What Is Your Favorite Movie About Each Sport?

[Golfingdad]

Simple premise; what is your favorite movie (with a reason, or just a little blurb about it, if you'd like) about each of the following sports:

Football:

Baseball:

Basketball:

Hockey:

Soccer:

Auto Racing:

Bowling:

Surfing:

Golf:

Boxing:

Other:

I left the original post blank to make copying and pasting easier, I'll come back and post my answers in the second post.  "Other" is there in case you have a favorite sports movie that wasn't covered above.  I certainly do. :)

[Golfingdad]

Football: Johnny Be Good.  Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr. and Uma Thurman in a funny movie about a high school football star going through the recruiting process as we might have imagined it in the 80s.

Baseball: Bull Durham.  Really could pick about a half dozen here that I love but this is the one I'll watch over and over the most.

Basketball: Hoosiers.  Nothing else really comes close for me on this one.  Classic.

Hockey:  Miracle.  Wasn't quite old enough to remember it when it happened, and I love that the actors were actual hockey players.  Very realistic action scenes.

Soccer:  Victory.  Loved this movie as a kid.  Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, and Pele.  How could you not!!!

Auto Racing:  Talladega Nights.

Bowling:  Don't know why this is even on the list, by default, I feel like I have to go with The Big Lebowski.  I've never seen Kingpin and I don't know any other movies that deal with bowlng.

Surfing:  North Shore. Learned a lot about surfing culture, Hawaii, and Pidgin from this movie.

Golf:  Greatest Game Ever Played.  I was tempted to leave this one off the list because I know what most of answers are going to be.  Yawn.

Boxing:  Rocky III.  Just because that was the first one I remember watching when it came out.  I was too young for the previous two, and Clubber Lang was a perfect villian too.

Other:  Breaking Away (cycling)  This one isn't just my favorite movie about cycling, but it's one of my favorite movies of all.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  Won Best Screenplay Oscar and was nominated for Best Picture and a couple of others.  "Go, you Cutters, go!!!!!" 

[nevets88]

Baseball - Moneyball, The Natural is a close second.

European football - The Damned United

American Football - love the tv show Friday Night Lights, so thinking the movie is similar but haven't seen it.

Auto racing - Rush

Hockey - Slap Shot

Basketball - He Got Game

Boxing - Creed

Agree on Breaking Away

And Seabiscuit, because, underdogs.

 

[DeadMan]

Here's my list, very influenced by childhood movies, but I want to preface it by saying anyone who says Rudy for football is wrong.

Football: Remember the Titans

Baseball: Moneyball

Basketball: Space Jam (almost put Air Bud here as a joke).

Hockey: Mighty Ducks

Soccer: Goal

Auto Racing: Talladega Nights

Bowling: Kingpin (are there any others?)

Surfing: ???

Golf: Caddyshack. Sorry I'm not sorry.

Boxing: Rocky

[Let it Fly]

Football: Any Given Sunday - just because of "the speech"

Baseball:  Major League - we wear caps & sleeves at this level, son

Basketball: Coach Carter - love the message and the actual basketball scenes are great...those guys can play.

Hockey: D2 The Mighty Ducks - because 'Merica

Soccer: Kicking and Screaming - admittedly not a soccer fan and don't know any others without Googling

Auto Racing: Fast Five - watching The Rock and Vin Diesel go punch-for-punch will never get old

Bowling: N/A

Surfing: Point Break - corny Keanu Reeve's lines crack me up

Golf: Tin Cup - because everyone's inner child needs a spankin' once in awhile

Boxing: Cinderella Man - one of the few movies that will make me stop what I'm doing, sit, and watch.

Other: Cool Runnings - just a favorite from my childhood...dressed as a bob-sledder for Halloween one year and tried to get people to kiss a hard boiled egg while trick-or-treating.

[Midpack]

I can't pick just one in most categories, though I highlighted favorites, sorry:

Football: Radio, We Are Marshall, Friday Night Lights, The Blind Side, Remember the Titans, Rudy

Baseball: Moneyball, A League of Their Own, The Natural

Basketball: Hoosiers

Hockey: Miracle

Soccer: Bend it Like Beckham

Auto Racing: Rush, Grand Prix, Bullitt, Gone In 60 Seconds

Bowling:

Surfing: Riding Giants, Step Into Liquid

Golf: The Greatest Game Ever Played, Caddyshack, The Legend of Bagger Vance

Boxing: Raging Bull, Cinderella Man

Other: Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Wind, Captain Ron, Breaking Away

Edited May 26, 2017 by Midpack

[saevel25]

Football: A tough one. Though Invincible was pretty good. I'll go with The Replacements. I just enjoy watching this movie. 

Baseball: I am going with a childhood favorite, The Sandlot. Though this category might have the most better sports movies. 

Basketball: Coach Carter though the movie about pistol Pete was good. 

Hockey: I'm going to ripped for this, but I never really watched many hockey movies. I'm going to one's I watched as a kid. The Mighty Ducks. 

Soccer: Same as hockey, so I go with The Big Green. 

Auto Racing: The Fast and the Furious

Bowling: Kingpin

Surfing: ????

Golf: Caddyshack, it never gets old. I did like the Bobby Jones movie. 

Boxing: Ali

Other:

 

 

 

[nevets88]

Since pool, nine ball, is shown on ESPN, The Hustler/The Color of Money (I consider them one movie about Eddie Felson played by Paul Newman)

[zipazoid]

"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."

I really don't care about the best movies of the other sports. It's The Big Lebowski. ;)

[boogielicious]

Football: We are Marshall! It's one of those good Matthew McConaughey movies.

Baseball: Major League! "Just a bit outside!"

Basketball: Space Jam! "Defense? I don't do defense. Listen to him."

Hockey: Slap Shot! "Old-time hockey, Eddie Shore."

Soccer: Can't think of one that is worthy.

Auto Racing: Talledega Nights! "Shake and Bake!"

Bowling: Big Lebowski. King Pin was ok, but less quotable.

Surfing: Endless Summer.  I first saw this movie when it came out. Loved it. 

Golf: CaddyShack. "The world needs ditch diggers too!"

Boxing: Rocky. "Adrian!"

Other: Invictus. Great rugby movie.

[nevets88]

Ya'll need to watch The Damned United. No it has nothing to do with Manchester United.

 

[Groucho Valentine]

Baseball: Major League 

Boxing: Million Dollar Baby

Golf: Caddyshack...is there another one here? 

Basketball: Hooisers

Football: Brians Song

Soccer: The Damned United

2 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Ya'll need to watch The Damn United. No it has nothing to do with Manchester United.

 

Yeah, thats a great flick

[Moxie Dawn]

2 hours ago, zipazoid said:

"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."

I really don't care about the best movies of the other sports. It's The Big Lebowski. ;)

I love you.

OK, here we go.

Football: Any Given Sunday. "The inches we need are all around us."

Baseball: Bull Durham. "When you  make it to the show you can let the fungus grow back on your shower shoes and the press'll think you're colorful. Until then, it means you're a slob."

Basketball: Hoosiers, of course.

Hockey: Umm....I got nothing.

Soccer: Again, I got nothing.

Auto Racing: Talladega Nights, because I like to party.

Bowling: The Big Lebowski. "This aggression will not stand, man."

Surfing: Point Break.

Golf: Tin Cup.

Boxing: Million Dollar Baby

Other: I'm gonna go with a "game" not a "sport," and that is chess. The movie is Searching for Bobby Fischer.

[Shindig]

It seems most of my favorites have already been spoken for, but there are two missing that need to be said.  I also generally have a really hard time being patient with sports movies in general because I often get the impression that whoever wrote the movie hates sports (the ones listed below don't give that vibe).

 

Football:  Remember the Titans, but what a weird trilogy that was.  If I can't pick that one, I remember enjoying Varsity Blues.  I agree with the above person who said Rudy is the wrong answer, and the main thing the movie makes me wonder about is why the refs aren't calling holding when it's egregious.

Baseball:  Major League (now) or Rookie of the Year.

Basketball: Space Jam, probably because I saw it as a kid.

Hockey:  The Mighty Ducks.  A friend of mine pointed out I get more excited during Ducks games than Coyotes games.  I don't really watch enough hockey, but maybe that's a sign.

Honorable mention in hockey:  the hockey scenes from the Jersey trilogy.

Soccer:  Shaolin Soccer.  How could there be another choice here?  Although in a non-sports movie, Loki gets the best soccer related dialog. 

Auto Racing:  Does the F&F series count?  Then F&F.  I still think Furious 7 could have been nominated for best picture if it had been released two months earlier than it was.  If F&F doesn't count, I really enjoyed Rush, even though I knew nothing about the two people. 

Bowling:  The Big Lebowski.  Honorable mention:  The Big Lebowski, basic cable edition, because that's what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. 

Surfing:  Blue Crush, but only because I had a date to watch this movie back in college, it went well, and I can't think of any other surfing movies.

Golf:  I have to go with Caddyshack.  I want to watch Happy Gilmore to see if it aged well, since I was in middle school when I saw it.  Goldfinger doesn't count, but the scene where the hero and villain both cheat at golf is fun and Arnold Palmer called both of them out on it in one of his books.

Boxing:  The Hammer (2008).  I haven't seen Rocky since I was too young to appreciate it, so this isn't a snub of that.  I saw Cobra recently again and remembered that Stallone is a great actor, and I'm going to watch Rocky.  Even though I don't much care for boxing.  

The Hammer also qualifies as my favorite sports movie period, although I don't count The Big Lebowski as a sports movie, despite listing it above (this is not a knock on bowling).  Also it continues to upset me that The Hammer is rated R, and I maintain that's because it's an independent film, not a studio film.  I think a studio releasing an identical movie would get exactly PG.

 

34 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Golf: Caddyshack...is there another one here? 

Yes?

7 minutes ago, Moxie Dawn said:

Surfing: Point Break.

Darn, I still don't think of this as a surfing movie even though it obviously is.  You mean the original, right?  I'm glad she finally won Best Director for that movie, even though the academy won't acknowledge it as the real cause

[nevets88]

No one for Chariots of Fire?

 

 

[jsgolfer]

Simple premise; what is your favorite movie (with a reason, or just a little blurb about it, if you'd like) about each of the following sports:

Football:   Varsity Blues - I'm Hot For Teacher

Baseball:  The Natural - One of Redford's best

Basketball:  Space Jam - bugs and MJ what's not to love.  LOL

Hockey:  SlapShot - The Hansen Brothers Nuff Said

Soccer:  Not sure I've ever watched a soccer movie

Auto Racing:  CannonBall Run - Hilarious Movie

Bowling:  KingPin - Very funny movie

Surfing:  Point Break - great Movie the original one

Golf:  Caddyshack and Tin Cup - Two of my all-time favorites - 

Boxing:  Rocky

Other:  Horse Racing - Let It Ride - Not really a sports movie, but still freaking hilarious with Richard Dreyfuss

[Wally Fairway]

Football: Brians Song

Baseball: Bull Durham

Basketball: Coach Carter

Hockey: Slap Shot (Happy Gilmore - because Happy is a hockey player)

Soccer: Gracie

Auto Racing: Does Deathrace count? (LeMans)

Bowling: Lebowski

Surfing:  Point Break (the first one)

Golf: Tin Cup

Boxing: The Fighter

Other: Invictus - The Color of Mone

[iacas]

I generally don't watch many sports movies. They're generally pretty bad, and you already know what's gonna happen. I also don't re-watch many movies, so some of the ones I liked I might have forgotten about.

Football: Any Given Sunday is probably the top one for me here.

Baseball: Major League. The only one I've re-watched a few times. Honorable mentions to Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, though the latter is a bit of a snooze.

Basketball: Uhhhh… Hoosiers?

Hockey: Mystery, Alaska.

Soccer: Bend it Like Beckham. Again, I don't watch many sports based movies.

Auto Racing: Days of Thunder. "Rubbin's racing."

Bowling: The Big Lebowski.

Surfing: Point Break!

Golf: Depends too much on the mood. Seriously. They're all pretty good. Even The Legend of Bagger Vance has its good moments. Gun to my head, I might have to say… Greatest Game Ever Played, though it would be higher if the ball didn't have topspin as it flew through the air.

Boxing: Uhhhhh… Rocky? I don't know if I've seen any other boxing movies. Wait, what was that one with the girl and Clint Eastwood…? Maybe that one. I liked that one.

Other: Forrest Gump for table tennis.  The Color of Money for pool.