October Sky in on USA right now, and it made me realize how much I love the inspirational type of movies, based on a true story or not. I loved Pirates of Silicon Valley (though not quite the same as OS).
I do love the sports movies like Remember the Titans, Coach Carter, et al, but what other movies like October Sky are there (not necessarily sports)?
How about a list of such movies? Anybody have recommendations?
I think most of the AFI lists are pretty horrible (from an artistic and historical perspective), but since this type of inspirational film often tends toward the “feel goodism” that usually make these lists a predictable travesty, this one seems to be a particularly suitable (qualified) exception: http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/cheers.aspx
Fly Away Home and Whale Rider are wonderful for younger kids striving and succeeding. Not sure if that’s what you’re looking for.
Oh, and for union and labor movies, Norma Rae and Matewan. And North Country for workplace issues.
At la casa de -dad99, when we want something inspiring and uplifting, we turn to a couple of classics, Dark Victory, and The Magnificent Obsession.
For raising hell inspiration you can’t do better than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Even the last scene doesn’t kill the Yes We Can mood.
Slingblade. Fuckin’ Slingblade.
That puts me in the mind of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
Mimi wo sumaseba aka Whisper of the Heart. It’s about a fourteen-year-old girl falling in love for the first time and coming to grips with her desire to be a writer. Don’t let the the fact that it’s anime put you off – it’s powerful and honest and gentle and very inspirational without being saccharine or cliched.
As a teacher, I love the inspiration of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. 
We Are Marshall is having it’s premiere tonight. I’m watching the stars walking the “green carpet” right now! I don’t get to see it until Thursday. 
It opens nationally on Dec 22, and is the true story of the worst sports disaster in history, and the aftermath and growth of the Marshall University football program. It should be an awesome inspirational movie (and I’m even in a crowd scene!).
Chariots of Fire.
I’m the first one to mention Rudy?
Grapes of Wrath
I’ll second both of these. I was surprised by how much I was affected by both of these movies.
I can’t wait to see that, mainly to see Ian McShane and Kate Mara. I lurve Kate Mara so much I sat through Brokeback Mountain just to see her few minutes of screen time. (She played the daughter that was in the final scene.)
If the OP is interested in movies that try very hard to be inspirational but may fall short for whatever reason:
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Men of Honor
The Postman
Sports movies not yet mentioned: (And that are excellent.)
Cinderella Man
Seabiscuit
Glory Road
Friday Night Lights
War movies (of any era) are big on the inspiration:
The Tuskegee Airmen
Glory
Braveheart
The only non-sports non-war movie I can think of that was both inspirational and good is Searching for Bobby Fischer.
Dave is a good-hearted comedy that stars Kevin Kline as a presidential lookalike who must fill in for the corrupt president when he suffers a heart attack, and he happens to be the nicest, most upstanding guy in the world. It’s sweet but not saccharine, and I can’t help but tear up during certain parts in it. It’s usually a cheap DVD ($6-$8) and well worth the purchase, even if you haven’t seen it already. Sigourney Weaver is good as the real First Lady, and Ving Rhames is a terrific Secret Service agent who knows Dave’s secret.
Inspirational legal dramas: To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my favorite movies of all time), Twelve Angry Men, and believe it or not, the last scene in The People Versus Larry Flynt, where Edward Norton argues Flynt’s case in front of the Supreme Court, fills me with pride and honor and emotion every time, and even chokes me up a bit.
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington might be considered sappy by today’s standards, but it’s definitely a rousing, positive, feel-good movie and a real classic.
And at the risk of being made fun of, I think Spider-Man is the most inspirational of all the superhero movies – a great story of empowerment, wish fulfillment, honor, courage, nobility, sacrifice, and the ultimate lesson that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
I watched the recent Mark Wahlberg movie Invincible last night and it is a decent addition to the inspiring sports story genre. Surprisingly for a movie that topped the box office on release in the US it looks like going to video in Australia after not even showing in Sydney.
Oooooooh…good one. “Juicy Fruit.”