Not surprisingly, sporting events are often shown in movies - they provide a ready-made source of suspense, action and drama and there are lots of true stories to adapt, too. Some sports are more popular than others - there are lots of movies about baseball and boxing, for example - and interestingly, for a sports-mad country, Australia doesn't seem to have a lot of movies in the genre.
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The Bad News Bears (1976)
There are lots of films about kids' sports, but this is one of the best. It spawned two sequels, a TV series and a remake - but stick with the original. Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau), a hard-drinking pool cleaner and former minor league baseball player, is hired to coach a kids' baseball team formed after a lawsuit. The assorted young players are untalented misfits - but Buttermaker recruits his ex-girlfriend's daughter Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), a crack pitcher, and a talented delinquent, Kelly (Jackie Earl Haley), and the Bears' prospects improve. This comedy - with some strong language and epithets - has something to say about attitudes to kids' sport and winning at any cost. It's not just a kiddie movie.
Quote: "Now get back to the stands before I shave off half your mustache and shove it up your left nostril."
Trivia: Screenwriter Bill Lancaster drew in part on his own experience and his father, movie star Burt.
If you like this, try: The Mighty Ducks; Lucas.
Rocky (1976)
Sylvester Stallone wrote this Oscar-winning film that made him a star, about Rocky Balboa, a loan shark collector and smalltime boxer who gets a shot at fighting the world heavyweight champ, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). While some later Stallone-controlled instalments became grandiose and overblown, this original underdog story still has charm.
Quote: "Apollo Creed vs the Italian Stallion. Sounds like a damn monster movie."
Trivia: Stallone refused to sell the script unless he was cast as Rocky.
If you like this, try: Hoosiers; Million Dollar Baby; Creed.
Raging Bull (1980)
Robert De Niro won the best actor Oscar as Jake LaMotta, a real-life boxer - world middleweight champion from 1949 to 1951 - who was as ferocious out of the ring as in it, wreaking havoc on his relationships with his wife (Cathy Moriarty) and brother (Joe Pesci). Foul-mouthed and brutal but amazingly vivid.
Quote: "You didn't get me down, Ray."
Trivia: De Niro put on 27 kilograms to play the older, washed-up LaMotta.
If you like this, try: The Wrestler; Ali.
Phar Lap (1983)
The New Zealand-born racehorse (played by Towering Inferno) became a legend during the Great Depression, winning 37 of his 51 races including the Melbourne Cup. This Australian film - written by David Williamson and directed by Simon Wincer - focuses particularly on the relationship between Phar Lap and his strapper, Tommy Woodcock (Tom Burlinson).
Quote: "He wasn't just a horse. He was the best."
Trivia: The real Tommy Woodcock plays a trainer.
If you like this, try: National Velvet; Ride Like a Girl.
Hoosiers (1986)
Several of my colleagues demanded this be included, but it's a worthy choice anyway. Inspired by a true story, it's set in a small Indiana town in the 1950s (folk from Indiana are known as "Hoosiers", origin unclear) and though it's cliched, it's thoroughly enjoyable. The new high school basketball coach, Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) is a man with a Past who faces many challenges - an underpopulated team whose best player has left, difficult players, hostile parents - in trying to lead his boys to success. Dennis Hopper plays the alcoholic assistant coach.
Quote: "I play, coach stays. He goes, I go."
Trivia: The film was also released under the title Best Shot.
If you like this, try: Rudy; Cool Runnings.
A League of Their Own (1992)
Penny Marshall directed this film inspired by the creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. Oregon sisters Dottie (Geena Davis) and Kit (Lori Petty) - along with Mae "All the Way Mae" Mordabito (Madonna) and Doris Murphy (Rosie O'Donnell) are among the players selected for the Rockford Peaches, managed by cynical Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks).
Quote: "There's no crying in baseball."
Trivia: Davis replaced Debra Winger, who dropped out four weeks before filming began because she objected to the casting of Madonna.
If you like this, try: Bend It Like Beckham; Wildcats.
Moneyball (2011)
Professional sport is big business and this movie - based on a true story - focuses on the business side of baseball rather than the on-field action. Frustrated Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) works with number cruncher Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to assemble unconventionally a team of undervalued (and affordable) players based on analyses of their performance statistics. Will this risky strategy pay off? Writers Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillan and director Bennett Miller make what could be a dry subject fascinating.
Quote: "When your enemy's making mistakes, don't interrupt him. Let him keep going. Say, 'Thank you.'"
Trivia: The film was criticised for many fabrications and the real-life "Peter Brand" (Paul DePodesta) didn't want his name used.
If you like this, try: Jerry Maguire; Trouble With the Curve.
- Thanks to Alan C. Logan, who wrote The Greatest Hoax on Earth, the book debunking Frank Abagnale, for his kind note about con artist movies. Regular reader Brian liked The Great Impostor, Elmer Gantry, Our Man in Havana, The Inspector General and The Music Man, all of which concerned cons.
- Write to me at ron.cerabona@austcommunitymedia.com.au
- Next time: Political films
