Best and Worst Sports Picture

Mine is PRIDE OF THE YANKEES with Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig. The greatest tear-jerker of a sports film. :bawl:

My worst is WILDCATS with Goldie Hawn as football coach of a high school team. Now, that was an interesting thought.

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I liked Rudy, i mean how can you lose with it being based on a true story.

I found Little Big League to be a little stupid, as was Rookie of the Year, although both are considered comedies, I thought they were stupid.

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I thought Little Big League was pretty good. Better than Rookie of the Year, at least. That said, I guess the first Major League might be the best. It came out back before those "misfits pull it together to finally win something" stories had become completely and utter cliches.

Yeah the second one was ok, but when you gotta put a new face in for Willie Mays Hays...well you're just askin for it...

I also liked A League of Their Own.

Any Given Sunday was alright, but the whole d**k in the locker room thing was just not needed.
[Edited by TWTCommish on 09-06-2001]

The Natural and Hoosiers are my best. I predict the worst will be the new Keanu Reeves movie Hardball. It's got stinker written all over it!

Sorry TWT...figured that would edit itself out...

Hardball doesn't look too bad. It's based on a true story. Looks better than Summer Catch. It's got star power, sorta. Looks like a feel good movie.

Spdrcr:

I was talking to my aunt the other day and asked her about that (she went to Notre Dame at the same time as Rudy). Basically nobody at the school had ever heard of the guy until the movie came out. It's true that he worked his butt off to make the team, and he did get into one game, but nobody noticed.

I think I actually enjoy the movie more now that I know that. Talk about a story of the American Dream... just completely exagerate what happened in your life, pass it off as being true, and collect the checks... ain't nothing wrong with that

BEST SPORTS FLICKS:

1. Raging Bull (1980 - Scorsese)
2. Breaking Away (1979 - Peter Yates)
3. Hoop Dreams (1994 - Steve James)
4. Bull Durham (1988 - Ron Shelton)
5. Personal Best (1982 - Robert Towne)
6. Hoosiers (1986 - David Anspaugh)
7. Eight Men Out (1988 - John Sayles)
8. "Brian's Song" (1971 - Buzz Kulik)
9. The Longest Yard (1974 - Robert Aldrich)
10. The Bad News Bears (1976 - Michael Ritchie)

*also Let It Ride (1989), White Men Can't Jump (1992), Without Limits (1998), Tin Cup (1996), Caddyshack (1980), and Slap Shot (1977)


WORST SPORTS FLICKS:

1. The Waterboy (1998) + Happy Gilmore (1996)
2. Caddyshack 2 (1988)
3. Varsity Blues (1999)
4. Any Given Sunday (1999)
5. The Mighty Ducks (1992) + D2 (1994) + D3 (1996)

Good list, Holden.
I would add one to the Best list: Cool Runnings

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Gotta be Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore. Both Golfing films and both bloody hilarious.

Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)is an incredible documentary charting the lives of two inner-city black youths on the route to success and failiure in life and basketball, the real emotional power James invests in the documentary is unforgettable and deeply moving.

Escape To Victory should get an honoury mention for worst sports film, not because it's lacking in all departments , but due to the fact that it's directed by the great John Huston (The Missfits, Prizzi's honour, The Maltese Falcon amongst many other). Good to see Pele and John Wark in the same film though!

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Field of Dreams---Best
Varsity Blues---Worst

best

1. Major League - Just a fun flick
2. Rocky IV - hey, i like to powerlift.. lol.
3. The Natural - just all around great movie. Redford rocks.

worst

1. Little Big League, Varsity Blues - yikes.


just want to say i'm new here and want to say hi.

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Hey Rock, welcome aboard. Hopefully you'll bring strong arguements to the table.

fair play Rockbot, I think Rocky IV is by far the best of the series. It doesn't take itself to seriously and it's so camp and over the top. Any film with Carl Weathers has to be good (that includes Action Jackson)!

I'll throw kids Return (Takeshi Kitano, 1996, Jap) into the ring. Why, Realism in its boxing scenes, no flashy camera work, or sound effects, but technically accurate and well choreographed pugilism.

What constitutes "sports movie" exactly?

Since it was already mentioned, I'll choose Hoop Dreams as the best.

I really don't think Raging Bull is a "sports" movie per say???

There's too many bad ones to mention, but I choose the TV movie Brian's Song. So dreadful.

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Well of course Raging Bull is a Sports Movie - per se and every which way. If it doesn't fit your personal definition for some reason, that's fine, but a biopic about a championship boxer that incorperates many of his historic bouts into the narrative is a Sports Movie (what in the heck else would you call it?).

"Brian's Song" is a first-class male weeper, and good made-for-TV movie. Jimmy Caan as Piccolo and Billy Dee Williams as Sayers are both wonderful to watch.


But, to each their own.


[Edited by Holden Pike on 09-07-2001]

Hmmm, to be honest, I can both sides of the arguement. Is Raging Bull that easy to simply pigeon-hole as a "Sports movie", but then again can you say that Hoop Dreams, or Field of Dreams are sport's films? What consitutes the conventions that classify them solely as a sports movie? These films all use sport as a means to explore deeper themes, and thus transcend genres. At times, the boxing feels more like a backdrop to the real core of the film - previously mapped out in Scorses's previous efforts - men and male values. If we have to choose a genre for Raging Bull I'd say it's a drama, but then that would be narrowing its reach. Some movies just cannot be easily shoved into a category. Basically genre classifications, don't do some films justice. Sport's Drama anyone?!

remember the titans is the best

summer catch is the worst

I thought a film whose plot is more based upon the sport is a sports film. But if we're talking about films which sports are part of them, I would count the Raging Bull and Field of Dreams.

My favorite sports film is "Casino" LOL