Oh, no! Not another plucky underdog sports movie!

Oh, yes! In the glorious tradition of "Rudy," "Hoosiers," "The Longest Yard," "Seabiscuit," "Cinderella Man," "Glory Road" and ... well, you get the idea ... now comes "Believe in Me," the story of a 1960s high school girls' basketball team in Oklahoma, that had its debut this week at the prestigious Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California.

The program guide for the film festival says the movie is "the true tale of a young, macho basketball coach ... who, when forced to coach girls, must confront gender stereotypes and personal prejudice before inspiring his team to believe in greatness."

What makes this movie of special interest to New Mexicans is that it was mostly shot in Clovis and Portales in the fall of 2004, according to a story this week in the Clovis News Journal.

The dramatic championship game was filmed at Rock Staubus gymnasium in Clovis High School, and several area residents were hired as extras or had some small parts in the movie, the News Journal reported.

According to the indispensable Internet Movie Data Base, other shooting locations for the film included Albuquerque, Elida, the United Methodist Church in Floyd and Moriarty.

Writer and director is Robert Collector, some of whose earlier screen-writing credits include "The Burbs" (1989), "Nothing But Trouble" (1991) and "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" (1992).

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE