HBO Documentary "Breaking The Huddle" Premieres Tonight

HBO's Newest Documentary Touches On More Than Just Football, Receives Positive Reviews

MORE THAN JUST FOOTBALL: In Denver, Dusty Saunders wrote the film is an "important, engrossing addition to the 'Sports of the 20th Century' documentary series." The film "concentrates on upbeat segments showing how the Civil Rights movement in the tumultuous '60s changed the nation's landscape -- including the South's football fields." While the "emphasis is on important social history, the film contains segments from key football contests" (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 12/15). In DC, Dick Heller wrote under the header, "Another Home Run For HBO." The film "covers far more than gridiron matters." It also "reflects the intense struggle for civil rights that dominated much of the 1960s and changed the nation's culture." Young viewers "will find it hard to understand why the issue of whites and blacks attending school together was such a volatile issue in the South nearly five decades ago." That makes the documentary "valuable and fascinating as an educational device, too" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 12/14). ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's Whitney Pastorek gives the film a "B+" grade and writes it gives a "humanizing look at the men who paved the road to integration at our nation's proud (but stubborn) Southern schools" (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, 12/19 issue). In West Virginia, Dave Weekley wrote the film is an "excellent treatment on the effect of the civil rights movement of the 1960s" (CHARLESTON GAZETTE, 12/14). In Southern California, Mark Whicker wrote to "use 'HBO' and 'excellent' in the same sentence is a redundancy, of course," but the "tradition continues here" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 12/11). On Long Island, Neil Best writes the film "covers an impressive amount of ground on a sprawling, complicated topic" (NEWSDAY, 12/16).

LESSONS LEARNED: In DC, Neely Tucker writes the documentary "works best when it gets at the regional belief that there are not life lessons to be learned in football -- there are football lessons to be learned in life" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/16). In Ft. Worth, Ray Buck writes under the header, "Must-See TV: HBO's 'Breaking The Huddle.'" Buck: "If you're a student of college football in need of a quick history lesson in the Civil Rights Movement of the late '50s and early '60s, this film is for you. It parallels these two events in a powerful manner" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 12/16).

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