40 Minutes of Hell (2012)
An inside look at Arkansas basketball and the unique playing style taught by coach Nolan Richardson.
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This film is about the very successful college basketball coach, Nolan Richardson. He made a huge name for himself coaching for Tulsa and Arkansas universities--with a winning percentage a very admirable .711--and an NIT and NCAA title. The first portion of the film concerns Richardson's early years and the difficulties he and other Black Americans faced in the years he was a high school and college player. Not surprisingly, he grew up a bit bitter and with a bit of a chip on his shoulder--as he grew up in a very prejudiced atmosphere in the South. However, this attitude helped him when he became a coach--it energized him and pushed him to succeed. This let to him becoming a top coach with a top program by the 1990s. The only problem is, the same anger that helped him eventually led to his downfall--and this makes up the latter portion of the ESPN film. All in all, a rather sad film--you really feel for the guy and you wonder what might have happened because of his ill-timed actions. Well worth seeing.