The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters

2007 film by Denzel Washington
more_vert
The Great Debaters
pencil

The Great Debaters is a 2007 American historical drama film directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by Robert Eisele and based on a 1997 article for American Legacy by Tony Scherman. The film follows the trials and tribulations of the Wiley College debate team in 1935 Texas. It stars Washington, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker, Gina Ravera, Jermaine Williams, and Jurnee Smollett.

View details Hide details
expand_more
Directed by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Produced by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Written by add_black written by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Screenplay by
Robert Eisele
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Story by
  • Robert Eisele
  • Jeffrey Porro
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Based on add_black based on
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Starring
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Narrated by add_black narrated by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Music by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Cinematography
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Edited by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Animation by add_black animation by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Layouts by add_black layouts by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Backgrounds by add_black backgrounds by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Color process add_black color process
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Production company
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Distributed by
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Release date
  • December 11, 2007 (2007-12-11) (Cinerama Dome)
  • December 25, 2007 (2007-12-25) (United States)
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Running time
126 minutes
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Country
United States
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Language
English
this text will appear in brackets
e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Budget
$15 million
Box office
$30.2 million

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

Type add_black type
Class add_black class
Theme add_black theme
Tone add_black tone
Mood add_black mood
Melvin B. Tolson: Who is the judge?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: The judge is God.
Melvin B. Tolson: Why is he God?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: Because he decides who wins or loses. Not my opponeent.
Melvin B. Tolson: Who is your opponent?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: He does not exist.
Melvin B. Tolson: Why does he not exist?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: Because he is a mere dissenting voice of the truth I speak!
  • The rapper Drake auditioned for a role in this movie.
  • The film features both Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, as well as a young actor named Denzel Whitaker.
  • On December 19, 2007, Denzel Washington announced a $1 million dollar donation to Wiley College so they could re-establish their debate team.
  • The diploma hanging in Dr. James Farmer's study is an authentic copy provided to the art department by Boston University archivist Kara Jackman.
  • This movie was the first since 1979 to be allowed to film on Harvard's campus.

This page is the FamousFix profile for The Great Debaters. Content on this page is contributed by editors who belong to our editorial community. We welcome your contributions... so please create an account if you would like to collaborate with other editor's in helping to shape this website.

On the The Great Debaters page you will be able to add and update factual information, post media and connect this topic to other topics on the website. This website does skew towards famous actors, musicians, models and sports stars, however we would like to expand that to include many other interesting topics.

Terms of Use · Copyright · Privacy
Copyright 2006-2025, FamousFix · 0.30s