Six Sports Movies that Hollywood Should Make

Sports movies have been a staple of Hollywood since the silent film era with success in this genre cutting across virtually every major sport in America. With a rich field of potential stories to choose from, sports movies will always be a part of the film industries. Here then is a list of six potential sports movies that should be made.

The Ghost

Behind such movies as Cinderella Man and Seabiscuit, Hollywood has found that it can successfully marry sports movies and period pieces. Lending itself to this genre would be a movie on the life of football legend Red Grange. Grange, the famed "Galloping Ghost," was the collegiate football hero who's signing with the Chicago Bears in 1925 legitimized professional football and the NFL. A movie based on Grange could be centered on the 19 day barn storming tour that followed Grange's signing with the Bears. The movie could ideally start Matt Damon as Grange and follow actor (and friend) Ben Affleck as the Bear's "Papa Bear" George Halas.

Defection: The Kendry Morales Story

Underdogs struggling against impossible odds always make for good story lines in Hollywood, with Rocky (1976) and Invincible (2006) being among the countless sports movie which have successful tapped into this genre. Along this line is the real life story of Major League Baseball player Kendry Morales. Morales who successfully defected from Cuba (escaping the communist country on a raft after a dozen failed attempts) has lived the kind of rags to riches story that would make for a good sports movie. Currently the starting first baseman for the California Angels, Morales' life story would include a feel good happy ending.

Jim Thorpe All-American (2012)

It has been over 50 years since Hollywood released the film Jim Thorpe All-American, and it's time for a motion picture studio to revisit this sports movie. One of the biggest problems with the original film is that the lead role of the Jim Thrope was played by Burt Lancaster. Though a great actor, Lancaster was hardly a physical match for Thorpe who was half Native American. The role would probably be a nice fit for Twilight's Taylor Lautner. The athletic Lautner, who claims some Native American DNA, would be better suited for playing the greatest sports star America has known.

The Year of the Mets

1969 was a historical yet turbulent year in America, with the Vietnam War, the shooting of Robert Kennedy, and man landing on the Moon all vying for headlines across the country. Pitted against this backdrop was the New York Mets' improbable World Series win that year. A movie based on the success of the Mets as told through the eyes of one of its fans could be a coming of age story that would translate well to film. Adding authenticity to the movie could be a sound track that features the Beattle's Yellow Submarine, an album that was released that year. This movie could lend itself to an Oliver Stone's directorial offering.

Eddie the Eagle

Let's face it; Will Farrell is always looking for a sports related story to turn into a farce of a movie. The man who has given us Talladega Nights (2006), Blades of Glory (2007), and Semi Pro (2008), could easily use the story of Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards as a vehicle for his next sport's related movie. Eddie, the far-sided, glass wearing, British ski jumper who was afraid of jumping, finished dead last in both ski jump events at the 1988 Olympics. However, the televised image of the hapless ski jumper captured the hearts of viewers everywhere.

Smith and Carlos: Political Dissension at the Olympics

In principal, politics and the Olympics should not mix. In reality they always seem to, and in 1968 they mixed in one of the worse ways for America when sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos celebrated their medal performances by giving a glove-fisted black power salute during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Smith and Carlos were subsequently suspended from the US Team and asked to leave the Olympic village, their careers never to be the same again. The movie could begin with the erection of a statue in honor of Smith and Carlos, at San Jose State University (37 years after the event) , and then flashing back to the Games and the protest.

Sources:

http://www.hisdates.com/years/1969.html

http://video.about.com/movies/Taylor-Lautner-Interview.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/4546420.stm

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/18/SPGJTF9THS1.DTL

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043687/