Arts & Entertainment

Remember the Titans

Max Kramer ’27, Staff Writer • November 20, 2025

Denzel Washington stars as Coach Boone in Remember the Titans. (image from screenrant.com)

For the longest time, sports movies have been uplifting. In my opinion, the best example of this is Remember the Titans. The masterpiece came out in 2000. It had a lot of stars including Ryan Gosling, Donald Faison, and Denzel Washington.

Remember the Titans is all about inclusion and love. It is set in Alexandia, Virginia in 1971. Alexandria was a very racist and prejudiced town, until one high school football team decided to put their differences aside, and go win some football games. It all started in the summer of 1971 when Coach Boone took over the T. C. Williams’ High School Football team.

Ryan Gosling’s Career

Ryan Gosling (CNN.com)

Ryan Gosling has one of the best and most respected acting careers of all time. Starting as a child performer on The Mickey Mouse Club, he transitioned into serious movies with surprising quickness, making it clear that he was far more than a former teen performer.

Ryan was also featured in Remember the Titans. He took a backseat in this film, seeing as he was still young and hadn’t really had his rise to fame yet. I personally think that it is some of his best work. He charmed everyone and people loved seeing him in it.

His breakout came with The Notebook, where he became a romantic icon and an instant classic. But instead of settling into typecasting, Gosling consistently chose challenging, up-beat, and emotionally insane roles that showcased his range. Films like Half Nelson, which earned him his first Oscar nomination, and Blue Valentine highlighted his ability to play raw, flawed, and real characters.

Gosling also did great in action films. Drive and Blade Runner 2049 showed his talent for quiet, controlled performances. His characters communicate more through presence and expression than words. He pairs this with strong comedic instincts, seen in The Nice Guys and his self-aware performance as Ken in Barbie, which reminded everyone of his popularity and earned a lot of praise.

Across genres romance, drama, comedy, action, and even musicals with La La Land, Gosling brings dedication, quietness, and a glowing personality. He will go down in history as one of the best actors of all time.

Coach Boone, being African American, was not expecting to get caucasian players for his team. But some kids in the school had different ideas. Many white players still wanted to play for their old coach, Coach Yoast. Boone and Yoast had a conversation and thought of a plan to make everyone work together.

They decided that they would do a camp with all of the people who wanted to play. They made each white player sit and room with a black player at the camp. It was a rough start for sure, but after a little while they learned that they really were not that different. They liked the same songs, movies, and they all loved to play some football.

Coming back to Alexandria the people of the town did not support. They liked things segregated. The whites had their stuff and the blacks had theirs. Once the team started playing, they were unstoppable. After going undefeated, Alexandria came around to the idea and supported them fully.

REMEMBER THE TITANS – TEACH WITH MOVIES

They wound up going to state and winning it all. They had to do it without one of their captains, who unfortunately got brutally killed in a drunk driving incident. They did it for him and dedicated their win in his honor.

Overall, I think this is the best sports movie of all time. It shows how when you use teamwork, you can seriously accomplish anything. Even though they were different races, they all had the same end goal. They succeeded and did it greatly. They learned about one another and they built unbreakable bonds with each other.