Pride (2007)

I checked IMDb : 3.9 score. Then I worked out this was a "black" film, or, translated, an inspiring film where the main subjects are black but which can be inspiration to anyone out there. And "black" films hardly ever get scores above 5, so I decided to take it out anyhow and see it for myself.

What a film. What a performance from Terrence Howard, yet again - this man doesn't know what bad acting is; whatever the film, the Oscar winning CRASH, the revenge thriller with Jodie Foster, THE BRAVE ONE, John Singleton's FOUR BROTHERS, or HUSTLE & FLOW, this guy shows he is one of the best actors around.

Whatever your colour, simply put your Objective hat on and let yourself be inspired - you'll go to bed dreaming, feeling good, moved, inspired. Brilliant.

Fmovies: Sometimes a movie is not technically good, but it is still worth watch anyway. I generally find that sports movies fall into that category.

The script and the direction in this film left a lot to be desired, and the actions was not always first rate - largely, I believe, because of the script and direction, but I still felt inspired after watching the film and was pleased at the time spent.

I do like Terrence Howard, and thought him great in both Hustle & Flow and Crash. I wish he has better dialog and direction here, but he did the best he could with what he had to work with and gave us an enjoyable performance.

I am not a big fan of Bernie Mac, but did enjoy his performances in Mr. 3000 and Bad Santa. He was superb here and i thought he gave the best performance of his career.

Kimberly Elise (The Great Debaters, John Q) was also enjoyable, and Tom Arnold was a real jerk.

It will touch your heart.

It's obvious that a lot of people giving PRIDE a "1" are reacting to the trailers and radio ads that make this movie come off as a "black vs. white" thang. In reality, the movie it self is much more nuanced and filled with universal themes. It's been said that the achievement in sport by people of color is responsible more than anything to bring a semblance of equality in America. In sports, it's mathematical. A strike is a strike, a touchdown's a touchdown no matter who throws it. PRIDE is worth supporting because it shines light on a real-life person who used sports to teach young kids there's a bigger world past the playground, and if you develop your talents you won't have to fall back on the race card to catch breaks. Pride is a solid sports flick with strong performances by all that will suffer because of some unimaginative and lazy marketing. If you like Terrence Howard or Bernie Mac or even Kimberly Elise, make this one worth your time. Otherwise, wait for the Mark Gastineau story.

Pride fmovies. This movie was the most inspiring movie that I has seen in a long time and for this man to take time out of his life to be so wonderful with these group of kids makes my heart feel really good. My kids swim for this gentleman and I really loves his techniques and my son also looks up to him as being his second father. I am so blessed that I came to this team. My niece whom also swims for him says that the most inspiring part of the movie was when they said "This is our house coach". In the future I want to see that my children or the other children that he is now coaching be there to see them in the Olympics and to have him right by there side to say that this is my coach who brought me here.

Pride is about an African-American swim coach, Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), who rebuilds a swimming pool in a Philadelphia Recreation center and starts an all-black swim team. Overall the acting is a average and sometimes corny, but hey that's what happens when you hire Tom Arnold and Bernie Mac to try to be serious actors. Terrence Howard does a pretty good job as Jim Ellis, but he does cry a bit much.

The movie does not provide an accurate portrayal of swimming, however. No team with 5 swimmers can win a state meet as team because 5 people can't accumulate enough points even if they were to win every race they swam in. In a swim meet, there is a limit to how many events one person can swim in. Usually its 2 relays and 2 individual events. You get more points if you win an event but you still get points if you finish in like the top 8. If one swimmer from a school gets 1st place, and two swimmers from another school get 2nd and 3rd, then the school that had the 2nd and 3rd place swimmers, gets more points. A big team with a lot of swimmers will beat a small team, even if the small team has good swimmers, so the idea of PDR's small swim team beating a big swim team is not realistic.

I'm not sure how they did it in the 1970's but I doubt they used a gun to start a race. Also, not once did I see any times announced and that's what swimming is all about. Swimming is mainly an individual sport, with the exception of relays. They just put all the individual's points together from a school and make that team points. You swim to make your times better, and if the movie had times in it, then it would have been more authentic.

I did not live in the 1970's, so I don't know if girls swam against guys, but from my experience with swimming I found the idea that Willie (the black girl swimmer) beating all the guys in butterfly is unrealistic. The idea of a girl beating guys is not totally far-fetched. (Hey I know girls that are faster than me in certain events) But in the movie the last meet is supposed to be a state meet or a national meet or something like that, so the guys there are really fast and no girl, even if she is the fastest girl, can beat the fastest guys.

One part that was completely stupid, was in the 1st meet between Main Line and PDR when the white guy swimmer, kicked Hakim in the face during the 50 yard freestyle. Do you have any idea how difficult that would be? Go and try it. Get in a pool with lanes and tell your buddy to swim in the lane next to you and try and kick him after you do a flip turn. First off, to be able to reach the person next to you, both of you would have to swimming really close to the lane line, and most swimmers, when they are racing swim in the middle to avoid running into the lane lines. The part that makes it really hard is the fact that they did it after a flip turn. (For those of you who aren't swimmers that's when you swim into the wall do a somersault, push off the wall, and go back the other way) After a flip turn you are somewhat disoriented and I don't think you would be able to reach over and kick the guy swimming next to you.

The movie is inspiring, but it could have been a lot better if they had a more experienced director.

PRIDE does not open any new doors in the genre of film biopics of teachers who raise the status of downtrodden students to the point of genuine appreciation of self worth. The story has been told countless times with different characters, both male and female, different races (African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, etc), and different areas of the United States. But despite the recurring similarity of heart-on-the-sleeve stories such as this, PRIDE stands solidly on its own merits, in part due to the well developed and written screenplay by Kevin Michael Smith, Michael Gozzard, J. Mills Goodloe, and Norman Vance Jr. based on the life and contributions to society of Jim Ellis, in part due to the sensitive direction of Sunu Gonera, and in part due to the fine cast. The idea behind the story may not be new, but PRIDE is a fine example of the genre.

Opening in the 1960s we meet Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) as a superior swimmer unable to use his gifts because of his race. Jump 10 years forward and Ellis has finished college as a math major and seeks to teach in Philadelphia, only to face racism again. Desperate for work he accepts a 'closing down' job at a condemned Philadelphia Recreation Center tended by downtrodden Elston (Bernie Mac) who resents Ellis' intrusion into his domain. Ellis restores the center's swimming pool and gradually initiates a swim team for troubled teens, young boys and a girl who are new to swimming and even newer to the thought that they can become someone important and rise out of their slum surroundings and influence of drug lords. With time Ellis teaches the team not only how to swim like champions, but also how to gain faith in themselves through PDR (Pride, Determination, Resilience), eventually winning a championship as a team of African Americans in a city still plagued by racism.

The cast is excellent: Terrence Howard once again proves he can create a character of complete credibility, completely immersing himself in a role with all of the subtle facilities of fine acting; Bernie Mac at last is given a serious role and rises to the level of Howard in skill; Kimberly Elise and Tom Arnold provide fine cameo roles. But one of the treasures of this film is the cast of young actors who seem so natural that they deserve special plaudits: Brandon Fobbs, Alphonso McAuley, Regine Nehy, Nate Parker, Kevin Phillips, and Evan Ross. Clint Eastwood's son Scott Reeves plays a pivotal role as a racist swimmer.

So despite the overexposure of stories such as this, PRIDE stands out as one of the best. It is a beautifully filmed and well-developed homage to a very worthy man and coach: PDR. Grady Harp