This Sporting Life. If this almost forgotten sports-movie classic is ever shown on late night TV, dont miss it!
My favourite sports movie is Blood of Heroes, though (as the title suggests) it’s actually a bloodsport movie. Rollerball meets Thunderdome, but far better than both.
Some more good ones that haven’t been mentioned yet, and which are not on my list below:
The Longest Yard: Burt Reynolds plays a former pro quarterback sentenced to a prison chain gang. The warden organizes a game between his guards and a group of cons led by Reynolds.
Diggstown: Louis Gossett Jr. is a retired heavyweight boxer. Bruce Dern is a sleazy businessman/fight promoter in a small Missisisippi town. James Woods is a con man who sets up a bet with Dern that Gosset can knock out ten locals in a single day. More twists than The Sting.
On the Edge: Bruce Dern is a middle aged distance runner looking to make a comeback. In his youth, he was the best middle distance runner in the US, but was driven out of amatuer track for taking payoffs (now called appearance fees and completely legal) to run at certain meets. Everybody did it, but he admitted to it and was made an example of. A handicap cross country race gives him a chance for redemption.
My personal Top 10:
- Searching for Bobby Fischer
- Raging Bull
- Field of Dreams
- Breaking Away
- The Hustler
- Hoosiers
- Tin Cup
- Lucas
- Kingpin
- Bull Durham
I guess I have no heart, because I thought Rudy was a cheesy waste of time. I spent more time laughing at the kid than crying (which I might have done from laughing too hard ;)) :D.
I personally love Field of Dreams, Major League, The Natural, and Slapshot.
Junction Boys was a great flick too. Shows us that even our mythical sports heros make mistakes. The regret Bryant showed towards how he worked those kids was unforgettable.
I nominate Prefontaine, with Billy Crudup as Steve Prefontaine, the mercurial 1972 Olympics track star. Donald Sutherland stars as Prefontaine’s mentor, U of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman, who would go on to found Nike Shoes.
My brother nominates The Jericho Mile, with is about a prisoner in a maximum-security prison training for long-distance running in the Olympics. I’ve never seen this flick – can anyone else comment?
No mention yet of “Brian’s Song”?
Chess as a sport?!? I like the rest of your list, though, but would put Bull Durham at the top. And I may be unique in regarding Caddyshack as being puerile stuff that I find it difficult to imagine anyone over the age of 14 liking.
I have popped “Field of Dreams” in the VCR and am in the process of watching it. Eventually. I also want to mention that I loved “Breaking Away”. All that opera music—what’s not to love?
amarone: According to the International Olympic Committee, chess is a sport. In any case, Searching for Bobby Fischer has the form and style of a sports movie, so I include it in my list.
I like Caddyshack but find it less than great, and nowhere near the top 10. Like Slap Shot, I cannot understand the obsession some people have with this movie.
And contract bridge was a deominstration “sport” in Salt Lake City. And that isn’t a sport either. I have played bridge to a high level. While it can be very demanding and needs a lot of skill, it ain’t a sport.
One of my favorite sports movies came out just this year: Blue Crush. It tells a story that subverts most sports-movie cliches, and stars hot babes besides.
Slapshot and The Natural are probably my favorties. But I am surprised no one mentioned The Bad News Bears.
I vote for Slapshot, and I don’t even like hockey.
Ooh, Blue Crush reminded me of another surf film, THE surf film-
Endless Summer
A League of Their Own
Hoop Dreams a high school basketball documentary - really great!
For Love of the Game w/Kevin Costner
American Flyers also w/Costner, about cycling, decent
A movie that hardly ever gets mentioned as a sports film that I really enjoyed was Spike Lee’s He Got Game. The opening sequence is enough to get sports fans in.
Holy sh*t. I can’t believe I didn’t mention this one. One of my all-time favorite movies. When I was younger, one of my life-goals was to one day surf at Cape St. Francis. I then found out that the winds have been blocked by a bunch of resorts that have been built up around the break and that the wave is pretty sloppy now :(. I always had visions of it being so beautiful and serene.
It also gave us the great line that is so oft repeated by every local at every point and break up and down the coast:
“You should have been here yesterday!”
Great footage of Newport and The Wedge.
My faves are:
- Bull Durham - I’ve watched this one more than any other movie ever. Probably two or three times a year for the last decade.
- Jerry McGuire - Rod Tidwell kills me. And any movie that gets me misty-eyed has done a fine job.
- Brian’s Song - Any man who can watch this thing without breaking down is a heartless bastard.
- Slapshot - Doesn’t truly capture the magic of hockey, just the violence. But funny as hell and the best attempt at a hockey movie so far.
- Eight Men Out - I look at that movie and wonder how Pete Rose can even consider asking to be reinstated. Shoeless Joe should be in the Hall!
Honourable mention:
A League of Their Own
The Natural
Rocky
The Rookie
Raging Bull
Cool Runnings
Did anybody see the special on SportsCenter last night about the high school senior whose grandfather was killed? They were extremely close, and he wanted to do something to commemorate his life. So he scored 61 points the next night in the school’s basketball game - one point for each year of his grandfather’s life. On his last shot, he was fouled. Having already scored his 61 points, but being only 5 points and 3 minutes away from the state record, he purposefully missed the charity shot.
When I saw it, I immediately thought of this thread.
Angels in the Outfield.