Sports Movies: Best Picks & Misconduct

I must admit that I was surprised at the lack of Slap Shot. […] Paul Newman was superb as a player-coach who leads a team that goes nowhere, until he hires the Hanson brothers. The rest of the film is essentially a trial, not only of violence in hockey, but also of how spectators enjoy it to the highest degree.

My favorite sports movie of all time is without a doubt Rudy. What an inspiring story is that of this boy whose courage and determination far exceeded the limits of his talent.

Raging Bull. Without a doubt the most credible boxing film with Robert De Niro at the top of his game directed by the greatest American director, Martin Scorsese. Based on the true story of Jake LaMotta, this film exudes violence and transcends boxing to bear witness to a human who has essentially become an animal again, as in prehistoric times.

The first sports movie that comes to mind is Remember the Titanswith Denzel Washington as a football coach who must succeed in bringing white players and African-American players together on the same team for the first time. Wonderful way to address racial segregation and racism using sport as a backdrop.

Of the few children’s sports films I watched, I settled on Gordon Bombay and his team in the film The Mighty Ducks. Especially since Mike Modano and Basil McRae, two legends of the Minnesota North Stars, appear in the film. I think the Mighty Ducks’ cry of “quack, quack, quack” is one of the most memorable scenes in this film series.

The sports film that had the most impact on me is without a doubt When We Were Kingsa documentary on the history surrounding “The Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974 in Zaire. Here we are treated to a charming and dashing Ali, at the height of his glory, alternating between antics to amuse the public and taunts directed at his opponent. With archive images on the political context, the training camps, the daily life of the protagonists, the press conferences and, of course, the famous fight. Candy.

There are many great baseball movies, but nothing like The Natural with Robert Redford in the role of Roy Hobbs, an extremely promising young baseball player who mysteriously disappears from the radar before returning to the game 15 years later with a New York club. The film takes us back to baseball in the 1920s and it perfectly recreates this era with the old stadiums, the uniforms, the colorful characters. But my choice is the final scene where Roy Hobbs, with his old stick, throws a pitch into the floodlights which explode one after the other, creating fireworks as he slowly goes around the bases.

I liked it a lot Field of Dreams. It’s a film that mixes several genres: sport, fantasy and the importance of family. A feel good movie !

How to forget the superb film Chariots of Fire ? Although I am not a runner, I can only admire the story of these two exceptional athletes. The moral commitment of this fabulous middle-distance runner who literally rises on the track, hair blowing in the wind, and the gripping relationship of a coach with his 100-meter runner whose victory will make the old man murmur with these words: my son! The music is just as unforgettable.

Any Given Sunday with Al Pacino. I don’t like football at all, but this film makes us experience the sport in an incredible way with the atmosphere and the tension that we find there. Pacino is simply fantastic in this role. His speech in the locker room during the final game gives goosebumps. Great cinema.

Rockyof course, the first in the series. This film has done more to get young Quebecers in shape than any government program. The day after watching the film at the defunct Joliette cinema in November 1976, I broke three or four eggs into a glass, drank them and went running around the village of Saint-Pierre with the musical theme in mind. In mind only, it was long before Walkmans and MP3 players.