I have to be honest. I am not a huge sports person (other than boxing of course). Sure if one of my hometown teams is doing well I will check out a game or two (GO RAIDERS!). Or if I have money riding on a game…or two (going to Vegas and putting twenty bucks down to possibly win a thousand makes sports really interesting). But other than that I really don’t watch or keep up with sports. It’s just not my thing. So why is it that I love movies about sports? There are a ton of great sports films and I love a lot of them. For a really long time I couldn’t figure it out. Until I realized sports films are like sports concentrate. All the thrills with out all that boring in between stuff like commercials or time outs or commentators. Films have to be exciting and compelling otherwise whats the point. So all that stuff I find so boring is eliminated. HA HA! Sports the way it was meant to be watched…edited! So here is a list of my Top 5 sports films…     

5. Searching For Bobby Fisher. After I finished watching this movie I wanted to become a chess champion…until I realized I am no good at chess. “Don’t move until you see it!”

4. Mystery Alaska. I thought this movie was really funny, and I had a small crush on Mary McCormick.

3. Raging Bull. The story of one of the more interesting boxers of our time Jake La Motta. Robert De Niro’s performance is genius. “Who’s an animal? Your mother’s an animal!”

2. Remember the Titans. Every time this movie is on I have to stop and watch. Based on actual events in the early 70’s a black school and a white school are integrated as one, and the local football team, coached by Denzel Washington, becomes the one thing that brings the community together.  

1. When We Were Kings. A documentary about one of the greatest upsets of all time, Muhammad Ali vs. George Forman “The Rumble In The Jungle”. If you want to see a real movie about the greatest prize fighter that ever lived this is the one to see.  “It is befitting that I leave the game just like I came in, beating a big bad monster who knocks out everybody and no one can whup him. So when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky, came up to stop Sonny Liston. The man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice. HE WAS GONNA KILL ME! But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George’s. He’s a better boxer than George. And I’m better now than I was when you saw that 22-years old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston. I’m experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times, I’m bad! Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator. That’s right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That’s bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick! I’m so mean I make medicine sick!” - Muhammad Ali 
This movie won an Academy Award, children!

So there you have it. Read, discuss, criticize. You know you want to.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Mar, Movies, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.