Best Football Movies of All Time
I will admit I do like watching a good football game on a Sunday afternoon or Monday night. The game will really keep my attention if the two teams are evenly matched and it is a high scoring event or one of my favorite teams is pounding another team.
I also enjoy watching a good football movie. When I was thinking about great football movies, I did have trouble putting together a huge list. While I think that some of the movies are very obvious I really had to think about what were the best.
Here is my shot at a list of the top 10:
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Brian’s Song (1971)
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Knute Rockne All American (1940)
North Dallas Forty (1979)
Paper Lion (1968)
Remember the Titans (2000)
Rudy (1993)
The Longest Yard (1974)
The Program (1993)
Clearly there are some classics on the list. Of course I do love the original Longest Yard. Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert were fantastic as were a number of other actors. I did think Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Renée Zellweger worked really well together in Jerry Maguire.
Brian’s Song, Remember the Titans, and Rudy are my three favorites, with Brian’s Song topping the list. I still get all choked up watching Brian’s Song. Growing up I lived in Chicago for a very short time and really liked the Bears. In fact my favorite player of all time is Walter Payton. The synergy between the actors who play Brian Piccolo (James Caan) and Gale Sayers (Billie Dee Williams) is special… in fact very special. I love the cinematography and enjoy how the director weaved in real footage into the movie. For me, I could really feel how much the two players cared for each other and Gale Sayers was deeply sad when Brian Piccolo become ill.
- Do you agree with my choice?
- What movies did I leave out?
- What is your favorite of all time?
I look forward to your comments.
July 16th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Best FOOTBALL movies of all time…
Escape to Victory
Goal!
When Saturday Comes*
Bend it like Beckham*
Football Factory
Green Street
ID
Gregory’s Girl
The Firm
Fever Pitch
mean machine (remade with Vinnie Jones)*
But the absolute best - the 1966 world cup final. They think it’s all over - it is now!
* I may be lying about these
July 16th, 2007 at 9:48 am
I am not sure if you watched the ESPYs last night, but Invincible with Mark Walberg was nominated for Sports Movie of the Year.
Would it make your list?
July 16th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Best football movie for me is “The Junction Boys”…early Bear Bryant story when he was coaching Texas A&M…good stuff.
July 16th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I agree with your choices Merrill but also loved the movie “Invincible” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445990/. Like “Brians Song” this movie is based on a true story but has a happier ending. This is a story about a down on his luck bartender who made it to the NFL against all of the odds. Great story and happy ending!
July 16th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Two others not on your list that I really enjoy are “Radio” and “We Are Marshall”.
I really enjoyed the movie, “Friday Night Lights”. It reminded me of the visits to my grandmothers house in west Texas where I actually attended some of the high school playoff games growing up.
July 16th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Although these are not really movies about football, there are a couple of hilarious football scenes in these movies:
Horsefeathers (The Marx Brothers)- I seem to recall Harpo throwing banana peals to cause the opposing players to slip and be taken out of a play, having the ball on a string, and other such monkey business….
MASH (The movie, not the TV show)- In this game, I think the doctors from MASH give the star player from the other team an injection (when he is at the bottom of a pile of players) to knock him out of the game.
July 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
If we’re talking comedy, then give me The Three Stooges 1934 short entitled Three Little Pigskins, where they do a take off of Notre Dames “Four Horsemen”…if you love the stooges (and who doesn’t…okay I know…it’s mostly a guy thing) then this is a must see!!!
July 16th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
“Invincible”, like some others here have mentioned, belongs on the list.
And don’t forget Keanu Reeves’ epic movie, “The Replacements” !
July 16th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Clearly I left out lots of movies and need to watch a few I have never seen.
Invincible was great - I think i forgot about it since it was so recent. Mark Wahlberg was great but let’s not forget Greg Kinnear as Coach Dick Vermeil - he was fantastic.
Keep the comments coming!
Merrill
July 17th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Merrill you missed a classic and one of my favorites; Buck Henry’s and Warren Beatty’s remake of “Heaven Can Wait”
July 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
My vote goes to the 1974 version of THE LONGEST YARD, directed by Robert Aldrich (who along with Sam Peckinpah, John Ford and Don Siegel) from my pantheon of the greatest directors of all time. Aldrich played football in college and knew the game and when someone gets hit in an Aldrich film, you feel it (the balls to the crotch, the slo-mo play with the sounds of bones cracking), all set against the backdrop of the Watergate era with Eddie Albert as a stand-in for Nixon.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Tom Cruise in ALL THE RIGHT MOVES with Tom Cruise. A cut above the normal teen-age flick with some good performances.
A couple of others not mentioned:
EVERYBODY’S ALL AMERICAN with Dennis Quaid
SEMI-TOUGH with Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson and Jill Clayburgh.
I agree with Bob T on HORSEFEATHERS having a great comic football game.
I must disagree with Ben on a couple of soccer films though. I think ESCAPE TO VICTORY is one of the worst and most improbable films ever made (Hey, we can escape and not have to go back to POW camp. Nah, let’s hang around and play soccer…). And BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM features the absolute worst sport playing by actors I have ever seen. Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightly are charming and gorgeous, but they can’t play soccer to save their lives. And no, American college coaches don’t hang around international tournaments handing out full scholarships like they were movie passes. Having a daughter who just completed 4 years of playing soccer in college, trust me, it’s a lot more difficult and competitive than that.
But how about my favorite soccer movies: A SHOT AT GLORY (ed Sugar saw this recommendation coming,I’m sure) with Robert Duval as a Scottish footba’ coach whose team earns a playoff spot against national powerhouse Glasgow Rangers. I also recommend MIRACLE MATCH (a.k.a. THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES) about the 50’s era US World Cup Team that beat England. It stars Gerard Butler (of 300) and Patrick Stewart. One of the neat things about this film is the actors really look like they know how to play the game.
July 18th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Brian’s Song was my first favorite football movie that had my entire family crying. I was a Gale Sayers fan from the moment he ran within 10 feet of me on the sidelines of a Kansas vs. Nebraska game in 1963, on his way to a 99 yard touchdown run. Remember the Titans, Rudy, and Invincible were inspiring and great to watch with my sons and my dad. The wife of a close friend of mine graduated with the class that inspired Remember the Titans and confirmed that passion and the tension that occurred. One of my son’s loves Notre Dame and watched Rudy literally scores of times in middle school and high school. Sports movies can often create great family memories and emotions. Baseball is best, but there are some wonderful football movies.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I have to go with the Replacements - Just because my uncle taught Keanu Reeves how to throw the football
Look for him in the credits (after the movie) - T.J. Rubley
July 18th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Ok guys, I’m going to Netflicks now to order!
July 19th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Tana…Keanus throwing of the football was fine, your uncle did a great job…now if Keanu had only let someone teach him to act.