Sports Illustrated recently published their list of the fifty greatest sports movies. I would like to set the record straight and put the top ten greatest sports movies of all time in the ‘correct’ order
#10 Bang the Drum Slowly – Robert DeNiro is exceptional in this example of the brilliant weaving of story and sports.
#9 A League of Their Own – How can you not like Geena Davis in a skirt. This film tells the true story of an under-respected league of women ball players.
#8 Raging Bull – DeNiro has another sports knockout in yet another story-driven tale. The gritty realism is a study in acting and filmmaking.
#7 Field of Dreams – The epitome of a leap of faith – wrapped up in the legend of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Costner’s finest work.
#6 Brian’s Song – James Caan and Billie Dee Williams will bring a tear to the eye of the toughest guy as Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers.
#5 Eight Men Out – Yet another great true story featuring larger-than-life heroes. The benchmark of a modern baseball movie.
#4 Rocky – Stallone may slur his words, but it is those words and that script that inspired a nation behind this little-movie-that-could.
#3 Breaking Away – Probably the least known of the top ten. This great cycling film features underdogs from the wrong side of town proving that where there is a will there is a way.
#2 The Pride of the Yankees – Take one all-American nice guy, add in America’s pastime and a tragic end to a super-human career and you have the story of Lou Gehrig.
#1 Hoosiers – No film tells of the struggle of human condition through adversity and perseverance better than Hoosiers. Gene Hackman is brilliant.
Honorable Mention: The Bad News Bears, Bull Durham, Baseball – A Film by Ken Burns,Caddyshack, The Best of Times
Trivia
Robert DeNiro played the lead in two of the films
Eight of them are true or based on a true story
Five were about baseball
Two were about boxing
One was about football
One was about basketball
One was about cycling
Shoeless Joe Jackson was in two of the films
Three of the films are in black and white
None of them are comedies
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