Favourite Sports Movies

[dean]

the recent release in australia of two sport-based DVD's, CracerJack [the high tension sport of Lawn Bowls] and Swimming Upstream [Competitive Freestyle] along with gammaray117 's post about best action scenes got me thinking about my favourite sporting movies.

alot of sporting movies are just plain tacky, yet there are some unusual classics in there as well.

some of my favourites are:

NFL:  
Remember the Titans: A fantastic movie that was very well made and had many very good actors in.  one of my favourite movies, even counting non-sport ones.

Varsity Blues: yes, it was a little silly, and i'm not too big a fan of James Van Der Beek but it still was pretty good in comparison with some of the other releases around that time like Any Given Sunday [which i didn't think was too bad, but not too fantastic.]

Baseball:
Major League:  How can anyone go past this series in baseball movies.  the first two were great, i almost shot myself when i found out they made a third.  no charlie sheen and some horrible cameos from the other two made that one pretty horrible.

Sandlot Kids:  Classy and simple.  It was very emotional for me [but i was 12 when i saw it, it was right on for me.

I try and stay clear of Kevin Costner in these movies.  He's made a few baseball movies and a few golf ones as well, some which aren't too bad, many which are, but none which i can remember specifically [they are all the same it seems] so i don't include any on this post

Golf:

Happy Gilmore:  Yes i know, people hate Adam Sandler, he makes alot of s**t.  but this was one of the classic movies for me and all my friends going through high school, and maintains itself as one of the classic films that everyone knew about.  it provides the benchmark for every other Adam Sandler film.  The Waterboy [damn thats an NFL one that wasn't too bad either] also provides this status as well.

The Legend Of Bagger Vance:  unfortunatley i have never seen the end to this film [had to leave house and never got to finish it] but from what i watched it was a fairly good film, with Will Smith showing he could actually act and not just yell out 'damn' and go bust some skulls.

Boxing:

Rocky:  Need I say more?  some of the movies were pretty ordinary, but is a classic anyway.

Ali wasn't too bad either.

Karate Kid could also get a mention for being a similar type sport, though the sequels could never match up to the first.

Basketball:

A hard one to judge in that i have seen a few, yet can't remember the really good ones which i know exist, i just can only remember the ones that have been endlessly repeated like "Eddie" with Whoopi Goldberg [only ordinary]

Space Jam:  the movie that started off the whole unusual crossover types.  Jason and Freddy have to thank these guys for making it possible.  Whoever thought that Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes could actually work as a film were some kind of crazy genuis.  

Soccer/Football:
My viewings of soccer sports movies are fairly limited.  I've heard of some good ones but hey, i can't comment on these.

Shoalin Soccer: a hong kong film that is wacky.  a bunch of shaolin monks playing soccer, setting the ball on fire and whatnot.  great fun to watch, adds the whole kung fu thing together with sport.  hurray!

Olympics based:  

Cool Runnings: great uplifting film about the jamaican bobsled team in the winter olympics.  fun to watch, good light entertainment.



I'm sure there are many others and please, everyone, add your thoughts [especially if i've completely missed a sport which i'm sure i have]

enjoy

:D

Dean

[by the way, i'm not counting rollerball or the dean cain rip off in this list, and please no chess movies :-P ]

[Ash]

I like sports films that star kids like "Little Giants" and who could forget "The Bad News Bears"!

I seem to always laugh at the humor in them.

Still haven't seen all of "The Sandlot" yet.

I went over to my sister's house the other day and they were watching it.

I caught the scene where the kid fakes drowning and has the lifeguard give him CPR.
That was a good scene!

[StatCat]

Surprised no one mentioned slap-shot for hockey yet.

[The Burgomaster]

In no particular order:

* SLAP SHOT
* THE LONGEST YARD
* PRIDE OF THE YANKEES
* BRIAN'S SONG
* BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY
* EIGHT MEN OUT
* THE BAD NEWS BEARS
* ROCKY

[Dolph Lundgren]

No question, Major League.  Great stuff there.  I also liked the Program, for some reason.  A guilty pleasure, I suppose.  Rocky is awesome as well; I enjoyed all five incarnations (yes, even the fifth!).  Karate Kid is a classic, of course.  If anyone considers skateboarding a sport, then toss in Thrashin' as well.  Rudy was pretty decent too for a football movie.

Nick

[Pumaman38]

Cool Runnings, Major League (part two was okay) and Slap Shot are high on my list of sports flicks

[Pumaman1138]

heh  ... forgot my screen name when I posted the previous item .. include The Longest Yard in the list ... I remember the original Rollerball as decent too ... only saw half of it tho ... many years ago ...

[Perk]

I liked Necessary Roughness,  The Program, Rudy, Any Given Sunday, Remember the Titans, The Replacements and (surprisingly) Varsity Blues

For BAseball I liked the Sandlot, Major League I and II (I'm from Cleveland too), Talent for The Game (or as much as I can remember of it), That one Brendan Frasier baseball movie and Mr. Baseball

Haven't seen many hockey movies except The Mighty Ducks.

 Only soccer movie Ive seen were Ladybugs (good movie), and Hometeam which I didn't care for at all...

FAvorite Boxing movies are Diggstown, Rocky,and  Gladiator

Can't think of any basketball movie off the top of my head.

[NEC]

Personal Best
Without Limits

[Paul Hotbranch]

Great sports movies throught the century:
-Caddyshack
-Caddyshack 2
-Heroes
-Happy Gilmore
-The Longest Yard
-Any Given Sunday
-For Love Of The Game
-Chariots Of Fire
-Remember The Titans
-Driven
-The Fast And The Furious
-Alive!(it waas a rugby team,remember)
-Major League
-Major League 2
-Mystery,Alaska
-The Mighty Ducks
-The Mighty Ducks 2
-The Mighty Ducks 3
-Space Jam
-Days Of Thunder
-The Waterboy
-Rudy
-that Irish soccer movie
-Air Buddy
-that another animal basketball movie
-BASEketbal
-Rollerball
-that movie about Jamaican sled racers
-Ali
-Rocky Marciano
-Rocky
-Rocky 2
-Rocky 3
-Rocky 4
-Rocky 5
-The Boxer
-Fight Club
-Beyond The Mat

[Scott]

Here is a list of my favorite sports films

Slap Stick
The One and Only
Major League
The Longest Yard
Rocky III
Earth vs the Flying Saucers

[Scott]

I mean SLAP SHOT

[NEC]

Prefontaine (not as good as Without Limits though IMHO)
Breaking Away (favorite sports movie ever)
American Flyers (so-so)



Post Edited (08-27-03 22:14)

[yaddo42]

A good film about the dark underside of boxing is the 1972 John Huston film "Fat City" starring Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges. Very good but very difficult and sad viewing because of the pathetic nature of some of the characters.

Favorites:
North Dallas Forty
Slap Shot
The Longest Yard
Eight Men Out
Bull Durham

"Hoosiers" is probably the best fiction film ever made about basketball. "Hoop Dreams" is great also but it's a documentary.

And about the only other soccer movie I can think of is "Victory" which isn't that great but it has some good footage of Pele in action.

[Apostic]

OK, I'll bite.

Earth vs the Flying Saucers?

Skeet/trap?

Or what am I forgetting from this movie?

regards,

Apostic

(Bowling?  Curling?)