My Favorite Sports Films

25.
Heart Like a Wheel



Bonnie Bedelia was robbed of an Oscar nomination for her performance as Shirley Muldowney, the first professional female stock car driver.

24.
All the Marbles



This underrated sleeper got by a lot of people during its original release. Peter Falk is wonderful as a guy who becomes the manager/trainer for a pair of beautiful female wrestlers. If you like Falk and the sight of sweaty female anatomy, this is the film for you.

23.
Kansas City Bomber



This movie just barely missed the cut of my guilty pleasure thread and that is definitely what it is...Raquel Welch as a roller derby queen? How can you not love this movie?

22.
Space Jam



One of the most pleasant surprises I've ever had at the movies...this wonderful blend of live action and animation finds NBA legend Michael Jordan kidnapped by Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes to help them win a basketball game against a group of aliens who have stolen basketball talent from five real players, including Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. If you're looking for logic and reality, this is definitely the wrong movie. If you just want to put your brain in check and enjoy, this is the movie for you. It's great to see all the Warner Brothers characters in one place (though the genius of Mel Blanc is missed) and Michael Jordan is surprisingly comfortable in front of a camera and acting with a blue screen.

21.
The Blind Side



I liked this movie but not as much as a lot of people did. Sandra Bullock finally won an Oscar for her performance in this fact-based story about a wealthy socialite who takes in Michael Oher, a homeless and troubled young man who eventually wins a college football scholarship and ends up being a first round NFL draft pick. The film's focus is not where it really should be and the film tries to encompass a little too much, but there are rewards here. Bullock is wonderful and it was her turn to win an Oscar, but I think shes done better work.

I think the movie Ice Castles is very underrated. Have you seen the remake of Ice Castles?

I love Looney Tunes, but I'm surprised to see Space Jam on your list. Most people hated that movie.

BTW, the picture for The Blind Side isn't showing up.

Space Jam was a cool movie. Good memories of it.

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

20.
The Fan



Solid performances from the leads make a rather formulaic suspense film worth sitting through. Snipes plays a baseball superstar who finds his life turned upside down by a seriously obsessed fan (Robert De Niro). A predictable story is made worth sitting through by the professionalism of the stars.

19.
The Rookie



This compelling Disney drama follows a Texas baseball coach who agrees to try out for the major league if his high school team makes the playoffs. This warm Disney drama makes all the right moves and Dennis Quaid offers one of his strongest performances in the title role.

18.
Radio



This fact-based story is about the relationship between a football coach (Ed Harris) and a mentally challenged young man (Cuba Gooding Jr.), and how the coach develops the guy into the first black football player to win the Heisman Trophy. Harris is solid, as always, and I don't think Cuba Gooding Jr. has ever been better (and that includes Jerry Maguire). The fact that the story is a true one makes it all the more compelling.

17.
Angels in the Outfield



This 1994 remake of a 1950's film is about a boy who prays to have a family if the California Angels win the pennant and the actual angels who are assigned to make the boy's wish comes true. Comedy, fantasy and sports are seamlessly blended here in a warm family film that can provide a year or two if caught in the right mood.

16.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby



Will Ferrell scored a bullseye with this nonsensical but roll on the floor comedy about a cocky professional race car driver who has a very public meltdown, after which his family and life are stolen buy his best friend (John C. Reilly) but fights his way back thanks to the help of his long lost father (Gary Cole). I know folks will probably be surprised to see this film so high on the list, but it is richly entertaining and has enormous re-watch appeal. Ferrell and Reilly have always worked like a well-oiled machine and Cole probably comes the closest I have ever seen to someone stealing a movie from Will Ferrell.

15.
The Sandlot



Sentiment was expressed from other posters that this film make this list but I had not seen it. I put the list on hold and watched it yesterday and this is where I think it belongs...this lovely slice of Americana provides laughs and tugs at the heartstrings with equal strength. This coming-of-age story about a pre-teen whose love of baseball outweighs his skill and his desire to fit in with the local sandlot baseball team works on all levels. This film is rich with period detail and taps into all kinds of childhood sensibilities, such as bullying and peer pressure. The film is beautifully photographed and the cast is perfection, beautifully hand-picked to fit the characters and not big names to look good on a box office marquee. Very special film and I am so grateful for the recommendation.

14.
Golden Boy



This classic from cinema's finest year of movie-making, 1939, is the film version of a play by Clifford Odets. It stars William Holden as a musician whose passion is really to be a professional boxer. William Holden and Barbara Stanwyck create mad chemistry and a timeless story. The film was actually turned into a Broadway musical about 25 years later starring Sammy Davis Jr.

Pic for Golden Boy isn't working for me.

I know that common knowledge is that good sports films are few and far between, but I didn't realise just how much until you put this list together. Not a criticism of your list or the work you're putting in, just that there aren't too many of them, considering how popular sport is.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I am not going to apologize for Space Jam. I don't even consider it a guilty pleasure. I love that movie.

You're absolutely right, honeykid, I really bit off more than I could chew with this list. And I just put up a new picture for Golden Boy.

13.
Ali



This epic biopic of boxer Mohammed Ali is slightly overblown, but sincere in its intentions. Director Michael Mann has put a lot of care into the mounting of this film and clearly has great respect for the subject. Will Smith's physical transformation into the title character is quite remarkable and a major reason his performance earned Smith his first Oscar nomination. There are also a couple of first rate supporting performances by Jamie Foxx as Drew Brown and Jon Voight as Howard Cosell.

12.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan



This classic stars Robert Montgomery as Joe Pendleton, a professional boxer who dies but learns from a heavenly gatekeeper named Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains) that his assistant (Edward Everett Horton) took him too early and gives Joe the opportunity to return to earth in the body of a millionaire named Leo Farnsworth, who has been murdered but the body has not been discovered yet. If this storyline sounds familiar, it's because thirty seven years later, Warren Beatty brought the story to the screen with the title Heaven Can Wait and made Joe a football quarterback instead of a boxer. This film relies a little more on the fantasy aspect of the story than Beatty did, but the Oscar winning screenplay is one of the film's strongest elements, along Montgomery, a charmer in the best role of his career and solid support from Horton and from James Gleason as Max Corkle, Joe's manager.

11.
Requiem for a Heavyweight



Long before Rocky Balboa, there was "Moutain" Rivera (Anthony Quinn) a veteran boxer whose years of being pummeled in the ring have turned his brain to swiss cheese and how his unscrupulous manager (Jackie Gleason) is trying to keep his meal ticket from retiring, despite the interference from a sympathetic social worker (Julie Harris). Quinn won 2 Oscars and was robbed of a nomination for bringing this beautifully tortured character to life and Serling's adaptation of his own TV play is, of course, wonderful. An unflattering look at what happens to a boxer when the matches stop coming.