Top 10 Sports Movies of All Time

Give me an action-packed sports movie, preferably (but not necessarily) based upon actual events, mix in a fascinating story line, superb acting, and realistic action sequences of the sport being portrayed, and you will quickly find me in a state of cinematic bliss for hours.

My love for sports movies has its roots in my passion for sports contests. In my youth, I was never quite "good" enough of an athlete to participate in varsity sports, although I did play organized community baseball, football, and basketball. I guess my longing to be a world-class athlete was fulfilled through sports movies. Ever since my teenage years, I've derived tremendous entertainment from a wide variety of films that seek to depict the exploits and adventures of athletes in competition.

I have many sports movies that I consider among my favorites. These films number in the hundreds, and cover a multitude of sports and sporting events. Narrowing my burgeoning list of favorite sports films to only ten has been a daunting task, but I have done it!

Here, then, in descending order, is my list of the TOP 10 SPORTS MOVIES OF ALL TIME - my personal"Sports Movie Hall of Fame." And, what a diverse list it is! It contains films about baseball, football, boxing, and track and field. In these films are found comedy, high drama, poignancy, inspiration, and, above all, that intangible human spirit of competition at its highest and noblest level. The best humanity has to offer - and the worst - captured on film.

10. Remember the Titans (2000) Starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton, and Ryan Hurst; Directed by Boaz Yakin
A tough, no-nonsense African American football coach named Herman Boone replaces a white man as Head Coach at an Alexandria, Virginia high school, at the height of the city's civil rights and school busing controversies in the early 1970s. Based on the true story of Coach Herman Boone, this well acted film brilliantly explores race relations in high school sports during the last half of the twentieth century.

9. The Natural (1984) Starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, and Kim Basinger; Directed by Barry Levinson
Based on Bernard Malamud's novel of the same name, this fantasy sports film tells the tale of Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy as a boy who misses out on achieving his dream of reaching the big leagues after he is shot by a mysterious woman. Later in life, he gets a shot at "making the bigs..." but will he be successful?

8. Eight Men Out (1988) Starring John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, and David Strathairn; Directed by John Sayles
An altogether fascinating look at the Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919, this film follows the eight Chicago White Sox players who agreed to throw the 1919 World Series for money. Director John Sayles is able to make sense of a highly complex set of events with wit, candor, and some excellent baseball action scenes. A wonderfully crafted film!

7. We Are Marshall (2006) Starring Matthew McConaughey, Ian McShane, and Anthony Mackie; Directed by McG
On November 14, 1970, all 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team - including all of its players and all but one of its coaches - are killed in an airplane crash while returning to Huntington, West Virginia from an away game. We Are Marshall is the story of how Marshall University struggles to re-establish its football program in the wake of this tragedy. New coach Jack Lengyel must rebuild from scratch, all the while trying to overcome the apathy of the university President and trustees, and the stringent recruiting rules laid down by collegiate athletics' governing body. Poignant and dramatic, this remarkable film still manages to maintain a feeling of optimism in the midst of tragedy.

6. Friday Night Lights (2004) Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, and Tim McGraw; Directed by Peter Berg
Based upon H.G. Bissinger's account of the Odessa Permian High School football team's 1988 season, Friday Night Lights tells the story of how the Permian High Panthers, faced with the pressure of their coaches, parents, and the community at large, measure up to the expectation to "be perfect" by winning their fifth Texas state football championship. Friday Night Lights isn't simply a great football film; it's also a searching examination of America's obsession with their sports teams at all levels. A brilliant film that was also the inspiration for the long-running television show that followed.

5. Pride of the Yankees (1942) Starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, and Walter Brennan; Directed by Sam Wood
Perhaps the best sports biopic ever made, Pride of the Yankees tells the story of the "Iron Man -" Lou Gehrig, who became one of the greatest New York Yankees of all time, playing in 2,130 consecutive major league baseball games beforebeing forced to retire after learning he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurological disease. Stunning performances by Cooper, Wright, and Brennan. Babe Ruth also delivers a fine performance in a cameo of himself.

4. Hoosiers (1986) Starring Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, and Dennis Hopper; Directed by David Anspaugh
Based on a true story, Hoosiers tells the tale of Norman Dale, a disgraced former college basketball coach who comes to a small Indiana town in hopes of redeeming himself as the coach of the town's high school team. Once hired, he must overcome the resistance of his players and accept the help of "Scooter," the town drunk who's also the father of his star player and a man with a brilliant basketball mind. Can Coach Dale lead his undersized and underrated team to success on the hardwood? Watch this brilliant sports film to find out!

3. Rocky (1976) Starring Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, and Carl Weathers; Directed by John G. Avildsen
Certainly one of the two best boxing movies ever made (the other being Raging Bull, starring Robert DiNiro), Rocky tells the story of Rocky Balboa, a down-and-out Philadelphia street tough and aspiring professional boxer who is suddenly - and improbably - given a shot at fighting for the world's heavyweight championship against the reigning champ, Apollo Creed. Intertwined with this magnificent and inspiring sports film is a beautiful love story between Rocky and the shy, homely Adrian Pennino. Winner of the 1976 Best Picture Academy Award.

2. Field of Dreams (1989) Starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster; Directed by Phil Alden Robinson
Why would an Iowa farmer on the brink of having his farm foreclosed suddenly plow over several acres of his corn crop to build a... baseball diamond? Just ask Ray Kinsella, who'll tell you it's because he heard a whispering voice in his cornfield telling him: "If you build it, they will come..." "They" turn out to be, among others, a retired radical activist and writer from the 1960s; the ghost of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, a disgraced former major league baseball player; and a mysterious elderly gentleman who once dreamed of playing in the big leagues. Field of Dreams is part sports film, part fantasy - and completely wonderful from beginning to end.

1. Chariots of Fire (1981) Starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson; Directed by Hugh Hudson
In my mind the greatest sports movie of all time is Chariots of Fire, a masterful film that tells the story of the 1924 British Olympic track and field team, which won several medals due to the extraordinary running skills of two men from diverse backgrounds: Harold Abrahams, a Jewish war veteran and Oxford University student bent on proving himself to his anti-Semitic professors and fellow students; and Eric Liddell, a Scottish Presbyterian missionary so devout that he refused to run on Sundays. An altogether fascinating film and winner of the 1981 Best Picture Academy Award.

There you have it: my list of 10 SPORTS MOVIES OF ALL TIME - my personal "Sports Movie Hall of Fame." All of them are supremely entertaining, action-filled, and deserve to be viewed...over and over again!

SOURCES:

Personal viewing of listed films

DVD liner notes of listed films