Gene Hackman stars as coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers.

"Hoosiers" became one of the best-loved sports films of the past 20 years by keeping faith with a legend, one of the most improbable real-life fairy tales in high school sports history. Itsy-bitsy Milan High, with a student body of only 164, beat Muncie, a school with more than ten times its enrollment, for the 1954 high school basketball championship in a state, Indiana, where that title is the holy grail.

In the film version, Gene Hackman, in one of his best performances, shows up to coach in a town so tiny its not even on most state maps. His best potential player doesn't want to play, and the boy's teacher, a luminous Barbara Hershey, doesn't want him to either. And then there is Shooter, a role that got Dennis Hopper an Oscar nomination. He plays an ex-local great turned town drunk who oozes cage knowledge from every sweaty, alcoholic pore.

Even if it wasn't based on history, nothing that happens to these people is anything like a surprise,

	Hoosiers
	"Hoosiers" - Sun. 9 p.m. ET The Milan miracle Chat with Kenneth Turan - Sunday at 9 p.m. ET during ESPN Classic's presentation of Hoosiers Chat wrap: Milan star Bobby Plump

but the wonderful thing about "Hoosiers" is that its predictability turns into an asset rather than a liability. Though the filmmakers have taken some liberties with the original story (the original coach was a youthful 26), they have stayed true to its spirit and, more important, they have managed not to hoke up the material.

Since the emotions it asks us to feel are genuine and fairly achieved, this artful familiarity becomes a balm instead of a stumbling block. "Hoosiers" demonstrates, as not a lot of sports films can, that sticking to a formula does not have to mean selling out.

Kenneth Turan is a film critic for the Los Angeles Times and chats with ESPN.com users on Sunday nights during the Reel Classics movies.