Greatest Football Movie Ever

Automatic disqualification for any movie that depicts broadcast media-style commentary being broadcast over the PA system during the event.

 

Unless it's about a high school where that actually happens (and I've been at more than a few).

 

I'd never nominate it for the greatest anything, but "Wildcats" is notable for the fact that the team records every victory on a Hail Mary on the last play of the game (with the exception of the championship, when it wins on a blocked field goal).

 

In that case, the high school in question is disqualified.

 

I have no counter argument.

 

The more I look at this list, the more it's obvious football movies suck. Boxing dramas and baseball comedies kick all other sports movies' asses, as genres.

Versatile's sports movies power rankings:

1. Caddyshack
2. Hoop Dreams
3. Raging Bull
4. Rocky IV*
5. Major League
6. Rocky
7. Slap Shot
8. The Sandlot
9. Jerry Maguire
10. Field of Dreams
11. The Fighter
12. Remember the Titans
13. White Men Can't Jump
14. Rocky II
15. Bull Durham
16. Hoosiers
17. Brian's Song
18. A League of their Own
19. Space Jam
20. All the Right Moves

* — Rocky IV is the most wonderfully over-the-top movie of all time. I stand by this ranking and will fight anyone who disparages it.
Note: Kingpin, The Hustler and Rounders were omitted because they are not about sports.

 

The great football movie yet to be made would be about rocking and rollicking Bobby Layne and the Lions championship run in the 1950s.

 

I'm surprised 1925 silent movie The Freshman (not the one with Marlon Brando) was not on the list. It's rated as one of the best silent movies.

 

Agreed. The question is which version of The Program? The one with the players laying down in the middle of the road or the one after the studio caved and cut it out?

Sure, much of it was silly and over the top, but in a good way.

To give Rudy a top seed and such an easy bracket, this must have been put together by a Golden Domer.

 

And from the TV-is-better-than-movies camp, the Friday Night Lights show blows all these movies out of the water.

 

You spelled "Cinderella Man" wrong.

On another note, it's amazing how bad football translates into movies and how well less popular sports like baseball and boxing do. That's in no way a new thought, but when all the "top" football movies are laid out, I can't help but think about it again.

 

You're forgetting Vision Quest, which is top 15 if not top 10.

Perfect (wrestling) complement to All the Right Moves, both really well-executed coming-of-age movies that feel real.