The Great Debaters is a 2007 English-language Biography Drama movie written by Robert Eisele, Jeffrey Porro and Tony Scherman. The movie is directed by Denzel Washington and produced by Todd Black, Kate Forte, Joe Roth and Oprah Winfrey under the banner of Harpo Productions. A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship. The great debaters stars Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker, John Heard and Adam Zalt. The screenplay is written by Robert Eisele. The music was composed by Peter Golub along with James Newton Howard. Cinematography was done by Philippe Rousselot and editing by Hughes Winborne. The film has a running time of 126 minutes. It was released on 25th December 2007. The film made a box office gross of $30 million. Distribution rights for the film were acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.