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Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0796019810708
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Label: Genius Products (TVN)
Manufacturer: Genius Products (TVN)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Genius Products (TVN)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Running Time: 124 minutes
Sales Rank: 213
Studio: Genius Products (TVN)
Theatrical Release Date: December 25, 2007
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Denzel Washington directs and stars in this uplifting drama based on a true story about a small East Texas all-black college in 1935 that rises to the top of the nation's debate teams in a duel against Harvard. A poet and debating coach at Wiley College Professor Melvin Tolson (Washington) sees debating as 'a blood sport' and recruits the meanest and brightest including troubled Henry (Nate Parker) driven Samantha (Jurnee Smollet) and the 14-year-old prodigy James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (no relation) plays Farmer's father the initially unsupportive president of the school. There's tough training romantic heat over the attentions of fiery Samantha (the first girl on the team) and some no holds-barred racism (including a witnessed lynching) before the big match-up against the Ivy League school adding to the overall emotional force.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASS DIFFERENCES Rating: PG-13 UPC: 796019810708 Manufacturer No: 81070
Amazon.com:
Inspired by real events, the fascinating The Great Debaters reveals one of the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement in its story of Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington in a captivating performance) and his champion 1935 debate club from the all-African-American Wiley College in Texas. Tolson, a Wiley professor, labor organizer, modernist poet, and much else, runs a rigorous debate program at the school, selecting four students as his team in '35, among them the future founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Washington, who directed The Great Debaters from a script by Robert Eisele (The Dale Earnhardt Story), anchors the story with the team's measurable progress, but the film is also about the state of race relations in America at the height of the Great Depression. With lynchings of black men and women a common form of entertainment and black subjugation for many rural whites, the idea of talented and highly intelligent African-American young people learning to think on their feet during debates would seem almost a hopeless endeavor. But that's not the way Tolson sees it, as his students serve themselves and the cause of racial equality in America with energetic arguments in favor of progressive government and non-violence as a viable social movement. There are some startling moments in this movie, particularly the sight of a man found lynched and burned to death, and an extraordinary moment in which we see black sharecroppers and white farmers engaged with Tolson in arguments about unionizing together. Forest Whitaker is outstanding as Farmer's emotionally-reserved father, also a Wiley professor. This is the kind of film where one hopes two great actors such as the elder Whitaker and Washington will have a scene together, and when it comes it's as powerful as one might hope. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Great Debaters
A superb film. Brings the viewer into the 1950s reality of the Jim Crow South and the struggle for equality by Black Americans. The lessons communicated are applicable to all races, cultures, and communities. We are engaged by intriguing characters obviously bright and articulate and yet flawed. It is the flaws that we see them strive to overcome as well as the ills of our society. The students stretch their skills to become great debaters with the help of a charismatic and learned professor who pushes his students and himself to be the change agents in their community and the society at large.
A true joy to watch over and over.
Rating:  - nothing special
Although Denzel Washington directed this capably, with a good feel for pace and timing, the script is predictable and formulaic: it's really nothing more than another flick about a teacher making a difference in the lives of disadvantaged students, something we've seen a few too many times.
The only divagation from the formula is that the students in this film actually want to learn.
Rating: - Awesome, Inspiring & Hopeful for today.
The Great Debaters is now on my list of great Movies! It ranks with Casablanca, To Kill A Mockingbird and White Christmas. When Professor Melvin Tolson chooses his first Wiley College Debating team it includes Samantha, Henry, James Farmer, Jr and Hamilton who wishes to be the Teacher's pet!
Since there are many excellent reviews, I will not repeat the awesome listing of great actresses & actors like Denzel Washington & Forest Whitaker & Denzel Whitaker! For my top choices of the debaters, I choose Samantha & James Farmer Jr. The young man who plays the part of Henry is a tremendous actor who makes powerful speeches for his arguments & resolutions. I am turned off by his weakness for drinking & fast moves with women!
There is a powerful contrast between white sharecroppers, who seem to be in authority with the local Sheriff and the Debaters who play the part of defenders as origins of the Civil Rights movement in the 1930's! Those first debates with other African American Colleges are soon overcome with the debates with white Oklahoma City U. and finally the climaxing debate with the Harvard's top notch debating team!
There is included as special events, some older students of Wiley College who were the original members of the first debating team! These older men & women provide quite the vivid contrast for the original debaters! Especially, the man who is portrayed by Henry, whose last name was Heights is said to be "arrogantly intellectual!" ... Read More
Rating:  - Follows the formula
Whether the subject is sports or college debate, the same formula is applied over and over again. TGD is an ok movie but very far from being original. Denzel Washington, as always, is awesome but its not enough to carry the movie. Yes, there are some good parts but, overall, TGD is contrived and predictable. I just keep thinking: "Remember the Titians" with speeches instead of a football.
Not terrible but not recommended.
Rating: - "Rocky" Meets Black Forensics Program
"The Great Debaters" is an entertaining portrayal of a small black college debate team in the 1930's - Wiley College. They became the Davids who slew the white Goliaths in the art of debate. Against all odds, the team mows down opponent after opponent before its climactic contest - taking on the Harvard debate team in Cambridge.
Need I tell you how it ends? Without seeing the movie, you probably can guess. The cast is strong and the story is feel-good, but the characters are somewhat two-dimensional. White folks in particular do not come off very well, being stereotyped as either sadistic redneck crackers or smug intellectuals. Such is the portrayal in OprahLand perhaps.
The movie hearkens back to a bygone day when college debate involved reasoning and oratory; this, in stark contrast to modern college debate, which features how fast you can spit out information at 400-words per minute, incomprehensible except to the cognoscenti.
In "The Great Debaters", each black student becomes Demosthenes when he or she gets up behind the podium. Also, the Wilie team always gets the "proper" side of the debate resolution. They never have to argue AGAINST equal rights, civil disobedience or letting blacks into public universities. These awkward sides of the issue are always assigned to the white debaters in this morality tale. Funny how that works out....
Entertaining but not totally filling.
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