Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Top Ten Sports Films of All Times?

What are the top ten sports films of all times? Hard to say of course, and it depends on both the criteria you use and your subjective tastes. But here is my list, with some honorable mentions below. 

1.  Bull Durham: the smartest, and funniest baseball film ever made
2.  Rocky: the original inspirational, American dream sports film
3.  Hoosiers: a great underdog story with a heart to boot
4.  Raging Bull: violent, disturbing and artistically brilliant
5.  Field of Dreams: anyone who ever had a complicated relationship with their father, can't help but love it (in spit of themselves)
6.  Pride of the Yankees: the sad, but inspiring story of Lou Gehrig
7.  The Natural: though I much prefer the novel by Malamud, hard to ignore
8.  Vision Quest: sort of cheesy, but great wrestling fare about youth & desire
9.  Caddyshack: greatest one-liners of any 80s film (slightly ahead of Fletch)
10.  The Hustler: a young Newman plays the luckless loser with great aplomb


Honorable Mentions: Slap Shot (silly but funny in parts), The Color of Money (the follow-up to the hustler with a young Tom Cruise), Jerry Maguire (really a love story, but funny, moving and a great buddy-love story), Hoop Dreams (best sports documentary by a country mile), White Men Can’t Jump (among the best sports-oriented scenes in a film), He’s Got Game (Spike Lee joint worthy of consideration), Chariots of Fire (great film with an even greater soundtrack), Bad News Bears (Walter Matheau at his cynical best) and Eight Men Out (the story of the fixed World Series with a great cast). 

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