Sports Illustrated's 50 Greatest Sports Films

[levi]

50) Best in Show
49) Phar Lap
48) The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
47) It Happens Every Spring
46) Any Given Sunday
45) Grand Prix
44) The Deadliest Season
43) Fists of Fury
42) The Pride of the Yankees
41) Remember the Titans
40) The Longest Yard
39) The Harder They Fall
38) Field of Dreams
37) The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
36) Jerry Maguire
35) Million Dollar Legs
34) Everybody's All-American
33) Fat City
32) Vision Quest
31) Baseball -- A Film by Ken Burns
30) The Rookie
29) Rollerball
28) Eight Men Out
27) National Velvet
26) The Bad News Bears
25) Horse Feathers
24) Searching for Bobby Fischer
23) The Hustler
22) The Set-Up
21) Pumping Iron
20) Requiem for a Heavyweight
19) Downhill Racer
18) Caddyshack
17) Brian's Song
16) North Dallas Forty
15) The Endless Summer
14) The Freshman
13) A League of Their Own
12) Dogtown and Z-Boys
11) Bang the Drum Slowly
10) When We Were Kings
9) Chariots of Fire
8) Breaking Away
7) Olympia
6) Hoosiers
5) Slap Shot
4) Hoop Dreams
3) Raging Bull
2) Rocky
1) Bull Durham

[levi]

ok, I have a soft spot in my heart for The Natural, but I'm willing to concede that it's a feel-good movie that could be bumped by a worthier candidate. but having said that, I'm looking at Bad News Bears and Searching for Bobby Fischer (a good movie, but sports??) and Best in Show (ditto) and I'm thinking ... The Natural got bumped out by those?

but then I realized they don't include Rudy in any way shape or form, and I'm sorry, but that just ... I mean ... how could they ... I ... I ...

I'm speechless.

end of rant

[Jimbo]

Rocky is better than Raging Bull? Dunno 'bout that...

No Damn Yankees?? He-LLOOOO????

I guess it's too recent, but ten years from now, Bend It Like Beckham better be on the updated list.

And just what happened to The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh???:confused: :rolleyes:

[guy incognito]

It's only tangentially about athletics, but why not Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner?

[levi]

Originally posted by guy incognito
It's only tangentially about athletics, but why not Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner?

fits a lot better than Best in Show, I think.

I will give em credit for putting Breaking Away as high as they did. and I think the case for Bull Durham is pretty strong.

[ferric]

What about Knute Rockne: All-American starring Pat O'Brien as Knute and Ronald Reagan in his second greatest role, George Gip. It's a top 50 movie.

So you ask what was Reagans greatest acting roll. President of the United States. ;)

Rudy was a good film too. Is there an anti Notre Dame bias at Sports Illustrated?

Wow, I was able to work in thinly veiled references to politics and religion into the same thread and yet stay on topic. :p

[Dave D]

Originally posted by levi
ok, I have a soft spot in my heart for The Natural, but I'm willing to concede that it's a feel-good movie that could be bumped by a worthier candidate. but having said that, I'm looking at Bad News Bears and Searching for Bobby Fischer (a good movie, but sports??) and Best in Show (ditto) and I'm thinking ... The Natural got bumped out by those?

but then I realized they don't include Rudy in any way shape or form, and I'm sorry, but that just ... I mean ... how could they ... I ... I ...

I'm speechless.

end of rant
The Natural deserves to be there, if only for that great music! Yes it's a feel good movie, but so what? Aren't all baseball movies feel good movies?
The Longest Yard should be higher. And where is The Sandlot? GREAT little baseball movie!!!!

[Andrew]

Originally posted by daved64
The Longest Yard should be higher.


Simply the best football movie of them all. :righton:

[grbl]

The Pride of the Yankees only at #42?!!??!!??!!. I also agree on the Natural.

[tim_neely]

Originally posted by ferric man

Rudy was a good film too. Is there an anti Notre Dame bias at Sports Illustrated?



Yes. It's deep-seated and seemingly intractable. It's been there for decades.

[John Moschella]

Its obvious that their definition of a "sports" movie is very loose. There are some good films on the list but not 61* which is an excellent baseball film.

[teaser5]

No "He Got Game"?!
Gimme a break.
Best-
Norm

[Dave]

What, no Heaven Can Wait or Happy Gilmore? The best Golf movie ever. :eek:

[Andrew]

How about an honorable mention for "M*A*S*H"? It does feature a football game as a key plot element in the latter part of the film.

[chasing_8]

Originally posted by levi
Searching for Bobby Fischer (a good movie, but sports??)

Ah, here we go. What, just because something taxes the brain more than the body doesn't make it a sport? And it is a physical activity nonetheless (metaphysical debates about mental events also being physical events not withstanding). The players keep going and going. The definition of "sport" is pretty ambiguous no matter what book you're looking in, but I think chess can easily be argued for. What else is it? A game? A game is way too general, as all sports are games anyway. However, since not all games are sports, I think it's the level of competition that turns a game into a sport, and I don't think that anyone can successfully argue that chess isn't incredibly competitive.

[levi]

chess is incredibly competitive. so is contract bridge. so is Madden Football.

I'll leave it to someone else to argue whether those are sports or not, but if Rudy had been on SI's list and Searching for Bobby Fischer had been left off, would any of us be saying, hey, how come they didn't include any chess movies?

[chasing_8]

Originally posted by levi
chess is incredibly competitive. so is contract bridge. so is Madden Football.

I'll leave it to someone else to argue whether those are sports or not, but if Rudy had been on SI's list and Searching for Bobby Fischer had been left off, would any of us be saying, hey, how come they didn't include any chess movies?

Well, just because someone on this forum might not doesn't make that the definitive answer. I'd wonder how many serious chess players there are around. And perhaps because no one here would think about it means that one should think about it. Why not "Searching for Bobby Fischer"? In placing it on the list, SI is obviously considering chess as a sport, so perhaps there can be more of a deserved discussion regarding the importance and respect that chess receives here in North America. I'd much rather see society push for something that uses brain over brawn (as I personally think the brawn over brains thing is way out of control, in many aspects of society). Frankly, I think the addition is wonderful, as it could be a commentary on many levels, such as why kids in school should feel so superior just because they have more muscles, and why games that use muscles are inherently more "sports-like" or important than other games.

The only way people can start thinking about chess in the same way as anything else is by marketing and promoting it as such. Personally, "Searching" wouldn't have jumped out at me either, but I know that's due to a bias I grew up with. On hindsight, I completely agree with the choice.

Or maybe some guy just forgot about "Rudy" and "Searching" was placed as a joke. This is only a Sports Illustrated list.

[levi]

Originally posted by chasing_8


Well, just because someone on this forum might not doesn't make that the definitive answer.

I'm not sure how you could call any list that's based on opinion "definitive." half the point of a compilation like this is to start discussions and friendly arguments, right?


I'd much rather see society push for something that uses brain over brawn (as I personally think the brawn over brains thing is way out of control, in many aspects of society).

I have plenty of respect for chess and chess players. but my argument isn't meant as a slap against the game. I just think Rudy is too good a film to be left off a list of the 50 Greatest Sports Movies. I'd argue for The Natural, as well.

if you asked me which films I'd knock off the SI list in order to get Rudy on there, Bad News Bears, Best in Show and Searching for Bobby Fischer would be candidates for the ax, in my humble opinion.