2/11/10

Barguments Topic #5




from page 36:

What is the greatest sports movie of all time?

I can't do justice to this one in general terms. I know it violates the spirit of the question, but I have to divide it into a few categories. it all depends on what sport I want to watch a movie about. And I am a big football fan, but i like movies on many different sports.

Baseball: I find my personal favorite is Eight Men Out, the movie about the "Black Sox scandal", where members of the Chicago White Sox worked in collusion with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. A lot of names on the horizon were in this one: John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, David Strathairn, D. B. Sweeney.

Basketball: Nothing tops Hoosiers for sheer fun and feel-goodness. The story of a small town Indiana team whose high school team, against all odds, makes it to the state playoffs in basketball. With great performances by Gene Hackman as a down on his luck coach and Dennis Hopper as a former high school star and current town drunk.

Boxing: Is there anything better than Rocky? The Academy Award winner was well deserving of its accolades, and besides, anything in which Sly doesn't play his usual cardboard tough guy character is worth the time.

Football: One that misses most lists, but I can watch this one again and again. The Longest Yard. Not that piece of crap remake with Adam Sandler but the original with Burt Reynolds. Not an across the board big time Burt fan, but he had a few in the 70's that I can stand to watch multiple times.

1 comment:

Jinxo56 said...

Eight Men Out is a good movie but my personal favorite is Major League. I have never seen Hoosiers and the only basketball movie that I can think of that I have seen is Fast Break, with Gabe Kaplan. It was O.K., but nothing great. Boxing I agree with you about Rocky, but Raging Bull comes in a close second. I like The Longest Yard, the same version as you, not that piece of dren (Farscape word)with Adam Sandler, but my favorite football movie is Paper Lion.