If you’re going to
post a “Top” movie list, there has to be some explanation behind the choices
because every list like this is subjective. For me, a great sports movie taps
into the mythology of both the sport and the culture it’s based on. I expect a
Great Sports Movie to:
a) Still register
culturally
b) Isn't so acutely
interested in inspiring that they’re playing the “inspire music” after twenty
minutes
c) Actually showcase a
sport at the center of a film
d) Bring me to (honest)
tears or make me laugh or both
e) Push me to go play that sport, or work on something I'm passionate about.
f) It MUST be a
Vacation Spot, a place you can go back and watch and be all inspired again.
In keeping with the
theme of this website, here are my other guidelines in choosing my Top Seven.
Guideline #1: Recency
bias. I’m 42, which means some of the sports films were shot before I was born.
(The Pride of the Yankees, Brian’s Song) That doesn’t necessarily preclude them
from making the list, but I was less apt to include them.
Guideline #2: The avoidance
of overly treacly or saccharine sports movies that seemed too interested in
getting me to cry. Hey, I’m watching a sports movie. I want to be a)
entertained and b) genuinely inspired. If I want to cry for the sake of crying,
I can watch one of those Tom Hanks movies from the nineties or put on the news
or chop some onions.
Guideline #3: No
documentaries. Hoop Dreams is an extraordinary documentary, but it doesn’t make
the list. A movie based on a true story is acceptable, but I’m only interested
in fiction. No video memoirs.
Guideline #4: The
Raging Bull Rule. Every list you see of top sports movies includes Raging Bull,
which makes sense. It’s probably one of our greatest film director’s best movies,
perhaps his best (Scorsese), De Niro is amazing, and it’s a boxing movie.
However, nobody watches Raging Bull twice.
(Okay, nobody with an ‘F,’
in their Myers-Briggs personality test watches it twice. If you’re a ‘T,’ you
process your entertainment intellectually, which means you can appreciate the technical
genius of the film. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, go to
this site
and take the test. It’s enlightening.)
So then, three things.
Raging Bull is a brilliant and disturbing film. Raging Bull is the story of
Jake LaMotta, who was an abusive, arrogant piece of human dirt and since the
movie is working from his autobiography, understates just how terrible a human
he was. Raging Bull is depressing as hell. So no, it didn’t make my list.
Raging Bull does not inspire a Kind Life. (The literary equivalent would be
Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie McDonald, a wonderful novel that will cause you
take to take a ballpeen hammer to head… and never, ever read it again even as you recommend it to others.)
So you got all that? Okay,
on to the ‘close but no cigar’ list.
FILMS THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE
CUT
(What? You didn’t
think I’d just drop the list on you, did you? Just scroll down if you’re
impatient.)
Here are a list of the
contenders, names that I’ve seen on other lists, that didn’t make the list.
A League of Their Own –
My Favourite Geena Davis role of all time. Tom Hanks, brilliant. Not one you
want to re-watch though, and while it entertains you, there’s no inspiration
here.
Remember the Titans –
Too much self-awareness. It knows that it is a VERY IMPORTANT film and never
lets you forget. That self-awareness means the ending didn’t do much for me. I
was aware that I was watching a CULTURAL MOMENT, and Denzel, who we all love,
wasn’t allowed to “full” Denzel because, well, it was a Disney movie.
Caddyshack – This isn’t
a sports movie. Stop putting on your list people. And oh yeah, GO GOPHER!
Million Dollar Baby –
Wow. This movie was so good, right until the ending. Doesn’t make it due to the
Ragin Bull rule. (Man, Eastwood may be a laugh on the set, but his movies are
such downers. Dude needs to lighten up. Come with this website.)
Jerry Maguire –All-time
sham that Cruise didn’t win an Academy award this role. I almost put this one
on the list. It has the climactic moment, Renee Zellwegger when you could still
recognize her, lots of humour, and is pretty re-watchable. However, “you
complete me” and everything about the end of this film lets us know that it’s a
romance in disguise. Nothing wrong with that, but not good for this list.
Chariots of Fire –
Wonderful story, brilliant score by Vandelis, well-acted, but just a bit too
precious for me.
Breaking Away – From what
I hear, it’s a great movie. I’ve never seen it, so it doesn’t make the list.
42 – I
loved this
film. Let’s wait a few years and see how it sticks.
The Natural – If they’d
followed the book (a fantastic novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Bernard Malamud)
Redford would have struck out in his last at-bat, so that great scene, with the
lights exploding and cascading down like fireworks, never would have happened
and I would have had to leave it off the list based on the Raging Bull Rule. As
it is, if I extended this list to a Top 10, The Natural makes it. Therei isn't anything that isn't great about The Natural, and any sports movie with Wilford Brimley being Wilford
Brimley deserves its accolades.
Tin Cup – Hardest to
leave off the list. Kevin Costner doing a sports movie is always a Good Thing,
and he’s even better when he plays quirky characters. This movie is eminently re-watchable,
hilarious, and that last moment when the ball finally crosses the pond and
sticks is an all-time killer.
(For those of you who
scrolled down to see the Top 7, before you start yelling at me because a
certain movie didn’t make the cut, scroll back up and read why. Or, just throw
your vitriol in the comments below.)
7. Cinderella Man – Boxing and baseball are two of the most cinematic sports
(along with golf) and the ones we have most deeply mythologized over the past
century. And Cinderella Man fits that narrative as the anti-Raging Bull. Based
on a true story, James J. Braddock was a fighter on the verge who ended up in
the poor houses before rising one more time to become champion. Russell Crowe’s
Braddock is a man with a good heart, a man who just wants to support his wife and kids as the Depression sweeps across the country. After so many
anti-heroes, I appreciate a film that has a humble athlete, a good person,
which by all accounts, Braddock was. Zellwegger and Crowe are both terrific
here, the boxing scenes are convincing, and by the time the end credits roll, you feel a bit lighter than you did before the film started. Great "Sports Movie."
6. Field of Dreams – “Hey…
Dad? Wanna have a catch?” is one of the all-time tear jerker scenes in great
sports movies. And as much as Field of Dreams is a baseball fairy tale, thanks
to the grounded work by Kevin Costner (sorry, he’s fantastic as an Everyman), and
Amy Madigan, the film keeps it feet firmly on the ground even as it reaches for
the stars. Beautiful, and in this rare case, better than the book. (Shoeless
Joe by W.P. Kinsella)
5. Rudy – The quintessential
inspirational sports film about a “five foot nothin’, a hundred and nothin’” Daniel
“Rudy” Ruettiger, who managed to earn a place on the legendary Notre Dame
football practice squad and then the field for a single game his senior year in
the mid-seventies. There are reasons why people don’t like this movie. One, it
has a touch of narcissism to it, Rudy’s single-minded individualism can be
annoying from a certain perspective. Two, it’s been hacked to pieces by a
number of satirical skits and movies. Three, it can be cloyingly “American
Dream-ish,” and if you’re Canadian, like me (where we tear down our heroes) it
can rub you the wrong way.
HOWEVER, I’m a dreamer. (I’m a writer, we’re all dreamers.) I challenge you to
watch it again. Listen to the people telling Rudy he’s an idiot for following
his dreams, listen to how they’re really trying to help him. Sound familiar? Us dreamers hear that all the time. But the
movie doesn’t hate his father or anyone else who tells him he’s being foolish any more than our parents tell us we need job security. Watch
the performance by Charles S. Dutton, and how his cynicism has honed into
wisdom, and yet, his character still leaves room for being inspired. Sean Astin
plays Rudy as being so earnest as to be on the edge of annoying, but the “want”
is there in such a big way, it’s impossible not to cheer for him.
There was a time in my life when things were going nowhere. I was a struggling
writer (well, that part is still somewhat true), just divorced, with only a
handful of dreams and unwilling to give them up for a “practical” career that I
hated. Back then, Rudy was my Vacation Spot. This is the movie I turned to, so
if seems like I’m biased, well, of course I am.
The greatest scene in
this movie isn’t the climactic moment when the players give up their jerseys or
when he rushes onto the field or when he sacks the Georgia Tech quarterback. The greatest moment is
when Rudy opens the acceptance letter down by the river and sobs softly to himself when
he realizes that he’s been admitted into Notre Dame. That is a gut punch for me
every time, because that’s EXACTLY the right emotional response. For something that important, you don't whoop it up. It's relief and joy and exhaustion, all rolled into one. They don’t drag the scene out,
either. It’s masterfully acted and filmed, and twenty years after its initial
release, the movie remains a hammer.
4. Rocky – Before Stallone
became a caricature of himself, the dude could really write, and he could
really act. (Or play himself, but whatever) I wasn’t aware that Rocky was based
on a true story the first few times I watched it, but it doesn’t matter. The
end result is a boxing film that plays on the mythology of the underdog, and
instead of offering us treacly nonsense, gives us complicated relationships, very
few cardboard characters (Paulie, anyone?), and a very plain Talia Shire.(Who was truly beautiful.)
The film was shot on a
budget of $25,000 (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Transformer Blockbuster Toy Movie
Garbage) and if you watch it enough, Stallone never looks like he’s close to
getting hit in the ring. But between the great theme music, the slow, building pace, and
the kick that offers not a “Championship,” but an “I Earned Respect” moment,
Rocky still wins thirty years later. Awesome.
3. Major League – The funniest
mainstream sports movie of all-time. Period. Major League, featuring a young (and
still normal) Charlie Sheen, an in his prime Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes in
his best role, Rene Russo being, well, Rene Russo and giving the movie some
heft in what could have been a throwaway role, and of course, the late, great
James Gammon as Lou Brown.
I can watch this three or four times a year, and feel great every time. It
might seem odd to place a straight comedy so high on the list, but name another
that’s had this kind of staying power. (And no, Caddyshack is no longer funny.
Why do people like that movie so much?) If you haven’t seen this one in a while
and want to spend a couple of hours smiling, watch it again.
2. Bull Durham – Kevin
Costner in his best role. Susan Sarandon not being too annoying. Tim Robbins
the perfectly clueless and un-self-aware Kid with the Big Arm. And the writing,
did I mention the writing? Ron Shelton, the screenwriter, played in the minor
leagues, and he gets all the small touches right here. (Listen to the PA
announcer in the background. Perfect.) And if you grew up playing the game,
there’s nothing better than a sports movie that gets the damn sport right.
There are moments where
you wish they’d focus less on Annie Savoy, but for her part, Sarandon gives
what’s really a “groupie” character an almost regal bearing. In her world, in her
town, she is not just another horny older woman going after young athletes, she’s
a queen, respected by both the players and managers. (That probably would never
happen in real life, but she pulls it off so succinctly that we buy it. And
her.)
I memorized Crash
Davis’ speech in high school, the one when he tells Annie what he believes. (I
can still recite it), but for my money the best scene in the movie is the "cocksucker" scene, the one where Crash gets thrown out of the game. (It’s
here,
and it’s brilliant and hilarious.) There’s a soulfulness to this movie that, to
me, is unique to baseball and the solitary challenge it represents within a
team sport. It’s the best baseball movie ever made, and for my money, the
second best Sports Movie of all-time.
AND THE NUMBER ONE SPORTS MOVIE IS...
#1. Hoosiers – No other
sports movie captures the American mythology of sport and life quite like
Hoosiers. No other sports movie hits every single underdog cliché like
Hoosiers. And no other movie character or Indiana basketball legend ever inspired
a legion of suburban white kids playing an urban sport to pick up a ball and
shoot hoops like Jimmy Chitwood. (Uh, wait) And yet, AND YET, the movie never
hits a false note. Never. It’s remarkable and such an achievement that when I
watched the film again last year, I was shocked how well it still plays.
The key to the film,
which is loosely based on the Milan high school basketball team that won the
State championship before Indiana separated schools according to size, is Gene
Hackman’s performance. He’s riveting here, grinding out a second chance to
coach in a place like Hickory. We learn about his past, but by the time we
realize why he’s coaching in a backwoods town like Hickory, we don’t care.
Some people might
suggest that the romance between Norman Dale and Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey)
is played too quickly. But think back to those times. Was it? I don’t think so,
and I liked the way they kept the team and the sport in the forefront. This isn’t
a romantic sports drama. This is a Sports Movie.
As for the basketball,
what’s not to like. As a coach, I still use some of Hackman’s well-worn truisms
(“Five men functioning as one single unit, no one player greater than another”)
with my teams. I use them because I believe in them. Just as Hackman’s
character believed in them, just as he believed in his boys.
Feel like being
inspired? Get a copy of Hoosiers, watch the Greatest Sports Movie of All-Time, and
see if you don’t still believe.
-Steve
NOTE: Disagree? Did I
miss one? Throw it in the comments!
