Sports Movies (1 Viewer)

[The Military Workshop]

Watched Secretariat for the first time. Had heard of the horse and the movie but did not know the actual story ( female owner in financial trouble wins the triple crown after hiring trainer John Malkovich).

Which got me to thinking about sports movies. The majority seem to be based around an under dog theme or a good rivalry.

Even though I don't watch baseball or NFL I have found that I can still enjoy a movie based on them.
Sports movies, especially if based on real events, can have a lot of drama around the team management and characters of the players etc (ie Moneyball).

So what are your favourite sports movies ? I watched Field of Dreams again a few weeks ago and that is certainly near the top of my list.

For those who have too many favourites you can always list by sport. Are there any other basketball movies other than Space Jam ?!

 

[Jack]

Although I am not a great fan, 'The Club' is an Australian favourite. I taught the play to a rather bemused group of 16 old girls in the mid-nineties. The song is considered an Australian 'blokey' classic. Here is what Wikipedia has to say:

The Club is a satirical play by Australian playwright David Williamson. It follows the fortunes of an Australian rules football club over the course of a season, and explores the clashes of individuals from within the club. It was inspired by the backroom dealings and antics of the Victorian Football League's Collingwood Football Club. The play was first staged by the Melbourne Theatre Company on 24 May 1977 at the Russell Street Theatre. It toured Australia-wide, breaking all previous box office records, and had seasons in Germany, the United States (where it ran under the name Players) and the United Kingdom. It is popular with amateur theatre groups and secondary school students, having been in the senior English syllabi for four Australian states for many years.
A film version was produced in 1980, written by David Williamson, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring John Howard, Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy and Frank Wilson. The film was described as a "hilarious, sharply observed slice of life". The film features Mike Brady's 1978 football anthem "Up There Cazaly".

 

[The Military Workshop]

Although I am not a great fan, 'The Club' is an Australian favourite. I taught the play to a rather bemused group of 16 old girls in the mid-nineties. The song is considered an Australian 'blokey' classic. Here is what Wikipedia has to say:

The Club is a satirical play by Australian playwright David Williamson. It follows the fortunes of an Australian rules football club over the course of a season, and explores the clashes of individuals from within the club. It was inspired by the backroom dealings and antics of the Victorian Football League's Collingwood Football Club. The play was first staged by the Melbourne Theatre Company on 24 May 1977 at the Russell Street Theatre. It toured Australia-wide, breaking all previous box office records, and had seasons in Germany, the United States (where it ran under the name Players) and the United Kingdom. It is popular with amateur theatre groups and secondary school students, having been in the senior English syllabi for four Australian states for many years.
A film version was produced in 1980, written by David Williamson, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring John Howard, Jack Thompson, Graham Kennedy and Frank Wilson. The film was described as a "hilarious, sharply observed slice of life". The film features Mike Brady's 1978 football anthem "Up There Cazaly".

Have heard of it and saw part of it once when was flipping channels. Just reminded me of a UK TV series about a female owner of a soccer team.

 

[lancer]

I remember a great film from Down Under about horse racing called Phar Lap. As far as favorite sports movies, I think my favorites are the basketball movie called Hoosiers and the baseball movie called The Natural. Hoosiers is the 'small town underdog team wins it all' type movie, based on a true story, while The Natural is a fictional baseball story. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

There's only one (and I've seen a few sports movies) and that's Rudy, a true story about Rudy Ruettiger, who played football at Notre Dame. It's the ultimate overachiever movie. I've seen this movie at least half a dozen times. You don't need to know anything about football to watch this movie because it's more about the triumph of the human spirit than anything else.

One of my favorite all time movies.

 

[hotel3alpha]

Gents,

Movies:

Victory
Miracle
Cinderella Man
Rocky
Don't Look Back: The Story of Satchel Paige
Invincible
The Fighter

Documentaries:

30 for 30: The Two Escobars

That'll do it for now...off the top of my head.

John from Texas

 

[Warrior]

Remember the Titans is one of my favorites, have watched it countless times.

All time favorite is We are Marshall; if you can make it through that one without getting choked up at least once, you'd better get your soul checked.

 

[Jack]

The fans of sports movies have obviously never taught in a school! Invariably there is one timetabled lesson a week devoted to some disorganised 'personal development', 'life skills', 'house meetings' or equivalent. The students arrive without any books or pens and are often merely a random gathering of adolescents who fear neither your wrath nor looming assessment (because there is none!). It starts with the best intentions but eventually it degenerates into 'what inspiring movie are we going to build this term's work around'. When pressed for a justification of this approach, one of my colleagues used to characterise it as a 'study of one man's struggle against ....' and he would let us fill in the dots depending on what movie he was carrying.

So I have seen Clash of the Titans many times ... as the only adult in the room on a Friday Period 1, 9.00 am to 9.50am. As for Phar Lap - what kind of a country is so short of heroes that we make a movie about a horse? As an aside, they filmed one of the scenes at my school!

Now back to work marking uni assignments!

 

[Go for Broke]

I liked the bicycle movie, American Flyer and there was a wrestling movie, Vision Quest.

 

[hotel3alpha]

Jack,

I have read your previous educational rants before and really dig them. It is interesting to get your perspective of education on the other side of the world. When I was at UT Austin, I took a Literature class called "The Novel and Film". That was a great class and we read Hemingways In our Time, The Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie, The Short Story of Brokeback Mountain, The Bluest Eye and some others. Some novels had films that were co-related then studied difference between the two. I'll never forget that class.

Anywho, when I was a kid in school (like 5th grade) our teacher showed us an enormous amount of documentaries on nature, the eskimos and other things. I will never forget those old school movie projectors playing reel to reel films and to this day try to find some of those old films to watch again. So, I hear you about relying on movies to teach...that is weak. There has to be literature has to be behind it!

Oh, and by the way if you want to show a good sports flick show your class "Brians Song".

John from Texas

PS: We are Marshall is awesome!

 

[Mirof]

And the ancestor of rugby, american football, and soccer

La soule ( was played in Europe already in the XII century )
The target was for two villages teams in competition to bring a bag of leather ful of sand or grain circa 4Kg ( 9 pounds ) to an agreed place on the field, everything ( bare handed) was allowed .
There was a french movie ( the action is in 1813 in Dordogne )