The Hill

Rickey Hill grows up in Texas, the son of a travelling preacher, with leg braces from a degenerative spinal condition and an extraordinary gift for baseball. The film is built on the collision between his insistence on playing and his father's conviction that it is both dangerous and sinful. Dennis Quaid plays the father and keeps him frightened rather than cruel, which is the picture's best decision. Angelo Pizzo, who wrote Hoosiers and Rudy, has a hand in the screenplay, and the shape is exactly the shape you would predict from that. It is drawn from the real Rickey Hill and opened in August 2023. Who it is for: viewers who like classic inspirational sport films built on faith and family. Who it is not for: anyone allergic to the genre's formula, because none of it is skipped.