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Movies To See Before You Die: TOP 10 FOOTBALL MOVIES
accomplishedI am not going to list these in any particular ranking because they are all great in their own way. Also, as a disclaimer I am not saying these movies are the best movies in the world-only that they are the best Football Movies in the world. Some are about high school football, some about college football and some about pro football. But at any level, football is a complex game (playing, coaching, being a parent of a player, being a wife of a coach, hell-sometimes even being a fan) affects you in certain ways and these movies get to that. Plus the American Sports Movie is always tugging at the underlying elements of little guy vs Goliath and the ever-elusive last-minute comeback to secure victory. No matter what kind of sports fan you are-you can appreciate this.
Since I'm not ranking them based on merit-I will do chronological order:
1991-The Program & 1993-Necessary Roughness
I am combining these two because they came out so close together and they are so similar. as most movies of the early 90's were, they are fairly cheesy and definitely predictable but they do one thing in a very charming way: show you a side of college football that you probably always knew existed but hadn't been showcased much in cinema. (The Program-James Caan, Craig Sheffer,
1993-Rudy
One of the best underdog stories of all time. The photography, the score and the characters get you right in the scene of the Notre Dame football tradition. You just can't stop rooting for Sean Astin, 10+ years before he played Samwise Gimchee in the Lord Of the Rings trilogy. Best line from the movie: “You’re 5-foot nothin’, a hundred and nothin’…”
(Sean Astin, Charles S. Dutton, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty)
1996-Jerry Maguire
So to me this is NOT a football movie but because professional football and the business of pro football and the sports agent is the backdrop for this drama/romance/comedy/sports movie combo-it has to be included in this list. To me this is one of Cameron Crowe's best scripts and it was by far his most popular movie. It's been almost 12 years and some people are still quoting "show me the money" and "you had me at hello". This movie made Renee Zellweger's career and rightfully so and Tom Cruise channeled his charming idiot-but-not-a-bad-guy which he used to be so good at is refreshing to watch. Cuba Gooding Jr. won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
(Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jay Mohr, Kelly Preston, Regina King, Bonnie Hunt)
1999-Any Given Sunday
My only complaint about this movie (and the only one on the list that I've only seen once) is how long it is. It glorifies the sport of pro football while at the same time showing you all the things wrong with it. So the commentary running in your head while you're watching it unfold is complex, but I expect nothing less of Oliver Stone. It is very intense and has great photography of the plays-as good as any other football movie made that I know of.
(Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid, LL Cool J, Cameron Diaz)
1999-Varsity Blues
This is one of my personal favorites because it doesn’t try to be too poignant. It is more of an in-your-face high school football-as-the-savior-of-everyone’s-lif
(James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Amy Smart, Paul Walker, Ali Larter)
2000-The Replacements
To me, this movie came out of nowhere. It has a bunch of practically has-been actors except for a few good ones. It was never meant to be a big movie or a hit. But the whole scrappy regular guys getting to play for a Pro football team is just too good. Even the coaches are supposed to be on their last chance. It’s a bit like Major League except for baseball. Like everyone does everything they can to make sure that the team gets demoralized and sucks but of course the adversity makes them stronger and more united. Anyway, if you’ve only ever seen this when TBS plays it for a whole weekend (and leaves out all the good cussing and innuendo)-you should get the DVD and give it another go. It’s cheesy but it’s a new classic!
(Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton,
2000-Remember The Titans
This is a great movie! The story is very real (based on actual events) and powerful-it’s set in Virginia in 1971 and two schools (one all-black and one all-white) are forced to integrate. For the football players, this means trying to form a new team with people they’ve never met (and who they assume they have nothing in common with). In the coaches case, the black school’s coach is chosen as the head coach (Denzel Washington) and he is a bad-ass who teaches them a lot more than just football. Eventually the football team becomes a real team and they end up setting an example for the rest of the students at the school. The community is the last group to really get on board and of course it’s ironic but not shocking that the teenagers are setting the example. Even someone who hates football or sports movies would like this movie. Quote from the movie: “We will be perfect in every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, and I will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts and then you will run a mile. Perfection. Let's go to work.”
(Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Donald Faison)
2004-Friday Night Lights
This movie obviously became much more popular than the studio releasing originally planned for and then they made a tv show out of it. I can’t speak for the tv show because I’ve never seen it, but the movie is really good. There are some excellent performances by all of the cast (especially Tim McGraw as an alcoholic father trying to live vicariously through his son). It’s another high school football team and another bunch of guys for whom football is their way to a better life (a way out of that town).
(Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Tim McGraw)
2006-Invincible
This one is pretty new-also based on a true story. Set in
(Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Conway)
2006-We Are
As far as this whole list, this movie is probably only second to Remember The Titans as far as my favorite. Since it’s the newest release I won’t go into detail on the plot. Obviously it’s the real story of the town of Huntington, West Virginia (where Marshall University is) who’s lives were all changed in 1970 after a major accident and how they decide to get themselves back together. Football is one of the tools they use to get moving forward instead of focusing on tragedy.
(Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Straithairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara)
Honorable Mention:
1992-School Ties
1986-Wildcats
1983-All The Right Moves
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