Greatest Sports Movies
by galileo57 | created - 01 Feb 2014 | updated - 25 Feb 2014 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Rocky (1976)
PG | 120 min | Drama, Sport
A small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers
Votes: 628,150 | Gross: $117.24M
2. Raging Bull (1980)
R | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent
Votes: 380,036 | Gross: $23.38M
3. Field of Dreams (1989)
PG | 107 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan
Votes: 128,014 | Gross: $64.43M
4. Hoosiers (1986)
PG | 114 min | Drama, Sport
A coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small-town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the state championship in 1950s Indiana.
Director: David Anspaugh | Stars: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper, Sheb Wooley
Votes: 51,048 | Gross: $28.61M
5. Rudy (1993)
PG | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.
Director: David Anspaugh | Stars: Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Greta Lind
Votes: 69,049 | Gross: $22.75M
6. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
PG-13 | 132 min | Drama, Sport
Frankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel
Votes: 721,502 | Gross: $100.49M
7. Cinderella Man (2005)
PG-13 | 144 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The true story of James J. Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer, who returned to the spotlight to win the heavyweight championship of the world.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Craig Bierko, Paul Giamatti
Votes: 198,269 | Gross: $61.65M
8. The Natural (1984)
PG | 138 min | Drama, Sport
A middle-aged unknown comes seemingly out of nowhere to become a legendary baseball player with almost supernatural talent.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger
Votes: 52,430 | Gross: $47.95M
9. Secretariat (2010)
PG | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Penny Chenery Tweedy and colleagues guide her long-shot but precocious stallion to set, in 1973, the unbeaten record for winning the Triple Crown.
Director: Randall Wallace | Stars: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Margo Martindale, Nelsan Ellis
Votes: 30,556 | Gross: $59.71M
10. Fear Strikes Out (1957)
Approved | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball.
Director: Robert Mulligan | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Adam Williams
Votes: 2,159
11. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Passed | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Boxer Rocky Graziano's biopic, based on his autobiography, from childhood to his World Middleweight Championship title win at age 28 in 1947.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart
Votes: 9,020
12. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Approved | 128 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan
Votes: 11,991
13. The Winning Team (1952)
Approved | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Nebraska farmboy Grover Cleveland Alexander achieves baseball stardom before war injuries and alcoholism derail his career, but through his wife's faithful efforts he gets a chance for a comeback and redemption.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Doris Day, Ronald Reagan, Frank Lovejoy, Eve Miller
Votes: 1,113
14. Eight Men Out (1988)
PG | 119 min | Drama, History, Sport
A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.
Director: John Sayles | Stars: John Cusack, Clifton James, Jace Alexander, Gordon Clapp
Votes: 22,075 | Gross: $5.68M
15. Major League (1989)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Sport
The new owner of the Cleveland Indians puts together a purposely horrible team so they'll lose and she can move the team. But when the plot is uncovered, they start winning just to spite her.
Director: David S. Ward | Stars: Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Whitton
Votes: 76,386 | Gross: $49.80M
16. The Rookie (2002)
G | 127 min | Drama, Family, Sport
A Texas baseball coach makes the major league after agreeing to try out if his high school team made the playoffs.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Dennis Quaid, JD Evermore, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez
Votes: 37,149 | Gross: $75.60M
17. Champion (1949)
Passed | 99 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Sport
Boxer Midge Kelly rises to fame...mainly by stepping on other people.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Marilyn Maxwell, Paul Stewart
Votes: 4,755
18. A League of Their Own (1992)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amid their own growing rivalry.
Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna
Votes: 120,980 | Gross: $107.53M
19. The Sandlot (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
In the summer of 1962, a new kid in town is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy and his rowdy team, resulting in many adventures.
Director: David Mickey Evans | Stars: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Art LaFleur, Patrick Renna
Votes: 102,307 | Gross: $32.42M
20. The Bad News Bears (1976)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.
Director: Michael Ritchie | Stars: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow, Joyce Van Patten
Votes: 24,994 | Gross: $42.35M
21. Cool Runnings (1993)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican Bobsled Team.
Director: Jon Turteltaub | Stars: John Candy, Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis
Votes: 113,717 | Gross: $68.86M
22. 61* (2001 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 129 min | Biography, Drama, History
Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record.
Director: Billy Crystal | Stars: Barry Pepper, Thomas Jane, Anthony Michael Hall, Richard Masur
Votes: 17,638
23. North Dallas Forty (1979)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches.
Director: Ted Kotcheff | Stars: Nick Nolte, Charles Durning, Mac Davis, Dayle Haddon
Votes: 5,988 | Gross: $26.08M
24. Slap Shot (1977)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A failing ice hockey team finds success with outrageously violent hockey goonery.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Strother Martin, Jennifer Warren
Votes: 41,220 | Gross: $28.00M
25. Remember the Titans (2000)
PG | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 1971 Virginia high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white one, the very foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst
Votes: 231,825 | Gross: $115.65M
26. Brian's Song (1971 TV Movie)
G | 73 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.
Director: Buzz Kulik | Stars: James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Warden, Bernie Casey
Votes: 8,858
27. The Karate Kid (1984)
PG | 126 min | Action, Drama, Family
A martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove
Votes: 244,375 | Gross: $90.82M
28. The Longest Yard (1974)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad
Votes: 21,418 | Gross: $7.13M
29. Moneyball (2011)
PG-13 | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 464,337 | Gross: $75.61M
30. We Are Marshall (2006)
PG | 131 min | Drama, Sport
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
Director: McG | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn
Votes: 64,814 | Gross: $43.55M
31. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joan Allen
Votes: 42,400 | Gross: $7.27M
32. The Stratton Story (1949)
Passed | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 3,342
33. Gentleman Jim (1942)
Approved | 104 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
As bare-knuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert, Jim Corbett, uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the top of the boxing world.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale
Votes: 4,112
34. The Blind Side (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head
Votes: 360,348 | Gross: $255.96M
35. Varsity Blues (1999)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A back-up quarterback is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.
Director: Brian Robbins | Stars: James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Paul Walker, Ron Lester
Votes: 49,041 | Gross: $52.89M
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