DVD Guy’s Top 10 Sports Dramas
July 5th, 2006 | Author: Shoppy Balboa | Category: Featured Posts, Movies, Sports | |
1. Rudy (1993)
My love of Notre Dame Football aside, Rudy is one of the greatest sports movies of all time. Who cares if this film, which is “based on a true story,” is mostly fabricated? It’s a great film following the life of Daniel Rudy Ruettiger, as he chases his dream of playing football for Notre Dame. Who can’t relate to that? “Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame!” On a side note, as a Notre Dame fan, I must point out that the movie’s villainous head coach, Dan Devine, was not nearly the jerk the movie made him out to be. The movie needed a villain, and Devine, as a favor to Rudy, allowed his character to become that villain. In fact, it was actually Devine’s idea that Rudy play.
2. Miracle (2004)
The Miracle on Ice is the single greatest sports story of all time, period. Despite being made by Disney, Miracle didn’t have too many cheesy moments, but instead mixed in some great footage from the 70’s to show the social significance of the event. The script for this movie was written before that 1980 team ever stepped foot on the ice and it has it all – the Soviet dominance in Olympic hockey, the struggles facing the United States at the time, the Soviet defeat of the NHL All Stars months before the games, the hometown crowd in Lake Placid. All this group of American college hockey players had to do was beat the most dominant hockey team the Olympics had ever seen. If you love America, love sports and love seeing America dominate in sports – watch this movie.
3. Hoosiers (1986)
Greatest basketball movie ever made. End of discussion. Gene Hackman plays Normal Dale, head coach at Hickory, a small Indiana high school that goes on a run towards the state championship, despite being one of the smallest schools in the state. Dale got the absolute maximum out of his players by instilling the fundamentals of the game. Watching this movie is much more enjoyable than watching any NBA game today because the kids in the movie played defense, shot the ball well, and actually passed the ball. Look for a stellar supporting role by Dennis Hopper as the town alcoholic given a chance for redemption as the team’s assistant coach.
4. Rocky I -V (1976-1990)
The entire Rocky series ranks as one of the greatest franchises in film history and yes I am including the fifth installment. Tommy “Machine” Gun may have been a little weak and there may not have been a good story or character development, but come on, the fight in the street? Classic. “Hey Tommy, I didn’t hear no bell. One more round.” That kind of dialogue doesn’t just write itself. Anyway, who doesn’t get chills when they hear the Rocky theme music or Eye of the Tiger?
The first two were the best films of the series with the first taking home best picture in 1976. The first was lean on action, but had the best character and plot development making it hard to believe Sylvester Stallone wrote the first installment in just three days (not the timing, but the part about Stallone being able to write – who knew?).
In the second installment, Rocky has a rematch with Apollo “Master of Disaster” Creed (Carl Weathers) and is much more about the actual fight, as opposed to being about the character of Rocky or his developing relationship with Adrian. Still, the second is a top notch film.
The series starts to go downhill a bit with the third and fourth installments, but the fourth is still my favorite of the bunch. The third was good with the death of Rocky’s long time trainer, Mickey, and the rematch against Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T). On a side note, how great of a boxing name is Clubber Lang? Mr. T should have just kept that as his name after the movie.
Now onto the fourth. By the time Rocky IV was released, the Cold War was in its death rattle, which is why all it took to end it was Rocky defeating Ivan Drago in Moscow on Christmas day. After the juiced-up Drago killed Apollo in an exhibition bout, Rocky decides he has to avenge Apollo’s death by fighting Drago. Two very cheesy yet very awesome training montages in the Russian wilderness ensue, and as we learned from Rocky, “If I can change… and you can change… Everybody can change.” Take that communism.
This just in, in the upcoming Rocky VI, the Italian Stallion fights a North Korean boxer, so no need to worry about those missile tests they are doing – Rocky will save the day.
5. Brian’s Song (1971)
Listen to Turtle and Johnny Drama – this is the ultimate “guy-cry” movie. Though most won’t admit it, not many a man has made it through Brian’s Song with a dry eye the first time they’ve seen it. It’s the only made for TV that has made this list, but that doesn’t diminish its value one bit. James Caan is great as Brian Piccolo and before he made Colt 45 commercials, Billy Dee Williams was Gale Sayers. Brian’s Song is about Piccolo’s brief, but impactful NFL career as Sayers’s backup on the Chicago Bears. Piccolo’s path to the NFL wasn’t as glamorous, but the two became best friends as the first black-white roomates in the NFL. “I love Brian Piccolo” - Gale Sayers
6. Cinderella Man (2005)
Russell Crowe makes his first of two appearances on this list as boxer James J. Braddock – known as the Cinderella Man. Braddock was a mediocre boxer during the Depression who got the kind of second chance most people didn’t get back then. This movie is much more about surviving the Depression than it is about winning a boxing match and that’s what makes it great. It gets a bit lengthy, but its put together well and it’s very hard to not be rooting for Braddock by the end of his fight against Max Baer - a boxer who killed two men in the ring. Paul Giomatti is outstanding as Braddock’s trainer, and no, he is still not drinking that damn Merlot.
7. Any Given Sunday (1999)
Any movie about football is generally worth watching, but when you throw Al Pacino in the mix, you have the makings of a great movie. Some people didn’t like this movie because they claimed the football scenes were too fast paced. Well, I have some news for those people; the NFL is played at a rapid pace and this one of the very few movies that accurately portrays that. Oliver Stone has made some great movies, and this is one of them. Stone shows the raw side of the NFL - drug use, prostitutes, player exploitation, and the win at all costs attitude of management. Jamie Foxx is Steamin’ Willie Beamen and if you think you can stop in him, you’re dreamin’.
8. The Natural (1984)
Robert Redford plays a “naturally” gifted baseball player who is on the fast track to stardom before being shot by a mysterious woman played by Barbara Hershey. Eventually, Redford makes it back to the big leagues as a middle-aged rookie for the New York Knights and proceeds to dominate once again with the use of a bat made out of a carved from a lightning-struck oak tree during his childhood. Like most of the movies on this list, this movie is about Redford’s chacacter beating the odds and making it despite people around him betting against him. The Natural is a must watch movie for any baseball fan as it is a tribute to the game that used to rule the sports scene in America.
9. Seabiscuit (2003)
In between his Spiderman movies, Toby Maguire played jockey Red Pollard. Pollard was the jockey for the legendary Seabiscuit, an under sized horse that challenged War Admiral, at the time thought to be an unbeatable horse. The movie is good on all levels and technically speaking the sound design during the race sequences is excellent. The movie gives you a good feel for what it is really like to be a jockey during the race. Seabiscuit is about more than just a couple horse races, like Cinderella Man, it’s more about the times of the Depression and its effect on the people involved in the movie.
10. Remember The Titans (2000)
Based on a true story about the TC Williams Titans, a suburban Virginia high school, Remember The Titans is as much about the end of segregation in schools as it is about football. Denzell Washington plays Herman Boone, the black head coach appointed to coach TC Williams after the school was integrated and the highly successful Bill Yost, played by Will Patton, was demoted. Boone and Yost, who remain good friends to this day, coached the team amongst some extreme pressure in a politically and socially charged environment. Like Miracle, it’s a Disney flick, so there is a high cheese factor associated with it, but it’s still a great movie.
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