This Gene Hackman Classic Inspired A Key Part Of The Boys In The Boat [Exclusive]
The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany were about more than sports. The world was still mired in the Great Depression, and faced the prospect of a second world war as fascism flourished throughout Europe. As such, there couldn't have been a worse time for Berlin to host the games. They gave Hitler a global platform to espouse his white supremacist views, and he vigorously exploited the opportunity by putting on an Aryan spectacle that made him look like the god emperor of the greatest (and whitest) country on Earth.
And so it was important for the free-ish world to trounce Hitler's athletes whenever possible. When we look back on the games now, the first figure that comes to mind is African-American track-and-field prodigy Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals as Hitler fumed from his box in his imposing, 100,000-seat Olympiastadion. But there were other triumphs, one of the most notable being the U.S. men's rowing team's victory over the favored Germans. They were a motley collection of lower- and middle-class kids from the University of Washington who'd endured tremendous financial hardship to stay in school. As documented in Daniel James Brown's nonfiction book, "The Boys in the Boat," every single one of their achievements, culminating with their narrow gold medal win over Italy and Germany, was hard-earned.
It's a story tailor-made for Hollywood, so it's no surprise that an adaptation is finally hitting theaters. Directed by George Clooney, "The Boys in the Boat" stars Callum Turner as Joe Rantz, a rower who survived a brutal childhood to become a member of this legendary team. The crew's coach, Al Ulbrickson, is played by Joel Edgerton. Sports movies like this are often defined by the portrayal of their coach, and, according to Edgerton, he looked to one of the greatest works of the genre for inspiration.
Gene Hackman's victorious coach Norman Dale
In an exclusive interview with /Film's Ben Pearson, Edgerton revealed that his performance was inspired in part by a quintessential underdog sports movie. "We talked a lot about 'Hoosiers,'" he said. "Just the traditions of sports movies."
This makes perfect sense. David Anspaugh's stand-up-and-cheer classic stars Gene Hackman as Norman Dale, a disgraced former college basketball coach who leads an underdog small-town Indiana high school team to an unlikely state title. It's Dale's last shot at glory, and he has to overcome the doubts of the locals to coach this seemingly unpromising team in the idiosyncratic style to which he's accustomed.
But Edgerton's performance drew on more than just "Hoosiers."
The coach as a hard-charging father figure
Edgerton also looked at real-life coaches, and noticed how many of the best often look displeased if not utterly despondent. Their job is contingent on success, and, for Ulbrickson in the mid-1930s, having a job was the only thing keeping him from eking out an existence in a despair-drenched Hooverville (where there isn't always a Carole Lombard to save you). The only way to keep your job is to win, and the only way to win is to imbue your players with the same feverish desire. He told /Film:
"I love that kind of coach, because it's not the warm fuzzy coach. In fact, I think most warm fuzzy coaches, if they looked at their stats against the angry coach, probably win less. Because kids look up to coaches like tough dads, I think. And when you see dad's not happy, what do you want to do? You want to make him happy. And in a sports context, that means you want to try harder."
This kind of coach might not be a pleasure to play for in the moment, but if they get you to the pinnacle of your sport, you'll cherish them in retrospect. This was certainly the case for the University of Washington crew.
"The Boys in the Boat" premieres in theaters on December 25, 2023.