Released in 2000 and produced by Walt Disney Pictures (and Jerry Bruckheimer Films), Remember the Titans is a sports film dramatization of the true story of Coach Herman Boone, who was an integral part of the 1971 integration of T.C. Williams High School (and consequently, its football program). Naturally (due both to the close proximity to the Civil Rights movement, and to the setting of Virginia), this was a highly controversial change that was met with opposition both externally from the community, and internally, from both black and white athletes. Nonetheless, the film portrays the athletes coming together as brothers, and uniting not only as state champions, but as examples for the rest of their community to tear down barriers of racial hatred.
While the foundation of the story is based in reality (as are many of its plot points, like the Titans concluding the ’71 season with a 13-0 record, linebacker Gerry Bertier’s paralysis, etc.), it goes without saying that many details were embellished, or sensationalized,…