Product Description

COACH CARTER tells the inspiring true story of controversial high school basketball coach Ken Carter (Jackson). Making headlines for his emphasis on the importance of academics over athletics, Carter requests all the members of the team to sign contracts, promising to maintain a certain grade point average. When the players fail to live up to this agreement, Carter benches the entire team, locking the gym and forfeiting games to prove his point. This infuriates the community who sees this as a hindrance to the future professional athletic careers of the players. Through hard work and dedication, Carter eventually gets his point across to his team and the community, going above and beyond to ensure a solid academic future for his team.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7770 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-06-21
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 136 minutes

Amazon.com
Based on a true story of the man who locked his boys out of the gym until they focused on their schoolwork, this by-the-numbers crowd-pleaser holds together because a steely Samuel L. Jackson refuses to notice the parade of clichés he's trumpeting (the dialogue sticks to platitudes like, "Success in here is the key to success out there"). Coach Ken Carter (Jackson) takes over an unruly team of Richmond, California basketball players and teaches them how to play--and behave--like champions. His plight, which pits him against an uncooperative school board and parents who've given up hope, holds some interest, but the film is too concerned with giving us a Big Game every twenty minutes or so. The teens all have the spark of life in them (including pop star Ashanti, who features in a surprisingly well-handled teen pregnancy subplot), though the film's plodding familiarity means it's never really rousing, adding up to simply a good-natured amalgam of Stand and Deliver, Hoosiers, Dangerous Minds, and even Dead Poet's Society (one of the tougher players actually recites some inspirational poetry).--Steve Wiecking

Customer Reviews

A Real Life Inspiration
This movie is about a team that goes from being mad to being normal and from always doing bad to always doing good. Coach Carter is about a basketball team that lives in a rough town and a rough high school. The Richmond Oilers had a really bad coach until the new coach Mr. Carter came around. Coach Carter used to go to the school and broke a bunch of records and knew a lot about basketball. Ever since Coach Carter started to coach, the team progressed and he lead the team to the state championships. This movie is very inspiring and I would give it four and a half out of five. This movie shows you that you can do anything if you believe in yourself. This movie is PG-13 so I would not recommend this to younger kids. This movie is also a true story so the movie always keeps you on your toes. Real \life

Awesome motivation!
I wish there were more stories like this. Discipline properly applied and reward for the effort and hard work. Life-changing experiences for those students. I recently met the REAL Coach Carter at John DiLemme's Find Your Why and Fly Main Event and he is just as inspiring in person as the movie. This story gives hope for our children.

slam dunk!
Samuel L is one of the greatest of all time. A powerful & very touching movie that gives a good & very realistic view of life for the neglected societies. Yes, yes yes!