In 1966, Don Haskins led the first all-black starting lineup to victory in the NCAA basketball championships, along the way becoming a sports legend and a political hero. The film version of the story, "Glory Road," begins in 1965, when Haskins (Josh Lucas) was coaching girls' basketball in Fort Worth. When he's tapped as head coach at Texas Western University in El Paso, college basketball -- like the rest of the country -- is still mired in segregation and racism. But Haskins wants to win, and in order to recruit winners, he goes where the strong players are -- on the streets of Detroit, the South Bronx and Gary, Ind., where young black men are playing their own highly expressive, individualized style of basketball involving showy footwork, jump shots, passes and dribbles.

"Glory Road" consists of the usual sports movie cliches -- the fights, the tough love, the setbacks, inspirational speeches and ultimate triumph -- but first-time director James Gartner executes them with terrific assurance, coming up with a film that begins as a fish-out-of-water comedy and ends as a rousing David-and-Goliath morality tale. From its sepia-toned palette to the Motown hits that drive its terrific soundtrack, "Glory Road" is utterly authentic. But most astonishing is an unrecognizable Jon Voight as Adolph Rupp, head coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, whom the Miners played in the championship game.

More important than casting or even getting the period details right, however, Gartner has gotten the basketball right. The team's three pivotal games -- against Iowa, Kansas and Kentucky -- are splendidly staged, shot and edited. It's one helluva story, and if this moving, and even thrilling little movie finally brings Haskins and a truly great American sports story to light, then three cheers and hooray.

-- Ann Hornaday