The football program at Manassas High School in Memphis, TN, has earned a
powerful reputation during the school's 110-year history, but
unfortunately it doesn't happen to be a positive one. The Manassas team
has never been eligible for a single play-off game, and no one expected
this to change before Bill Courtney entered the picture. Courtney was a
businessman and football fan who took it upon himself to do something
about the Manassas football program; he volunteered his services as
coach and began shaping a hapless team into one with genuine prospects.
Filmmakers Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin followed Courtney and his players
through the 2009 season, and their documentary Undefeated examines the
coach's efforts to give the school a winning record, as well as the
sometimes complex relationship between Courtney, a white, wealthy
businessman, and his players, who are all black and mostly come from
communities stuck in a cycle of poverty and crime. Undefeated received
its world premiere at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival.—All
Movie. Sponsored by the Friends
of the Cranford Public Library.
