Who doesn’t love sports? Well, actually a few people don’t. They’d rather catch a movie. So, what is the best way to make them love sports? Easy! Put sports in a movie. You wouldn’t search so hard before finding someone who adores Rocky but has never watched a single boxing match in their life. They even missed the mega-money duels like Mayweather Vs Manny. May-who?
For sports lovers, movies provide an additional way to enjoy their favorite game. Whether its baseball, basketball or a marathon, there’s something about it on the big screen. But not all movies are made equal and according to Rotten Tomatoes, these are the best sports movies of all time.
Raging Bull (1980) - 94%
This film was the fourth of the many collaborations between Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. The two have done a total of nine films together. Time to clap. These two should be constantly used as examples in business school when the professor is talking about how to form great working relationships.
Raging Bull tells the story of Jake LaMotta—a middleweight boxing champion—whose troubled personal life interferes with his professional life. He is constantly suspecting his wife of cheating and he also doesn’t trust his manager. Raging Bull was a great film that served as a template for other boxing films to come. Joe Pesci was in it too. Don’t say he amuses you.
Breaking Away (1979) - 94%
Breaking Away was awarded the Best Original Screenplay at the 1979 Academy Awards. It had also been nominated for Best Picture. The film mostly revolves around a gifted cyclist called Dave, who upon learning that only Italians tend to become world cycling champions, begins the process of making himself an Italian.
This drives his father nuts but his mother is more understanding. She even makes Italian dishes for him. Hail Mommy! When a professional Italian racing team comes to town, Dave is awed. However, he finds himself competing against them sooner than he expected. Of course, he wins.
Moneyball (2011) - 94%
Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in the same movie? Feed it to us. Again and again. Pitt plays Billy Beane, the manager of the baseball team - the Oakland A’s. Billy sees things differently. Instead of going the mega purchase route that big teams use to acquire talent, he decides to recruit cheap players so long as they can do the basics.
He teams up with the smart Ivy League graduate Peter (Jonah Hill) to help him in his management tasks. Billy’s strategy works but it puts him in conflict with people higher up who feel he is trying to change the game too much. Like Spencer Strasmore in Ballers, he truly goes against the system.
Offside (2006) - 94%
In the middle east, gender bias is still quite common. Women are still not allowed to drive in some countries. And in Saudi Arabia, women were even discouraged from engaging in active sports. However, WWE recently changed this by having women compete in their Crown Jewel pay-per-view held in the country. Which brings us to the film at hand.
In Offside, a group of six Iranian girls who love soccer find themselves in a dilemma since they want to watch the much-hyped 2006 World Cup qualifier match between Bahrain and the home country yet women are not allowed to watch or participate in live matches. They come up with the genius plan of disguising themselves as men in order to enter Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. However, they are discovered and arrested. The whole movie takes place within the 90 minutes runtime of the match. It was also filmed during a live match involving Iran’s national team. However, due to its content, it was banned in Iran.
Creed (2015) - 95%
Sylvestor Stallone clearly loves his old movies. This is evident from how he milked the Rambo franchise until it became sore and painful. And when he got the chance to revive the Rocky franchise, he didn’t hesitate. He also called the movie Creed, not Rocky Reborn. This time it was a good move because he won a Golden Globe. But he wasn’t the star this time.
Creed follows Killmonger… oops, Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson Creed, the son of Rocky’s former rival turned friend Apollo Creed. Adonis wants to become a boxing legend like his father who died in the ring during a fight with ruthless Russian fighter Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Adonis thus recruits Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to train him and make him a better boxer.
The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki (2017) - 96%
Most movies about boxers always impress. It’s a shame that Will Smith’s Ali didn’t feature here. The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Maki chronicles the life of talented Finnish boxer Olli Mäki. When he gets a chance to fight Davey Moore for the World Featherweight title, he becomes the hero of his town and country.
However, the opportunity doesn’t come without problems. Since he is lightweight, he is faced with the challenge of losing weight two weeks before the fight to reach featherweight status. Olli also falls in love but the woman he loves ends up leaving because she feels she is a distraction to him. This throws his preparations into further turmoil.
Bull Durham (1988) - 97%
There was a time when Kevin Costner was starring in every good movie. Here, he stars as Crash, a Minor League veteran who gets assigned to the Durham Bulls - a team known for poor performances. He gets close to a young baseball player called Nuke LaLoosh who he ends up mentoring. The two end up falling in love with the team’s mascot, Annie.
Whoever, Annie has loose morals and she enjoys sleeping with a new player every season. Eventually, everyone is caught up in their own personal conflicts. Crash wants to end his career on a high, Nuke wants to make it to the big league and then they both want Annie.
The Hustler (1961) - 98%
One of the few films that portray the world of indoor sports, The Hustler was as brilliant as Hollywood offerings come. The film is not to be confused with the 2019 film Hustlers.
The Hustler follows Eddie, a skilled pool player whose weakness his arrogance. After winning, he forces his opponents to admit that he is better than them. As expected, his weird behavior soon comes to bit him. The film received a whopping nine nominations at the Academy Awards.
The Wrestler (2008) - 98%
WWE Studios doesn’t normally make good movies, except for The Marine franchise. Whoever, when movies are made about wrestlers by other studios, they tend to be spectacular. The Wrestler—which made Mickey Rourke great again—is a grace to grass story about a wrestler called Randy “The Ram.” In the 80s, Ram was a famous wrestler but 20 years later, he finds himself broke. He this makes living by wrestling in high school gyms around New Jersey. He is also a dysfunctional man who is unable to have real relationships with people.
Randy thus throws his heart and soul fully into the minor wrestling gigs. However, things get even worse when he gets a heart attack, forcing him to retire. He tries to have an ordinary life by getting into a relationship with an exotic dancer and reconnecting with his daughter but his heart still desires the world of wrestling.
National Velvet (1944) - 100%
The phenomenal Elizabeth Taylor got her first starring role here at the age of 11. In National Velvet, Mickey Rooney stars as Mike Taylor, an English ex-jockey who is stressed after suffering a serious accident. He plots to steal from a kind family that is hosting him, but he changes his mind when he meets a young, good-hearted girl called Velvet (Elizabeth Taylor).
The bond over their affection for horses. When Velvet participates in a raffle and wins a horse, she decides to enroll the fast animal in the Grand National Sweepstakes. Since Mike can no longer ride horses, he helps Velvet to put on a jockey’s disguise and participate in the race which she eventually wins.
