum, part of the Wishard Memorial Hospital campus, was at 1001 West 10th Street in Indianapolis, on the second floor of the Bryce Building. The museum was located in what was originally the lounge area of the nurses’ residence.
The Avon Theater, whose marquee is shown briefly on the night of the state finals
The Avon, a landmark in downtown Lebanon, was built in 1924.
The rain-soaked town shown briefly on the night of the state finals
This town was Amo, in southwestern Hendricks County.
The interior of Principal Cletus Summers’ house
This 1880 Italianate-style house stood west of Danville, in central Hendricks County. In its first 130 years it had only three different owners.
Principal Cletus Summers’ property
This house, barn, and garage were south of New Richmond. The garage was used as the exterior of Norman’s house.
Myra and Opal Fleener’s property and the interior of Norman’s house
This 1847 house was located on 80 acres southwest of Danville. The property had been in the same family for four generations. The kitchen and dining room were used to film scenes that took place in the Fleener house. The rear enclosed porch was transformed into Norman’s kitchen, and the adjoining parlor became his living room.
Shooter’s house
This two-story cabin was situated in a wooded area known as Camp Short, south of Danville at the end of S 101 E. Created around 1905, the camp included baseball, tennis, and swimming facilities, as well as a shooting range.
The harvest scene (not seen in the film; included on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs)
The daylong corn-harvesting scene was filmed south of Danville at the intersection of W 200 S and S 75 W.
Driving scenes/opening credits
Coach Dale’s journey toward Hickory in the opening credits began on U.S. 40 near Stilesville, in southwestern Hendricks County, and continued on other Montgomery County roads.
The iron truss Brown Bridge, which Coach Dale drove over, was built in 1913. It ran north and south and was 192 feet long. It crossed Sugar Creek on County Road 175 East, just north of I-74 and Crawfordsville, in central Montgomery County.
Downtown Hickory
New Richmond, population 400, in northwestern Montgomery County, was chosen for the town scenes.
Hickory High School
This 78-year-old high-school-turned-primary-school, located in Nineveh in southern Johnson County, became the Hickory school. The building housed 172 students in grades K through 4. The facility was scheduled to close at the end of that school year, and the students would move to a new school in nearby Trafalgar.
The Hickory gym
The 1921 Knightstown gym in southwestern Henry County was selected as the Huskers’ home court. It hadn’t been used much for basketball since 1966, when the town’s students moved to their newly constructed high school.
The Cedar Knob gym
The gym of St. Philip Neri Catholic School in downtown Indianapolis was built in 1926. It was transformed into the yellow and green gym of the Cedar Knob Knights for the film’s away game.
The site of the film’s sectional game
The 800-seat 56-year-old College Avenue Gym in Brownsburg, in northeastern Hendricks County, hosted the movie’s sectional game. It hadn’t been used as the high school’s home court since 1957, when a new gym was built.
The site of the film’s regional game
The 2,200-seat Memorial Gymnasium was built in Lebanon, in central Boone County, in 1931. Rick Mount, the first high school athlete to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, played there from 1962 to 1966. The gym and the 1922 high school next door were vacated in 1968 after a new school and gym were constructed in another part of town. The newly renamed Memory Hall saw sporadic use after that.
Butler Fieldhouse, site of the state-finals game
Hinkle Fieldhouse, on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, originally was named Butler Fieldhouse. Built in 1928, with 15,000 seats it was the largest basketball gym in the U.S. until 1950. The high school basketball state finals were played there until 1971. The facility was renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1966 to honor legendary coach Tony Hinkle, who led the Bulldogs for 41 seasons. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Terhune (seen in the opening credits and in a deleted scene on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs)
This town of about 65 residents was located in northeastern Boone County.
The small white church in the opening credits
This tiny 96-year-old church was located between Pittsboro and Lebanon, in southern Boone County, at the northeast corner of the intersection of W 600 S and S 25 W (Pittsboro Road).
The white barn with a basketball hoop in the opening credits
This barn stood west of Sheridan on Indiana 47, just west of N 1200 E, in far eastern Boone County.
The “town meeting” church
The 91-year-old Elizaville Baptist Church was situated west of U.S. 421 and just south of State Road 47 in northeastern Boone County, at 5946 N. Howard Street.
The red barn on which GO HUSKERS is being painted
This barn, seen in the montage before the sectional game, was located southeast of New Richmond on W 750 N.
The hospital where Shooter enters rehab
The Wishard Nursing Museum, part of the Wishard Memorial Hospital campus, was at 1001 West 10th Street in Indianapolis, on the second floor of the Bryce Building. The museum was located in what was originally the lounge area of the nurses’ residence.
The Avon Theater, whose marquee is shown briefly on the night of the state finals
The Avon, a landmark in downtown Lebanon, was built in 1924.
The rain-soaked town shown briefly on the night of the state finals
This town was Amo, in southwestern Hendricks County.
The interior of Principal Cletus Summers’ house
This 1880 Italianate-style house stood west of Danville, in central Hendricks County. In its first 130 years it had only three different owners.
Principal Cletus Summers’ property
This house, barn, and garage were south of New Richmond. The garage was used as the exterior of Norman’s house.
Myra and Opal Fleener’s property and the interior of Norman’s house
This 1847 house was located on 80 acres southwest of Danville. The property had been in the same family for four generations. The kitchen and dining room were used to film scenes that took place in the Fleener house. The rear enclosed porch was transformed into Norman’s kitchen, and the adjoining parlor became his living room.
Shooter’s house
This two-story cabin was situated in a wooded area known as Camp Short, south of Danville at the end of S 101 E. Created around 1905, the camp included baseball, tennis, and swimming facilities, as well as a shooting range.
The harvest scene (not seen in the film; included on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs)
The daylong corn-harvesting scene was filmed south of Danville at the intersection of W 200 S and S 75 W.
Driving scenes/opening credits
Coach Dale’s journey toward Hickory in the opening credits began on U.S. 40 near Stilesville, in southwestern Hendricks County, and continued on other Montgomery County roads.
The iron truss Brown Bridge, which Coach Dale drove over, was built in 1913. It ran north and south and was 192 feet long. It crossed Sugar Creek on County Road 175 East, just north of I-74 and Crawfordsville, in central Montgomery County.
Casting and Filming
- Before Hemdale Film Corporation signed on as the production company, Howard Baldwin (co-owner of the National Hockey League franchise Hartford Whalers) and Bill Miner of MGM were mentioned as possible producers. The Baldwin Entertainment Group later produced David Anspaugh and Angelo Pizzo’s The Game of Their Lives (2005).
- In January 1985, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Harry Dean Stanton, and Wilford Brimley were being mentioned as possible lead actors.
- Writer/producer Pizzo believed that if Nicholson had been cast as Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers would have become known as a Jack Nicholson film, not an ensemble piece. (Source: Hoosiers (2005), audio commentaries (DVD), MGM Home Entertainment LLC.)
- Hackman accepted a salary of $400,000, lower than his normal rate, in exchange for also receiving 10% of the film’s gross profits (including videocassette sales).
- An open casting call was held in Indianapolis to find the Hickory Huskers. The press release and publicity that described the casting call specified that those trying out should “possess excellent basketball playing skills” and that they would be required “to demonstrate individual basketball playing skills.” Nevertheless, according to basketball technical advisor Spyridon “Strats” Stratigos, watching the hundreds of young men who auditioned, it was obvious to him that many of them were not skilled players.
- Huskers Buddy, Ollie, and Whit all had real-life brothers who tried out for the movie. Brad Long’s brother Mike, Wade Schenck’s brother Todd, and Brad Boyle’s brother Dan showed up for the open casting call.
- The Schencks’ sister Libbey was cast as one of the Hickory cheerleaders.
- Hickory Husker Maris Valainis was discovered at open-gym night at St. Luke’s school in Indianapolis by Stratigos and casting director Ken Carlson. They had heard that some excellent basketball players could be found at St. Luke’s. The two men spotted Valainis making shots from all over the court and told him about the auditions for Hoosiers.The next day, they excitedly reported back to director Anspaugh, “We found Jimmy Chitwood!” He replied, “OK, but let’s bring him in and have him read from the script first!”
- The players on the teams of Hickory’s opponents were chosen from among those who tried out at the open casting call to find the Huskers. The first auditions for basketball players were held in late August. Some of the hopefuls didn’t hear back from the casting director until mid-October. One young man was notified on October 14 that he should report for game filming on November 9.
- A press conference was held in Indianapolis on October 14, 1985, just before filming began, to announce Hackman and Barbara Hershey as the lead actors and to introduce the Huskers. Dennis Hopper wasn’t mentioned. His first day of filming wasn’t until about halfway through the shooting schedule.
- Extras who played fans in the stands were not paid. Featured nonspeaking extras (such as players on opposing teams), permanent extras (continuity people who appeared in many scenes), and pep band members earned minimum wage, $3.50 an hour. A few extras hired through modeling and commercial agencies in Indianapolis got $20 a day. Extras who had some dialog received $361 per day. Anyone who provided an old vehicle for the filming got $50 for each day it was used. Those who provided an animal, such as for farm scenes, received $30. Most store owners in downtown New Richmond were given less than $100 for the use of their shops. Those whose names appeared on a sign outside their establishment, such as Byron Alexander of Alexander’s Furniture and Al Boone of Boone’s Quality Hardware and Dry Goods, received up to $200.
- The filmmakers initially planned to shoot some scenes in Gary, because in the original script Norman Dale worked at a steel mill before moving to Hickory.
- The team bus was a 1939 Chevy. Its Wayne body was built in Richmond. It had been used as a school bus for 10 years before being retired. Its owner, mechanic Jack Baker of New Ross, was paid about $800 for its use.
- The school bus, a 1946 Ford, was from Brown County. It appears in the scene where Coach Dale pulls up in front of the school for the first time. It also appears in the deleted scenes “Coach Dale and Cletus Walk Through School” and “The Caravan.”
- “Smoker pots” were used in indoor locations such as the gyms and classroom to create smoke to help diffuse bright light.
- The melody of Hickory’s fight song was borrowed from Manchester High School. The music of Linton’s fight song, heard during the regional game, was borrowed from Southport High School. Both songs were original compositions, unlike most high school fight songs, which are borrowed from colleges.
- Some high school boys turned down the chance to be extras when they found out they would have to get their hair cut.
- In the Hickory locker room before the first home game, the Bible verse that Rev. Doty recites (“Be strong and of good courage. For the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest.”) is from Joshua 1:9.
- Husker David Neidorf sprained his ankle during the filming of one of the home games.
- Husker Brad Boyle preferred shooting scenes where he wore regular clothes as opposed to his basketball uniform and warm-ups, which he found uncomfortable.
- During the montage of basketball games, in one of the shots of Coach Dale and Shooter on the bench, Norman says something to Shooter, who laughs and puts his head down. Many years after the filming, Anspaugh learned what they found so funny: “Hackman had said, ‘Hopper, I hope you’ve invested well, because you and I are never gonna work after this movie. This is a career-ending film for both of us.’” (Source: John Bailey. “Director David Anspaugh reflects on ‘Hoosiers.’” Indiana Public Media, January 6, 2015.)
- By mid-November, Husker Wade Schenck was feeling homesick. On Friday, November 15, he left Knightstown at the end of the third day of filming of the season-opening Oolitic game. He headed to L&M High School for his team’s season opener against Switz City’s Central High School. L&M won but struggled early in the season, losing its next four games.
- On Thanksgiving Day, Hackman, Dennis Hopper, and other cast and crew members joined Pizzo and his family in Bloomington for dinner. Although Hackman had often clashed with Pizzo and Anspaugh early in the movie’s production, by that point the tension between Hackman and the filmmakers had diminished considerably. Pizzo’s family treated the actors without adulation, as if they were average people.
- Hopper ad-libbed his lines “Son, kick their butt,” and “Don’t get caught watchin’ the paint dry.”
- Hackman ad-libbed his line “Scout’s honor.”
- The residents in almost all of the filming locations seized the opportunity to sell souvenirs—even Terhune, which the crew visited for only a day.
- New Richmond postmaster Wilma Lewellyn obtained a special letter cancellation stamp to commemorate the filming in her town. Under “New Richmond, IN 47967,” the stamp said “Filming site of ‘Hoosiers,’ Hickory, IN.”
- Ball State University theater professor Alan English played the part of the patient in the other bed in Shooter’s hospital rehabilitation unit.
- Students from Western Boone High School (alma mater of Hickory Husker Kent Poole) were allowed to miss school to serve as extras at the regional game. But not everyone wanted to go. About 150 kids chose to stay in class.
- In the locker room before the state-finals game, Rev. Doty’s words (“With God of Heaven, it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude or a small company. For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of hosts, but strength cometh from Heaven.”) come from 1 Maccabees 3:18–19, a book in the Catholic Bible. The David and Goliath Bible passage that Preacher Purl recites (“And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on the head, and he fell to the ground.”) is from 1 Samuel 17:49.
- In the locker room before the state-finals game, the names of the opposing players written on the blackboard are the real-life names of the actors who play the Huskers.
- When thousands of extras were needed for the filming of the state-finals game, the initial information provided to the media incorrectly stated that “the only requirement for being an extra is to come dressed in early 1950s fashion.” This error, which may have discouraged many potential extras from showing up, was corrected in subsequent articles that were printed on the remaining days of filming. Instead of saying that period dress was required, the articles said it was optional.
- In order to attract extras, a real high school basketball game between Broad Ripple and Chatard took place at the shooting of Hoosiers’ state-finals game. The filmmakers received permission from the IHSAA to extend the halftime of the real game to 30 minutes. During that half hour, the filmmakers captured as much footage as they could of Hickory playing South Bend Central. Broad Ripple later ended up winning the real game 69–57.
- Before the Chatard-versus-Broad Ripple game, the producers pledged to donate $1 for each person who attended to the charity of that person’s choice. The amount of $1 per person is insignificant—unless many in the crowd chose the same charity or nonprofit. The fans of the high school teams who were playing that night designated their school as their charity—and each team brought hundreds of fans.
- Husker Brad Boyle never played in the state finals in real life; his high school basketball team made it only as far as the regional. So, he said, “For the later part of the movie I pretended like it was the 1984 regional finals instead of a fictional 1950s state championship game.” (Source: Lorrie Hamrick. “‘Bigger perspective’ on life gained from film.” Decatur (IN) Daily Democrat, November 27, 1985.)
- Director Anspaugh’s parents were present for the filming of the state-finals game. His father, a professional portrait photographer, played a news photographer.
- At the conclusion of the filming of the state-finals game, about one-third of the extras who had borrowed their 1950s costumes from the wardrobe department left without returning them.
- As a nonspeaking extra, Roger Hamilton, Jr. didn’t receive any pay for his role as the boy shooting baskets in the empty gym in the last scene. But after the scene was filmed, Hackman took a $20 bill out of his wallet, autographed it, and handed it to Roger.
- The cast attended a wrap party at the end of filming. Hackman gave each Husker a plaque. The young men also received souvenir rings from Husker and Josten’s salesman Brad Long. Each ring featured a red garnet surrounded by the words “Indiana State Champs 1952.” On one side was an outline of the state of Indiana. On the other side were the player’s name and jersey number.
- At the time Hoosiers was filmed, New Richmond resident Ben Miller was president of the United States Telephone Association. His wife, Maxine, placed a notice in the USTA’s national newsletter, telling association members about the making of Hoosiers. The ad asked members to send the Millers any articles they ran across that mentioned Hoosiers, its stars, and/or the filmmakers. New Richmond postmaster Wilma Lewellyn also gathered articles about the movie, many from Indiana newspapers. Together, they amassed a huge collection of Hoosiers-related items from publications all over the country.
Did You Ever Notice…?
- When Norman first enters the school and is standing in the sunlit hall, when the classroom door on the left opens, a fluorescent light fixture is visible in the room. The production crew replaced most of the fluorescent fixtures in the school scenes with older, incandescent lights.
- A couple clues indicate that the Nineveh school, where the Hickory High scenes were shot, was an elementary school. One of the hallway coatracks hangs lower on the wall, and the nearby drinking fountain taps are not placed too high, so that younger, shorter kids can reach them.
- Principal Cletus Summers has on his desk a picture of his wife, Millie, and daughter, Loetta, who is one of the cheerleaders.
- At one of the first team practices, after Rade gripes, “Feels like we’re in the army,” and Norman responds, “You are. You’re in my army, every day between 3 and 5,” Merle salutes.
- During the home games, on the wall behind the Huskers’ bench, a small rectangular outline is visible. A sign reading NO DRINKS IN GYM was removed before the games were filmed. But the sign is present in the scene where Norman is introduced to Jimmy, at the pep session, and when the little boy shoots baskets in the empty gym.
- Even though Opal and Myra’s truck is a newer model, it’s very rusty.
- In the scene where Shooter visits Norman at home, a tattoo is visible on the coach’s left bicep, mostly hidden by his sleeve.
- The picture of Norman’s 1939 Ithaca State team was taken in the Brownsburg (sectional game) gym.
- During the Cedar Knob game, Norman benches Rade for speaking without permission. But Rade is seen back on the floor in the very next shot, before the fight breaks out.
- When the Huskers are in the barbershop getting haircuts, a team jacket is hanging from the antler of the antelope head mounted on the wall.
- In the montage of basketball games, the team names Bloomington and Decatur appear on scoreboards. These are the hometowns of the movie’s writer/producer and director, respectively.
- In the sectional game, after the fight breaks up, Terhune player #41 (J. June) has swelling and a cut near his left eye. In a subsequent shot, his facial injuries are gone.
- In the regional game, the cheerleaders for the Linton Wildcats have sweaters with the letter J on them. In the original script, Hickory was to play Jasper in the last game of the regional.
- When the caravan departs for the state finals, the team bus and other vehicles are decorated with crepe paper streamers. Exposed to travel at highway speeds, these streamers would be ripped to shreds within minutes. But when the team bus pulls up in front of Butler Fieldhouse, all the streamers are intact.
- When Norman and the Huskers first enter Butler Fieldhouse, a metal framework is visible in front of the upper-level bleachers on both sides. Before the filming of the game scenes, black cloth was hung on this framework to hide the highest bleachers and let them fall into darkness.
- Before the state-finals game, the national anthem is sung. After the last note, while the crowd is still standing quietly, a woman just to the right of the singer on the far right waves at the camera.
- In the last time-out huddle in the state-finals game, right after Coach Dale asks, “What’s the matter with you guys?”, Buddy and Rade are pictured in a shot by themselves. According to Brad Long, he and Steve Hollar were asked to return to an empty Hinkle Fieldhouse several days after the last night of state-finals filming to capture this shot.
- In the movie’s closing credits, “Referee – Logootee” should be “Referee – Lyons,” “Coach – Jasper” should be “Coach – Linton,” and “Player – Jasper” should be “Player – Linton.”
Where did the filmmakers get the idea for Hoosiers?
They were inspired by the 1954 Indiana state champion Milan Indians, the smallest school in state history to win Indiana’s one-class basketball tournament, and by Hoosier Hysteria and small-town life in general.
The real Milan Indians were quite different from the fictional Hickory Huskers. Why didn’t screenwriter Angelo Pizzo stick more closely to the Milan story?
After Pizzo researched the story of the real-life Milan team, he said, “I realized that I needed much more liberty to create drama. These were pretty good boys who did their job, went to school and played as they were told. There wasn’t really much conflict. … …it was just easier for me as a writer to create from my imagination rather than reality.” (Source: “The genesis of ‘Hoosiers.’” Muncie (IN) Star, November 24, 1985, D1) As a result, the Milan story served only as inspiration, not a factual basis, for Hoosiers. Most of the movie’s plot points were Pizzo’s invention.
What are some of the differences between the Milan story and Hoosiers?
Originally the filmmakers hoped to find one Indiana location where they could film the downtown, school, and game scenes. But no such perfect location could be found, so they ended up shooting primarily in three central Indiana locations. New Richmond was used for the street scenes, the school was in Nineveh, and the home gym was located in Knightstown. Read more about all the filming sites.
Were the young men who played the Hickory Huskers good basketball players in real life?
Brad Long (Buddy) had played college basketball, and Steve Hollar (Rade) was a freshman on his college team. Wade Schenck (Ollie) was a senior on his high school team. Brad Boyle (Whit), Scott Summers (Strap), and Kent Poole (Merle) all played in high school. Maris Valainis (Jimmy) tried out for but was never chosen to be on his high school team.
How were the Huskers chosen to be in the movie?
An open casting call was held in Indianapolis, at which hundreds of 18-to-22-year-olds demonstrated their basketball skills. At subsequent callbacks, during which the large group was winnowed each time, they were asked to read from the script, talk about themselves in a group setting, undergo interviews, and do some improvisation. Seven of the Huskers were from Indiana. David Neidorf, who played Shooter’s son, was the only one who was chosen at a Los Angeles casting session. Some of the young men who auditioned to be Huskers were cast as players on opposing teams.
When Norman enters Cletus’s office for the first time and finds the principal sitting cross-legged on the floor, Cletus says he’s “floatin’.” What does this mean?
Pizzo explained that “floating” is a colloquialism for “meditating.”
Buddy is kicked out of the first practice but appears in later games without explanation. What happened?
A scene was filmed in which Buddy expresses regret that he transferred to neighboring high school Terhune after the incident at the first practice. Buddy tells Norman that, soon after he transferred, he decided not to play on Terhune’s basketball team after all. Coach Dale agrees to let Buddy return and play for the Huskers. During the movie’s editing stage, film distributor Orion insisted that Hoosiers run no more than two hours, forcing the filmmakers to cut many scenes. Director David Anspaugh and writer/producer Pizzo were adamantly opposed to deleting the scene in which Buddy discusses his transfer, believing that its absence would confuse the viewers, but they were overruled. This scene is included with some other deleted scenes on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs. Read more about all the deleted scenes.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes all his shots at the outdoor court (except the last one)?
This scene was done in one take. Valainis was a good-enough shooter to make all the shots the first time around. This was a good thing, because the late-afternoon light was fading, and it was about to rain.
Was Jimmy supposed to miss his last shot at the outdoor court?
The script didn’t say that Jimmy misses at the end. Valainis said he was focused intently on making baskets during Gene Hackman’s speech. When Hackman was done talking and walked away, Valainis stopped concentrating and missed.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes the last shot at the state finals?
When the cameras rolled, Valainis hit this shot on his first try. During rehearsals, he missed repeatedly. So the excitement, amazement, and joy displayed by the crowd are real, because they saw him miss many times prior to that. The filmmakers did shoot this scene one more time just to be on the safe side.
Why can dried-up cornstalks be seen standing in the fields during what is supposed to be late winter?
Indiana’s corn harvest is finished by early or mid-December—sometimes much sooner. The outdoor scenes were filmed before the harvest, which may have been delayed by the unusually rainy autumn of 1985.
What plant is being ground up in the scene at Opal and Myra’s farm?
Sorghum, which can be made into syrup.
During production, did the filmmakers and actors feel confident that the movie would be a hit?
Just the opposite. Anspaugh and Pizzo had serious misgivings about how the film was turning out. Pizzo even went so far as to say “Every day I thought we were making a terrible movie.” Hackman was openly negative, opining that Hoosierswould be a flop and calling it a career-killer. Dennis Hopper, though not as outspoken as Hackman, also had his doubts.
They were inspired by the 1954 Indiana state champion Milan Indians, the smallest school in state history to win Indiana’s one-class basketball tournament, and by Hoosier Hysteria and small-town life in general.
The real Milan Indians were quite different from the fictional Hickory Huskers. Why didn’t screenwriter Angelo Pizzo stick more closely to the Milan story?
After Pizzo researched the story of the real-life Milan team, he said, “I realized that I needed much more liberty to create drama. These were pretty good boys who did their job, went to school and played as they were told. There wasn’t really much conflict. … …it was just easier for me as a writer to create from my imagination rather than reality.” (Source: “The genesis of ‘Hoosiers.’” Muncie (IN) Star, November 24, 1985, D1) As a result, the Milan story served only as inspiration, not a factual basis, for Hoosiers. Most of the movie’s plot points were Pizzo’s invention.
What are some of the differences between the Milan story and Hoosiers?
- Milan Coach Marvin Wood was nothing like the Huskers’ Coach Norman Dale. Wood was a soft-spoken, even-tempered, churchgoing family man who was only 24 when he arrived at Milan. The Indiana native and Butler University graduate had coached at French Lick the previous two seasons.
- The Indians needed a new coach not because the previous one had died, but because he had been fired.
- The Milan story didn’t include a town drunk who became an assistant coach or a female teacher who wanted to keep the star player off the team.
- Milan High School had no shortage of basketball players. Dozens of boys tried out for the team.
- The Indians didn’t have players who quit the team.
- Milan’s state-championship game unfolded differently than the movie’s final matchup. In the real game, Wood’s team slowed down the action in the final quarter. With five and a half minutes to go, Bobby Plump held the ball for over two minutes. Near the end of the quarter he held it again for 27 seconds.
- When the Indians won the state title in 1954, it was their second trip to the state finals. The year before, they lost to South Bend Central in the first game of the finals.
Originally the filmmakers hoped to find one Indiana location where they could film the downtown, school, and game scenes. But no such perfect location could be found, so they ended up shooting primarily in three central Indiana locations. New Richmond was used for the street scenes, the school was in Nineveh, and the home gym was located in Knightstown. Read more about all the filming sites.
Were the young men who played the Hickory Huskers good basketball players in real life?
Brad Long (Buddy) had played college basketball, and Steve Hollar (Rade) was a freshman on his college team. Wade Schenck (Ollie) was a senior on his high school team. Brad Boyle (Whit), Scott Summers (Strap), and Kent Poole (Merle) all played in high school. Maris Valainis (Jimmy) tried out for but was never chosen to be on his high school team.
How were the Huskers chosen to be in the movie?
An open casting call was held in Indianapolis, at which hundreds of 18-to-22-year-olds demonstrated their basketball skills. At subsequent callbacks, during which the large group was winnowed each time, they were asked to read from the script, talk about themselves in a group setting, undergo interviews, and do some improvisation. Seven of the Huskers were from Indiana. David Neidorf, who played Shooter’s son, was the only one who was chosen at a Los Angeles casting session. Some of the young men who auditioned to be Huskers were cast as players on opposing teams.
When Norman enters Cletus’s office for the first time and finds the principal sitting cross-legged on the floor, Cletus says he’s “floatin’.” What does this mean?
Pizzo explained that “floating” is a colloquialism for “meditating.”
Buddy is kicked out of the first practice but appears in later games without explanation. What happened?
A scene was filmed in which Buddy expresses regret that he transferred to neighboring high school Terhune after the incident at the first practice. Buddy tells Norman that, soon after he transferred, he decided not to play on Terhune’s basketball team after all. Coach Dale agrees to let Buddy return and play for the Huskers. During the movie’s editing stage, film distributor Orion insisted that Hoosiers run no more than two hours, forcing the filmmakers to cut many scenes. Director David Anspaugh and writer/producer Pizzo were adamantly opposed to deleting the scene in which Buddy discusses his transfer, believing that its absence would confuse the viewers, but they were overruled. This scene is included with some other deleted scenes on the Collector’s Edition and 2012 Blu-ray DVDs. Read more about all the deleted scenes.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes all his shots at the outdoor court (except the last one)?
This scene was done in one take. Valainis was a good-enough shooter to make all the shots the first time around. This was a good thing, because the late-afternoon light was fading, and it was about to rain.
Was Jimmy supposed to miss his last shot at the outdoor court?
The script didn’t say that Jimmy misses at the end. Valainis said he was focused intently on making baskets during Gene Hackman’s speech. When Hackman was done talking and walked away, Valainis stopped concentrating and missed.
How many takes were required for the scene in which Jimmy makes the last shot at the state finals?
When the cameras rolled, Valainis hit this shot on his first try. During rehearsals, he missed repeatedly. So the excitement, amazement, and joy displayed by the crowd are real, because they saw him miss many times prior to that. The filmmakers did shoot this scene one more time just to be on the safe side.
Why can dried-up cornstalks be seen standing in the fields during what is supposed to be late winter?
Indiana’s corn harvest is finished by early or mid-December—sometimes much sooner. The outdoor scenes were filmed before the harvest, which may have been delayed by the unusually rainy autumn of 1985.
What plant is being ground up in the scene at Opal and Myra’s farm?
Sorghum, which can be made into syrup.
During production, did the filmmakers and actors feel confident that the movie would be a hit?
Just the opposite. Anspaugh and Pizzo had serious misgivings about how the film was turning out. Pizzo even went so far as to say “Every day I thought we were making a terrible movie.” Hackman was openly negative, opining that Hoosierswould be a flop and calling it a career-killer. Dennis Hopper, though not as outspoken as Hackman, also had his doubts.
Small-Town Life in the 1950s
- In rural Indiana schools that were as small as Hickory High, almost all the teachers taught more than one subject.
- The character of Myra Fleener is sometimes described as being the school’s assistant principal, because she takes over as principal when Cletus falls ill. However, Indiana schools that were as small as the one portrayed in the movie didn’t need an assistant principal. In fact, even being principal wasn’t a full-time job. The principal almost always taught a class or two.
- Unlike what is shown in the movie, in that era teachers were hired by the township trustee, not the principal.
- Small-town schools often housed grades 1 through 12. So the movie could have shown elementary and junior high students as well as high schoolers walking into the school in the morning.
- In real life, residents of a town wouldn’t have had the authority to dismiss the basketball coach. They could only have made a recommendation to try to influence or pressure the superintendent or township trustee.
- In the first half of the 20th century, every Indiana town, no matter how small, had its own school and basketball team. But the Indiana School Corporation Reorganization Act of 1959, informally referred to as school consolidation, resulted in the closure of many small-town schools. Districts that had an enrollment of fewer than 1,000 students in grades 1 through 12 were required to consolidate with neighboring districts. Over 11 years, the Act reduced 966 districts to 402. By 2007, Indiana had 293 school corporations.
- In the 1955-56 school year, Indiana had 776 high schools. Only 41 of those, or 5.28%, had an enrollment of more than 1,000 students. By 2013-14, the total number of high schools had dropped to 405, and 109 of them (27%) had an enrollment of more than 1,000 students.
- Indiana’s last single-class high school basketball tournament was held in 1997. The following year, when the tourney was split into four classes based on school enrollment, attendance declined steeply—and it never recovered. Although many people blamed fans’ loss of interest in the tourney on the adoption of class basketball, others believed the decrease in interest actually began all the way back in the days of school consolidation.
