Sports movies are a sort of "Guilty Pleasure" of mine. They are so predictable but I just have a soft spot for them. Sports movies can be any type of genre so I thought it would be acceptable for me to place this thread here.

"Coach Carter" I saw it yesterday and found it very good. Samuel L. Jackson did an excellent job and most of the characters actually had stories, which was nice considering most sports movie characters are "two-dimensional." My Score 65/100

While I was at "Coach Carter" I saw a preview for "The Longest Yard" which looked funny. Adam Sandler doesn't exactly strike me as a person who could fit in a football movie but Chris Rock and "Charlie Murphy" are in it as well, so even if it is dumb it will be funny. I haven't actually seen the original, but I suppose it might be interesting to watch it as well.

A couple other good sports movies

"Kingpin"
"White Men Can't Jump" (Classic)
"Remember the Titans"
"The Rookie"
"A league of their own"
"Little Giants"
"Caddyshack"
"Happy Gilmore"
"Hoosiers"
"Rocky" (Although it was ruined by the 800 sequels)
"Rudy"
"Cool Runnings" (Very original)


I am sure that I have missed a couple. What are your favorites?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike Angelo,

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Originally posted by Mike:
Adam Sandler doesn't exactly strike me as a person who could fit in a football movie.

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What do you mean? Adam Sandler has already been in a football movie ... "The Waterboy!." That, along with "Happy Gilmore" are two of my favorite sports movies. I've never really been a big fan of serious sports dramas, but "Remember the Titans" was pretty good.

I also recall several years ago seeing a movie called "The Air Up There" with Kevin Bacon, and thought it was quite good. And when I was younger, I have to admit I was a big fan of the "Mighty Ducks" movies.

Besides that, "The Hustler" and "The Sandlot" were both pretty good. And these two aren't really sports movies, but I guess you could consider "Gladiator" and "Seabiscuit" as part of the list if you wanted.

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What do you mean? Adam Sandler has already been in a football movie ... "The Waterboy!." That, along with "Happy Gilmore" are two of my favorite sports movies.

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I knew I forgot something thanks for reminding me about "The Waterboy." This appears to be a somewhat more serious role, can you really see him as a football player? (Other than a crazy southerner with an accent and few "People skills")

Don't forget a few other classics (from an earlier era...yes, my era...I'm getting old):

"Breaking Away"
"Personal Best"
"North Dallas Forty"
"Heaven Can Wait"
"Slapshot"
"The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh"
"The Bad News Bears"

Major League
Little Big League (no it's not the one about the pitcher kid...annoying-as-hell movie)
The Bad News Bears
Pride of the Yankees
The Sandlot
The Karate Kid
Damn Yankees (Yes, it's a musical)

A few that have yet to be mentioned...

Hoop Dreams, a perfect basketball documentary

Rebound:The Story of Earl "The Goat" Manigault, a TV movie that was excellent, starring Don Cheadle as The Goat, with James Earl Jones and Ronny Cox.

Lagaan, a lovely Indian film about locals playing cricket(which they had never played before)against the English colonials in a wager to avoid paying the lagaan, a tax of grain that the English collected yearly.

Ladybugs

I enjoy many of the films listed, but I notice that except for "Rocky", there's no other boxing. How about "Raging Bull", "The Harder They Fall" (Bogart), "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (Paul Newman), "The Set-Up" (Robert Ryan), "Champion" (Kirk Douglas), and "City For Conquest" (Cagney) [even "The Greatest" with Ali playing himself isn't bad.].

Wrestling means the hilarious "The One and Only" (Henry Winkler), and although I like "North Dallas Forty" better, "Semi-Tough" (Burt Reynolds/Kris Kristofferson) and "The Paper Lion" (Alan Alda playing George Plimpton) deserve to represent football. No one has mentioned the original "Rollerball" (James Caan) either. Well, there's many others, but I'll give somebody else a turn.

I enjoyed "Any Given Sunday" a lot and i've been on the lookout for similar styled football movies. What did I miss??

Also, the 1977 movie "Slap Shot" starring Paul Newman as a Hockey coach is excellent.

All good movies listed. I would also add Field of Dreams and the Might Ducks.

Miracle
Mighty Ducks 1 and 2
Waterboy
Happy Gilmore
We are Marshall

No love for Bull Durham in this thread?

"Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic."

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Originally posted by ericg75:
No love for Bull Durham in this thread?

"Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic."

"Don't think, it can only hurt the ballclub."

A couple other fav's not mentioned are The Natural and Tin Cup.

Non-Traditional Sports Fan. As I am not into the traditional American sports, my list of sporting movies is rather diverse and inclusive of activities that some may not normally consider sports, but you can be the judge:


1. Touching the Void (2004). Mountain climbing.

2. The Cooler (2003). Gambling.

3. Sweet Little Sunshine (2006). Beauty-talent show.
4. Against the Ropes (2004). Boxing.

5. The Company (2003). Dancing.

6. The Hustler (1961). Billiards.
7. Seabiscuit (2003). Horse racing.
8. Akeelah and The Bee (2006). Spelling bee.
9. The Ice Princess (2005). Ice Skating.
10. Chariots of Fire (1982). Track and Field.
11. Fearless (2006). Martial arts.
12. A River Runs Through It (1992). Fishing.
13. The Big Blue (1988). Deep sea diving.
14. Stick It (2006). Gymnastics.
15. A Gentleman's Game (2001). Golf.

Slapshot
Caddyshack
Sandlot
The Program
Rudy
Radio
Varsity Blues
The Longest Yard (sandler)

I dislike American football intensely, but Any Given Sunday, is a brilliant example of how to make a movie about a sport.

Breaking Away is wonderful film about the lure of sport in helping one define oneself. Oh, what a jolly good show, wot?

At one time I believed Hoosiers was by far the best movie of this genre, but Glory Road wins by a nose. The film captures the racism of the times, the NCAA's need for an overhaul, and a white coach that finally realized there was a new game waiting to burst the old "half court" game. When the coach relents to the black player's plea to "let me play my game" with the comeback, "You play my game and I'll play yours." College basketball was forever altered. Great flick!

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Originally posted by Rev. Rikard:
At one time I believed Hoosiers was by far the best movie of this genre, but Glory Road wins by a nose. The film captures the racism of the times, the NCAA's need for an overhaul, and a white coach that finally realized there was a new game waiting to burst the old "half court" game. When the coach relents to the black player's plea to "let me play my game" with the comeback, "You play my game and I'll play yours." College basketball was forever altered. Great flick!

Wow, every time I see someone mention this film I am reminded that that is where I go to school and where my sister and girlfriend graduated from. Still the only school in the entire state of Texas with a NCAA Basketball Championship. Don Haskins is a legend here.

I think all the really good ones have been covered now, so lets go kind of the opposite direction

I can honestly say I kinda liked Dodgeball. My expectations were super low for it - it looked to fit that recent comedy mold that I really dislike, and it had Ben Stiller playing another of his very similar roles (it was a direct carbon copy of his character from Heavyweights) but as far as dumb comedies go it was pretty decent. The allmovie review said it well I think when it said the reason it works is because it switches gears so much, so there's kind of something for everyone and it never gets tedious. I think Rip Torn and Stephen Root didn't hurt either

Also! Cinderella Man. I remember when it started playing in theaters the commercials had the review snippets, and one person said it was one of the best films they'd ever seen. I think that's a bit much, but I think it runs circles around the other big boxing film of the time, Million Dollar Baby. The acting was respectable across the board, if maybe a little hammy in trying to portray the depression era. I think what I like most is Ron Howard's directing, really. In the fight scenes, somebody would get their ribs cracked, and it would like show a brief x-ray kind of thing of their ribs breaking, I thought that was a nice change of pace. It had Paul Giamatti in an Oscar nominated performace so I just HAVE to have a natural affinity for it And I hate to admit it, but I think part of me being a man is liking to watch people beat the shit out of each other. The fight sequences were well executed and they had that official looking typewriter font narrating visually the different bouts like in Raging Bull, that's icing on the cake.