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Greatest Football Movie Ever

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by JackReacher, Jun 17, 2013.

Page 4 of 7
  1. Uncle.Ruckus

    Uncle.Ruckus Guest

    Christ. Remember the Titans was syrupy, Disneyfied, oversentimental shit.
     
    Uncle.Ruckus, Jun 17, 2013
    #37
  2. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    Fuck that list:
    No mention of Gus.

    http://video.disney.com/watch/gus-trailer-4beaf66de039c2b6f1045dfd

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_%281976_film%29
     
    cyclingwriter, Jun 17, 2013
    #38
  3. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    Paper Lion and the original Longest Yard
     
    heyabbott, Jun 17, 2013
    #39
  4. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    And the facemasks were all wrong. Totally took me out of the movie.

    There was another decent TV movie back in the day called Blood Sport featuring Gary Busey, Ben Johnson and Larry Hagman.
     
    DanOregon, Jun 17, 2013
    #40
  5. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member


    The Friday Night Lights TV and book versions are both way, way better than the film. As Bissinger said, the best sports stories aren't really about sports, and you can't tell the story of Odessa or Dillon in a two-hour movie with the same kind of depth.

    I haven't worked my way through the whole bracket yet, but The Longest Yard would be my gut choice for a winner with Varsity Blues as a darkhorse semifinalist.
     
    Jake_Taylor, Jun 17, 2013
    #41
  6. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    1.) I think it is difficult to shoot a football scene that looks authentic. Most of the best football scenes are in the huddles.

    2.) I've always said the reason people got so upset over PEDs in baseball, but don't care in football is the way the sports have been portrayed in pop culture. For some reason baseball is frequently and easily romanticized. Somebody writes a baseball book and makes it a movie and you get The Natural or Field of Dreams. Do the same with football and you get North Dallas Forty.

    3.) Boxing and track are so wonderfully simple they lend themselves to underdog stories and "one man's struggle to..."
    But boxing also provides plenty of striking imagery to capture on film. Track and running can make for great writing, A Perfect Mile might be my favorite sports book, but tougher to make visually interesting movie.
     
    Jake_Taylor, Jun 17, 2013
    #42
  7. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    One of the best is not even on the list unless I missed it - Everybody's All American.

    From the list I would vote for All The Right Moves. Had a good gritty Western PA feel and the added bonus of the lovely Leah Thompson in some NSFW shots. Craig T Nelson was good in role of old school hardass HC
     
    Boom_70, Jun 17, 2013
    #43
  8. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Brian's Song definitely number one on my list.

    Don't forget another made-for-TV movie, Something For Joey, tells the John Capaletti story, with a small role for a pre-Police Academy Steve Guttenburg.

    Also, another great one is Horse Feathers, classic Groucho Marx. I'm serious. Watch it. It is from 1932, and if you watch, you'll realize the more things change, the more they stay the same (in college football).

    And if you are going to go Disneyfied, forget Remember the Titans. If you can find it, I recommend Gus. ... the field goal kicking mule.

    Not a great movie for its time, but great camp now, is Black Sunday. Bruce Dern as a deranged Vietnam vet trying to commit a terrorist act at the Super Bowl and the Goodyear Blimp spliced over footage from Super Bowl X. Doesn't get better than that, does it?

    Oh, and Lucas is a really good film.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jun 17, 2013
    #44
  9. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I see your Black Sunday and raise with Two Minute Warning. Again, movies only tangentially related to football.

    BTW - though I really disliked Any Given Sunday, there are elements in that movie (Pacino's speech, LT) that are top-notch.

    I liked Everybody's All-American, but the ending in the book was better (I've always wanted to write something like that) and the movie would have been better off if it started with a "Movietone-style" retrospective of Grey's college and pro career and began with his retirement.
     
    DanOregon, Jun 17, 2013
    #45
  10. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    great call on Horsefeathers
     
    heyabbott, Jun 17, 2013
    #46
  11. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    No. 2 is an excellent point, especially given the changes they made in The Natural from the book.
     
    outofplace, Jun 17, 2013
    #47
  12. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    'Jerry Maguire' is not about sports; it's about sports agents.

    Since Brick is a former football star, does that make 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' a sports play/movie?
     
    Buck, Jun 17, 2013
    #48
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