This week’s Top 10 looks at (almost) the best sports movies ever made.
As the Olympics draw close and London enters lockdown, you might want to settle in with a movie based on a sporting event. This is a particularly sensible idea for people who aren’t interested in the competition and want to avoid using overburdened public transport for the next month.
10) Space Jam
Space Jam starts off the list in endearingly rubbish style. Can Michael Jordan act? No. But this story of interstellar basketball interweaving live action with Warner Bros’ cartoon characters is charming. Plus, it birthed I Believe I Can Fly, which makes the whole endeavour worthwhile. Whoo.
In a struggle to find sports movies set in the UK, When Saturday Comes has managed to creep into this list. Starring Sean Bean as an unlikely football hero who moves from the factory floor to the pitch, it is not brilliant. But at least it isn’t Up ‘n’ Under.
American football is a baffling sport that seems to be more about selective breeding than skill to the outsider. However, this movie manages to make it interesting with a touch of drama and plenty of inspirational moments.
7) Kingpin
While the Farrelly brothers have gone off the boil a bit, they were kings of mid-90s comedy. This doesn’t quite reach the heights of Dumb and Dumber or There’s Something about Mary, but Kingpin is a bowling film with Bill Murray in it, which should be good enough for anyone.
6) The Hustler
Paul Newman introduces some much needed gambling into the sports movie genre, with seediness and deception a far more important part of this film than hard work and honour.
5) Raging Bull
This isn’t really a sports film, but it is about a boxer and it is Scorsese and De Niro at their best, so you can’t moan too much about its inclusion in the list.
Everyone loves an underdog, which is why Disney’s tale of the Jamaican bobsled team was such a commercial success. It’s also a good reminder of why John Candy is still revered.
3) Caddyshack
Bill Murray’s second entry in this list, which is probably a bit of a surprise for people who actually like sport. Filled with quotable quotes and famous moments, Caddyshack is a sports film and a comedy of the kind you don’t really see anymore.
If you’ve become sceptical and jaded by all the corporate shenanigans surrounding the 2012 Olympics, this is a good movie to watching in order to restore your faith in the human element of the games. Plus, the sound track would make a boss dubstep tune. Oh, wait…
1) Rocky
Obvious, right? It’s that one about an Italian horse that learns how to speak, but only barely.
