day 7 - Top 5 sports films

OK sports fans, since tonight was the BCS College Football National Championship game (honestly, it was kind of a dud until the last 3 minutes) I've decided to reveal my Top 5 sports films. Why 5 and not 10, please ask my friends over at Championship Vinyl.

Honorable Mention goes to Vision Quest. OK, I've already managed to break the 5 films set forth 2 sentences ago. And I am aware this is another 80's film, but that's purely coincidental. Plus, these are MY top 5 films and I can throw in a sentimental favorite if I want to! I can be honest, this is a pretty cheesy film. It's overly melodramatic in a way only 80's teensploitation films are. I can't even begin to understand why it provides Madonna with her first shot at sucking horribly in films. The premise is our hero, Louden Swain, decides to drop 20 lbs to wrestle the undefeated beast at 168 lbs simply known as Shute. It's a classically scripted coming of age story with all the cliches fully intact. But it hit some perfect notes on the sport of wrestling, something I endured for years growing up in Iowa where wrestling is king. I also love it for the following little gem that, while not out of place in the film, is still a surprisingly humanistic moment given the genre.


5. All the Right Moves Far and away (yes, that was a Tom Cruise joke) the best film to capture what it feels like to play high school sports. The scenes on the field, in the locker room and especially the bus going to the big game felt like they could have been shooting a documentary. Some of the scenes were so spot on I thought I was having deja vue. Set in a depressing mining town in Pennsylvania, the film is permeated by the pressure on the players to carry the hopes of the town and the desperation of the players to the succeed, thereby escaping the fate awaiting them in the coal mine. In comparison, its not as flashy as some of the high school football movies that followed it, but that's the reason it feels so real.

4. Brian's Song Well, it looks like I lied. Here's my second sentimental favorite. The 1971 original film from is one of the pillars of the bromance Pantheon. The story of the friendship between hall of fame Chicago Bears (GO BEARS!!!) running back Gayle Sayers and teammate Brian Piccolo that grew as they went from rookies in 1965 to the starting tailback and fullback in 1969. In 1970 Piccolo died from embryonal cell carcinoma. While it's filmed with the look of an after school special, it's also one of the few films grown men will admit to being choked up by.

3. Bull Durham Fantastic performances and a superior script with fully realized characters give this baseball film a nod above a sport filled with contenders (Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game, The Natural, Major League and The Bad News Bears). Setting it in the minor leagues allows the characters and their lives to seem more real, but all I really have to say about this movie can be summed up in one very well know scene.

2. North Dallas Forty The most realistic look at professional sports and the truth behind the business of grown-ups playing a game with millions of dollars on the line. Gritty in a way 70's films seemed to be able to portray with ease, (Is it the film stock or the bad clothes and hair? I just can't decide...) wide receiver Phillip Elliot drinks and drugs his way through the pain to help his team make it to the playoffs. While realistically portraying the crazy antics of his teammates and the business realities imposed by the coaches and front office suits are what give the film gravitas, it's his sudden realization as his career comes to an end, that the rest of his life has been on hold while he played, that gives it a soul.

1. Caddyshack If this isn't your number one sports film you may want to check your scalp in the mirror for a tiny sign of the beast. Do I seriously even have to explain this? I'm pretty sure when I was 23 I could have sat down and written the entire script from memory. I can't even count how many times I've seen this film since I first saw it on network tv in the early 80's. I'd wager that 9 out of 10 men under the age of 50, in any given room, can quote at least one line from this film. Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Ted Knight may form the most perfect convergence of comedy stars ever to grace a single film! True, it isn't the purest example of the genre, but it manages to cleverly mock a sport better than any film ever has. On a side note, actress Sarah Holcomb, who plays main character Danny Noonan's girlfriend Maggie O'Hooligan, was only in four films before she left Hollywood due to some substance issues. Two of those four films, Caddyshack and Animal House. That's. Friggin. Awesome. Anyway, for your edification, the wisdom of Caddyshack.