Denzel Washington Gives An All-Time Performance In Disney+ True Story Heartwarmer

Denzel Washington is not the only reason to love Remember the Titans, but he is the primary reason. The biographical film opens in 1981 with football coaches and players attending a funeral, and then it flashes back to a racially charged 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia.

There, the all-white high school is being integrated, and the school district decides to name a Black man, Coach Boone (Washington), as head coach, despite the fact that the school already has an excellent head coach, Yoast (played brilliantly by Will Patton). 

In response to the integration of not just the high school but also the football team, many of the white players refuse to play. They plan to not show up to the first day of the season. So, we see Denzel Washington as Boone in Remember the Titans in the school gym with an almost entirely Black team beginning to discuss his plans for the season.

Suddenly, Yoast arrives with his white players to join the team, and there’s a moment of tension. You see, Yoast is a bit embittered by the fact that he’s had his position usurped, but his players and their potential for scholarships have allowed him to swallow his pride. 

Still, Denzel Washington’s no-nonsense approach as Boone in Remember the Titans is what brings this team together. He has extended an offer to Yoast to be his defensive coordinator, and Yoast has accepted the offer in the interest of his students. You get the impression early on that both men are all-around good guys who put what’s right ahead of what feels good. Still, even with the two coaches united, the team struggles. 

Right away, Denzel Washington loads the entire Remember the Titans team onto buses to head off to Gettysburg College for a training camp. As the players say goodbye to their families, Boone warns each player, Black and white, that he is their mother, father, sister, and brother now. He is their family. He is the only one these kids will answer to. It is a scene that comes across as both comical and serious. 

Once Denzel Washington’s Boone and the team arrive at camp, perhaps the funniest scene in Remember the Titans occurs when Boone tells his team that they must bunk with a member of a different race. Every room must have one white team member and one Black team member, and that they must get to know each other.

We see a few great moments with Ryan Gosling as Alan, playing loud bluegrass country music and showing his teammate Donald Faison, as Petey, how to dance to it. Another wonderful moment arrives when Ethan Suplee, as Louie, belts out Motown tunes in the locker room. 

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The boys come together as they bond over their differences and similarities, and Denzel Washington is at the heart of it all in Remember the Titans. When they come home from camp, though the team is united, the town is still extremely divided, and the team captains, played by Ryan Hurst as Gerry Butler and Wood Harris as Julius Campbell, real-life heroic athletes, must continue to hold the line.

There is a lot of corruption and meddling behind the scenes on behalf of the school board and other politicians involved, but the coaches and the players maintain a unified front and begin winning football games. 

Catch Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans now on Disney+. Watch it with your whole family.