Best sports movie

[topspeed]

I was watching Hoosiers for the 100th time this past weekend and it got me thinking: What's the best sports movie of all time?

Now, the poll at AR only allows 10 possible choices, and we all know there are a heckuva lot more than 10 great sports movies. Narrowing down this list was not easy, and I have a feeling picking one won't be either .

[Kam]

so to kick off the "how-could-you-forget-to-include-_______" portion of the thread....

how could you forget to include Rocky!
....and Breaking Away!
....and Raging Bull!
....and The Karate Kid!

ok. am done.


(i voted for hoosiers)

edit: doh. i cant read. raging bull is on the list.

[Groundbeef]

Yeah,

How could
Cinderella Man
The Rookie ( I mean, if a League of Their Own made it)

Not be on there.

[Woochifer]

Lot of good choices on that list. I actually would have gone with Rocky, but I voted for Raging Bull. Raging Bull is not just a great sports film, but an great movie period, albeit a dark story about a flawed man. Rocky is an iconic and uplifting film, and a quintessentially American story about a nobody who's handed a second chance to become a somebody.

One of those things, but it seems like boxing is a sport tailor made for compelling films. For one thing, boxing in general is more exciting to watch via movies, than in real life. Baseball also works to a degree because it ties into so many Americana themes. For whatever reason, football has never translated well on screen.

[topspeed]

OK, you guys got me, Rocky should have been there, and maybe Cinderella Man (a little too new though, we'll have too see how well time treats it) but...

The Karate Kid???

It was good movie Kam, but greatest sports movie of all time? I dunno 'bout that!

The Rookie was good Groundbeef, but given that three superior baseball movies were already on the list, I took a pass.

Cut me some slack here guys, like I said I could only choose 10!

[Smokey]

I was watching Hoosiers for the 100th time this past weekend and it got me thinking: What's the best sports movie of all time?

I think you answered your own question

I would also add Personal Best to your list of best sport movies.

[wayner86]

Caddyshack is always good for a chuckle. Can't believe no one mentioned Slapshot, thats always been a good bust-a-gut movie.

[Gerald Cooperberg]

Did anyone ever see Friday Night Lights? I heard good things but never got around to it...

Do sports documentaries count? If so, I'll cast my lot with Hoop Dreams-- or Endless Summer...

-Coop

[RGA]

These kinds of lists are hard because some movies are more about the sport while others are more about human dram -- Consider the baseball films The Natural versus Field of Dreams. The latter is more about the options we have in our lives where one instance we could have went down an entirely different path...a mystical film about father and son more than a film about baseball -- while some of the other baseball films there are mainly about baseball with side stories sprinkled over top -- the sister raltionship in league of their own.

I personally think that while Rocky is a good film it has recently been eclipsed by two much better boxing films two years in a row. Million Dollar Baby and this year's excellent Cinderella Man. I personally think that Cinderella Man is by a significant margin Ron Howard's best and least Hollywood movie and it is in a year that has so many strong films that it may not get a nomination. Like Rocky Million Dollar Baby is a nobody from nowhere who overcomes despite it all to get to the top. Cinderella Man is about the successful Boxer who falls due to Injury to get that second shot. I don't even like Boxing but I loved both of these films and still derive some amusement from the patently terrible boxing sequences in Rocky and the Yo Adrian line. I always felt Rocky was a bit too stilted to be considered a great film. Raging Bull is more of a character study which I need to see again.

And no sports movie list is credible if it does not have Slap Shot on it.

[markw]

I'm still laughing my ass off at Adam Sandler's "The Longest Yard". Silly, crude and cheap, but it still hits my funnybone just right.

[Groundbeef]

Also to the list

Chariots of Fire (more of a social commentary I think though)
As for Football...The Brian Picallo (sp?) Story-Brians Song

Dodgeball was pretty good to.

Friday night lights SUCKED. It was the worst movie (sports) I've seen in a while. Coach Carter was much better, as was Rudy.

[Worf101]

Some I had to see on there... but aren't.

"Harder They Fall" - The dirty underside of boxing Rod Steiger and Bogart.. wow.

"North Dallas Forty" - A realistic view of the madness that is football at the professional level.

"The Bad News Bears" - Lemmon's solliloquy at the end of the movie made it one for the ages.

"Breaking Away" - Great sports movie, great coming of age movie.

"Downhill Racer" - One of those mystical, moody flicks that makes you think.

"The Hurricane" - Flawed man, great movie.

"City for Conquest" - I think Cagney could lick most lightweights in the ring today.



"Rocky" was right to be left off. It's not a Sports movie it's science fiction it's a fairy tale that's why it's soooo beloved.

[dean_martin]

"North Dallas Forty" - A realistic view of the madness that is football at the professional level.

"Breaking Away" - Great sports movie, great coming of age movie.

I was just about to ask if North Dallas Forty was worth seeing again. It's been years since I saw it. Thanks Worf.

Also, was Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) in Breaking Away? If it's the movie I'm thinking of, I'd like to see it again. I remember a scene where the players think they're gonna be pulled over so they eat their stash, then the cop goes flying by. Is this the flick?

[topspeed]

Also, was Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) in Breaking Away? If it's the movie I'm thinking of, I'd like to see it again. I remember a scene where the players think they're gonna be pulled over so they eat their stash, then the cop goes flying by. Is this the flick?

No! No! No! LOL!

Breaking Away was a great movie about some slackers in a small town in Indiana and their ongoing battle with the IU college elitists. The main character is obsessed with the Italian cycling team, to the point that he acts like he's Italian, and the battle between the haves and have-nots crescendos in the local velo race pitting, you guessed it, the slackers vs. the frat boys. It's a lot better than my reader's digest version and one I considered. Another highly recommended cyling movie is American Flyers with Kevin Costner.

Again, I only had 10 spots fellas!

[dean_martin]

No! No! No! LOL!

Breaking Away was a great movie about some slackers in a small town in Indiana and their ongoing battle with the IU college elitists. The main character is obsessed with the Italian cycling team, to the point that he acts like he's Italian, and the battle between the haves and have-nots crescendos in the local velo race pitting, you guessed it, the slackers vs. the frat boys. It's a lot better than my reader's digest version and one I considered. Another highly recommended cyling movie is American Flyers with Kevin Costner.

Again, I only had 10 spots fellas!

Damn! Mr. Kot-tair was in Fast Break. Too lazy today to do my own research and my old-timer's kicks in blurring the lines between break and breaking. I've gotta take (or stop taking) something for that.

[Kam]

No! No! No! LOL!

Breaking Away was a great movie about some slackers in a small town in Indiana and their ongoing battle with the IU college elitists. The main character is obsessed with the Italian cycling team, to the point that he acts like he's Italian, and the battle between the haves and have-nots crescendos in the local velo race pitting, you guessed it, the slackers vs. the frat boys. It's a lot better than my reader's digest version and one I considered. Another highly recommended cyling movie is American Flyers with Kevin Costner.

Again, I only had 10 spots fellas!

i love the scene where he's riding next to the truck and the driver keeps holding his hand out the window and indicating with fingers how fast he's driving as he keeps up with him.

and then the great ending of him riding twice in the relay (or was it dennis quaid that rode twice?)

[topspeed]

i love the scene where he's riding next to the truck and the driver keeps holding his hand out the window and indicating with fingers how fast he's driving as he keeps up with him.

and then the great ending of him riding twice in the relay (or was it dennis quaid that rode twice?)

That is, without a doubt, the best scene in the whole movie! It's realistic, too. All things equal, the biggest detriment to speed on a bicyle is wind resistance.

BTW, it was the cyclist geek that rode twice, not Quaid. They duct taped his shoes to the pedals, remember?

[ForeverAutumn]

I seem to have a thing for baseball movies. Before I even looked at the list, after reading the title, I knew that I was going to pick The Natural. This is not just a great sports movie but one of my all time favourite movies ever (and a great book).

Bull Durham and Field of Dreams are also all-time favourites.

Happy Gilmour (although not a baseball movie) is always good for a laugh.

[Kam]

That is, without a doubt, the best scene in the whole movie! It's realistic, too. All things equal, the biggest detriment to speed on a bicyle is wind resistance.

BTW, it was the cyclist geek that rode twice, not Quaid. They duct taped his shoes to the pedals, remember?

that's right! i remember that scramble as they taped his feet on to get him to go another round. that wa an exciting finish to a race. now turned into cliche finish, but still powerful in this movie. now i gotta add this on to my netflix queueueueue, i havent seen it in a while! and then there's the scene at the reservoir when quaid races the jock in the water and bangs his head against the wall and still tries to finish. didnt it also have the third guy from city slickers with the glasses and crazy hair? (name eluding me, will have to check on imdb).

[Worf101]

No! No! No! LOL!

Breaking Away was a great movie about some slackers in a small town in Indiana and their ongoing battle with the IU college elitists. The main character is obsessed with the Italian cycling team, to the point that he acts like he's Italian, and the battle between the haves and have-nots crescendos in the local velo race pitting, you guessed it, the slackers vs. the frat boys. It's a lot better than my reader's digest version and one I considered. Another highly recommended cyling movie is American Flyers with Kevin Costner.

Again, I only had 10 spots fellas!

Ah told ya that making these polls ain't so easy.... No what you could have done was break the poll up into sports. "Best Boxing Movie", "best baseball movie" etc... Nice to have someone else taking a beating round here...

Thanks for the poll though... don't stop now...

Da Worfster

[shokhead]

Pride of the yankees.

[topspeed]

Ah told ya that making these polls ain't so easy.... No what you could have done was break the poll up into sports. "Best Boxing Movie", "best baseball movie" etc... Nice to have someone else taking a beating round here...

Thanks for the poll though... don't stop now...

Da Worfster

Nah, brother. I could never assume to take the mantle of Master Pollster from the Mighty Worfster.

You ain't kiddin' about the beatin' either.

She's all yours .

[Resident Loser]

...howzabout "Sea Biscuit"...

jimHJJ(...no neigh-saying, please...insert rim-shot here...)

[topspeed]

I think it counts pretty well. Now vote for it .

[Resident Loser]

I think it counts pretty well. Now vote for it .

...no, no, no...that one listed in your poll...that's not the movie I was referring to...a...my choice was a little-known, vastly underated production from the Edison Studios just prior to the advent of talkies...

It's a biopic recounting the life of 19th century Scotsman Angus K. Walker, heir to the oat and shortbread fortune and pioneer in the fledgling sport of yachting...When not piloting one in a series of intrepid craft, all named the Lorna Doone, to victory after stunning victory, he spent most of his adult life perfecting a viable, stranded-mariner-friendly variant of the army's hardtack or, as he named his product, the "Sea Biscuit".

The last scenes are probably some of the most thrilling in all of moviedom...special effects, at least for the time, were first rate...in them, we see his boat dashed upon hidden shoals just off the Shetlands...in a typhoon...in the notoriously shark-infested waters of the North Sea. Certain of his demise and losing all hope, he fortuitously finds himself bobbing among some bales of his rations which include his recently-perfected product. He manages to at once subsist and remain buoyant by means of his life-saving cargo until a passing prison ship rescues him...

His product is still available in most markets and shops under it's current name Walker's Highland Oat-Cakes...and even after all this time, they are still made with the same all-natural ingredients and attention to quality as the original product...with a taste and texture reminiscent of a personal flotation device.

Yeah, that's the ticket!

jimHJJ(...a pox upon me for being an unobservant dolt...)