The 5 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time

 Doing only 5 of my favorite sports movies is very difficult. There are some great sports movies out there, and some horrible sports movies. Most of my favorite movies are in the fighting arts genre. I will watch other sports, like football, baseball, hockey, etc,. I think that the fighting movies are probably the best, because they usually have to deal with only one central character, which is easier than dealing with anywhere from 15 to 30 characters required in many team sports. My favorite 5 sports movies I will deal with are as follows:

1)Ali - 2001. Directed by Michael Mann
The first sport that my father introduced me to was boxing. He was a Boxing Coach in the Army, so he got me into this sport early. He would also get me to watch all of the fights on TV or listen to on the Radio. Muhammad Ali (Will Smith) came onto the boxing scene as a very confident and political young black man. He was probably up to this point one of the most thoughtful and intelligent boxers that had ever entered the boxing world. His relationship with authority was that of a classic iconoclast, he was even at odds with the islamic clergy. His scene in the courts when he was being charged with avoiding the Vietnam draft are classic. I personally loved the boxing scenes. The Ali shuffle, and his showboating (which often got him into trouble if his opponent was fast enough to catch him) were great scenes, they beat the living daylights out of all the Rocky movies and his flat footed boxing. One of my favorite scenes was when Muhammad Ali reached over and took a hold of Howard Cousell's (Jon Voight) toupe, and the verbal banter that insued.

Eight Men Out - 1988, Directed by John Sayles.
How do you get eight men on one team to bet on baseball games, and then get all eight of them to throw the World Series? Having a cheap owner with a team of underpaid baseball players seems to be the main ingredient. In 1919 the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series, basically to get back at the tight fisted owner of the Chicago White Sox -Charles 'Commie' Comiskey during an era where middles names were still quite popular - John Cusack as George 'Buck' Weaver, Charlie Sheen as Oscar 'Hap' Felsch, etc. This is a gripping drama which deals with many of the player's inner struggles about this illegal activity.

Miracle - 2004 - Gavin O'Connor
Hockey is my favorite sport and unfortunately there are is a real lack of good hockey movies, except this one. This movie is an inspirational movie. I would suggest that every coach play this several times during their hockey season. Any team in the world can be beaten! I remember these Olympic games. It was truly amazing how the little upstart team that everybody had written off could defeat the formidable Soviet machine. How could a team that was thrown together beat a Soviet hockey dynasty. The Soviets had played together for years, they knew where every player on their team would be in any given situation. Their blind passes were beautiful to watch, they would only shoot the puck when the moment was perfect, they were incredibly fast, and the list of hockey perfection goes on. Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks is memorable. If you like hockey, this is the only movie you really need to get.

Raging Bull - 1980 - Martin Scorsese
What is about boxers, the contradictions in their personalities are part of their own self destruction. This movie almost foretold the career of Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson had great boxing skills. He had the killer instinct, he was incredible to watch in the ring. It was his life outside the ring that would finally lead to his demise, and lead him to commit such pathetic actions like biting off part of Holyfield's ear. Rober DeNiro is great in Raging Bull. It shows that boxers can be complex athletes, with real personalities and that the characteristics that make them successful in the ring, can be detrimental in their private lives.

61 - 2001 - Billy Crystal
This move is as tragic on the screen as it was on the field. The Yankee fans were brutal to Roger Maris, and Billy Crystal handles this factor well. Roger Maris was very much a private man who went out to do a job - to hit home runs, and then go home to family. Mickey Mantle was a true Yankee, from the time he was a Yankee rookie, and the fans, the press and for that matter the players loved him. Roger Maris was the outsider and he was battling it out with Mickey Mantle to break another Yankee's icon home run record - Babe Ruth with 60 home runs. Roger Maris would never really recover from the abuse that was heaped on him, and this is truly a sad movie.

Enter the Dragon - 1973 - Robert Clouse
Another fight movie? You bet, this was Bruce Lee's greatest movie. It was also America's first great Martial Arts movie. I believe that Bruce Lee was just entering his prime as a Martial Arts fighter, as well his movie career when this movie was released. If you like Martial Arts, watch this movie. It is great.

You can purchase these all of these movies from www.amazon.com