# Sports Movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 24, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362 "2001-10-24T19:21:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/1 "2001-10-24T19:21:33Z")
Are there any sports that don’t have movies about them?
Obviously Baseball, Hockey, Basketball and football have had their share of movies. Even golf, bowling, pool and running have one or two.
But what about swimming, or cricket, or hurling, or curling etc are there movies for these sports?
So what sports can we find that don’t have a movie about them? I’m not gonna count documentarys so don’t list em.
I’ll start
Baseball:
The Natural
Major League series
Perfect Game
Hockey:
Mighty Ducks
Football:
The Replacements
Pool:
The Hustler
The Color of Money
Bowling:
Kinigpin
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/2 "2001-10-24T19:35:33Z")
Bobsledding: _Cool Runnings_
Bicycling: _Breaking Away_
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/3 "2001-10-24T19:38:19Z")
Hammer: Geordie
Running: Chariots of the Gods
Pentathlon: Personal Best
Downhill: Downhill Racer
Figure skating: Ice Castles
How about biathlon? Archery (and no, Robin Hood doesn’t count)? Tae Kwon Do? Synchronized Swimming?
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/4 "2001-10-24T19:43:14Z")
Football (soccer):
Escape to Victory (1981) [cast including Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Max von Sydow, Pele and Bobby Moore]
Fever Pitch (1997)
The Match (1999)
ID (1995)
The Cup (2000)
When Saturday Comes (1996)
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939)
…and many, many more. IMDB lists 146 ‘soccer’-related titles.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/5 "2001-10-24T20:30:31Z")
One of the best films I’ve seen this year is a four-hour Bollywood musical about cricket called \*\*[Lagaan\*\*](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0282674). Absolutely fantastic.
Other sports not mentioned:
Basketball (_Hoop Dreams, Hoosiers, He Got Game_)
Golf (_Tin Cup, Caddyshack_)
Boxing (_Body and Soul, Champion, Raging Bull_)
Ice Skating (_Ice Castles_)
Auto Racing (_Grand Prix, Driven_)
Horse Racing (_National Velvet, The Black Stallion_)
Rugby (_This Sporting Life_)
Karate (_The Karate Kid_)
Tennis (_Pat and Mike, Strangers on a Train_)
Crew (_Oxford Blues_)
Sailing (_Wind_)
Competitive Fishing (_Man’s Favorite Sport?_)
And then there are fictional sports like _Rollerball_ and _BASEketball_
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### Author:  [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/6 "2001-10-24T21:35:53Z")
Hollywood had made a total of 727 feature films with a sports background up to the end of 1987.
The most popular sport as a subject for screen drama is boxing, with just under 25% of the total, followed by horse racing with 16.2% and American Football with 14.2%.
One film about each of the following sports was made between 1920 and 1987:
Angling, Bowling, Cockfighting, Dog Racing, Fencing, Ice Yachting, Volleyball and Weightlifting. The individual films are not listed.
During the same period, a total of 19 films were made which used the Olympic Games as a setting.
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### Author:  [@dasceder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasceder)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/7 "2001-10-24T22:01:39Z")
falconry in “Kes”
gymnastics in “American Anthem”
hockey in “Youngblood” (with a young Keanu Reeves in goal) and “Slapshot”
Horse Racing in “Let it Ride”
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/8 "2001-10-24T22:50:39Z")
There was chess in _Searching for Bobby Fischer_ and _The Seventh Seal_, pinball in _Tommy_, darts in _Roxanne_, roller skating in _Roller Boogie_, and table tennis in _Forrest Gump_.
And let’s not forget Frankie and Annette in all those surfing movies.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/9 "2001-10-24T23:07:57Z")
auto racing has “the quick and the dead”
hockey- slapshot-- one of my favorites…“that cunt is no good!”
i saw a movie about motorcycle racing featuring this “killer” motorcycle called the “RZ 500” that supposedly would be the death of you cause it was so dangerous. movie sucked but i thought it was funny, cause i had a REAL RZ 500 and it was not too much like it. cant remember the name. went to see this with a prospective girlfried, and she thereafter thought i was nuts…
of course, there is always “On Any Sunday”…
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/10 "2001-10-24T23:14:21Z")
I can’t remember the title (sorry), but a Japanese movie was released just this year about synchronized swimming. In the spirit of _Full Monty_ and _Billy Elliot_, it’s about a group of high school boys who decide to start their own team.
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/11 "2001-10-24T23:20:21Z")
Auto racing: _Days of Thunder_, _Le Mans_
Rodeo: _8 Seconds_
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/12 "2001-10-25T02:31:32Z")
Fly Fishing: _A River Runs Through It_
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/13 "2001-10-25T02:33:26Z")
Poker: _Rounders_
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### Author:  [@Rufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/14 "2001-10-25T02:53:04Z")
Hope and Glory- my first lessons on the sport of Cricket (though it played about an integral role as Darts had in Roxanne)
-Rufus
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/15 "2001-10-25T04:21:26Z")
Motorcycle racing with sidecars (_Five the Hard Way_)
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/16 "2001-10-25T04:49:43Z")
The film _Satree Lex_\* is about Thai transvestites and transexuals competing for the Thai berth in Olympic volleyball. This is based on a true story, IIRC they won the competition but the national olympic committee wouldn’t allow them to compete because of the embarassment.
[sub]\*English transliteration for Iron Women[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/17 "2001-10-25T04:55:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Robot Arm \*
> \*\*Motorcycle racing with sidecars (_Five the Hard Way_) \*\*
I believe the term is _sidehacking_.
hehehe
[MST3K]
_Rommel_ - you magnificent bastard!
[/MST3K]
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### Author:  [@Bossk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bossk)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/18 "2001-10-25T05:59:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \*
> \*\*
> Running: Chariots of the Gods
>
> \*\*
Dude, I assume you meant _Chariots of Fire._
Although Mr. von Danikan thanks you for the plug.
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### Author:  [@dasceder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasceder)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/19 "2001-10-25T13:46:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gatopescado \*
> \*\*auto racing has “the quick and the dead”
> \*\*
Noooo, **gunfighting** has “The Quick and the Dead,” autoracing has “Days of Thunder”
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### Author:  [@dasceder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasceder)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2001, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-movies/89362/20 "2001-10-25T13:48:00Z")
apologies for the frivolous **bolding**
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