I do enjoy Bill Simon's podcasts (mainly basketball) and listen to some (selective) episodes of The Rewatchables, but God his strong takes/clickbait POV's are lol af The most recent one on the movie Snapshot was a nice listen, but then Bill goes ahead and simply declares it as the best sports movie ever made lol. But anyhow, it got me thinking about the best sports films of all time, and for me, the grand majority were all boxing/fighting movies a la Creed (I and II), Rocky (I, II, Rocky Balboa), The Fighter, Cinderella Man, Raging Bull, Million Dollar Baby, Ali and then as far as other sports, Bull Durham comes to mind, Moneyball, Hoop Dreams, Ford vs Ferrari, maybe Hoosiers, but not much else in other sports, imho.

It is pretty intriguing how boxing films >>>>> any other sport movies and it is not even close

I am completely uninterested in any sports; the only ones I actually enjoy aren't really about sports. But I definitely liked Bull Durham, so it probably shouldn't qualify as truly being a sports movie.

Of course, IMO, the best sports-related movie ever made is Bad News Bears.

I think gambling movies probably easily outclass sports movies as well, if we exclude boxing, of course. And Bull Durham definitely a sports movie and a great one, imho.

Hoosiers
Rudy
Major League

The Hustler

Slap Shot

Don't sleep on North Dallas 40. There are tons of great sports movies. Gambling movies? There aren't many so we as gamblers cling to them but most aren't really that good in the bigger scope of things.

. Which started the discussion. Btw, the French Canadian version of Slap Shot >>>>> the original version, which was thankfully also mentioned by Bill Simons after he did a little research

Could we include pool into sports movies though? And if so, why not poker, or gambling and chess movies???

I thoroughly disagree on this : if we exclude boxing movies, then I would easily take gambling movies over sports movies. The Hustler, California Split, Uncut Gems, The Gambler and Owning Mahoney's of the world - to only name a few notables - outweigh the likes of Bull Durham and Hoosiers, imho.

Hard disagree. The Hustler may be an all time top 5 for me. But the rest? I despised Uncut Gems. Owning Mahoney , The Gambler, California Split, Rounders all appeal to me as a gambler but they aren't really great movies. Good for sure and I love them because I love gambling themes but if I didn't those movies have little appeal.

To be fair every movie you listed (besides possibly Rounders) is critically acclaimed and well regarded by non-gamblers

Lots of sports movies are critically acclaimed as well? There simply more sports movies and the really good ones are fantastic. One of the better gambling movies (critically acclaimed) not mentioned is The Sting. But still there is no way there are more great gambling movies than great sports movies because there are simply more sports movies and more universal appeal.

Is horse racing a sport or a gambling activity? I would say Seabisquit and Secretariat are great sports movies and Let it Ride is a great gambling movie.

Don't forget Hard 8 on the gambling side. If Bull Durham is a sports movie and not a rom-com, I suppose Tin Cup is as well.

Major League, Caddyshack, et cetera--many end up being in the "enjoyable to watch, but not a great movie" category too.

there's actually a restaurant called seabiscuit on mackinac island and they play the movie 24/7

I not a sports guy at all. I used to love Hockey but all my favorites have long since retired and I haven’t kept up to know who are the best right now. Never gave a **** about any other sport aside from MMA and that was a fairly small window. Same as with Hockey, the fighters I liked are gone, or should be.

That said, I kind of love a lot of sports flicks. Love Slap Shot and also love the original Longest Yard. Any Given Sunday is awesome. Wildcats is an all-timer for me. So is the original White Men Can’t Jump. Bull Durham and Moneyball are great. I think BasketBall is one of the best comedies ever made. Basketball is my least favorite of the big 4 but I’ve seen The Last Dance 3 times and own 4 pairs of Jordans. Tons of the PG-rated flicks are always fun. I’ve seen all of the above multiple times.

The only ones I don’t really like are the ones with an “deeper” emotional throughline. Rudy is great, but once was enough. Field of Dreams is probably as good as I’ve heard but I don’t care to see it, knowing the ending already. I guess I just like sports comedies, dramas and documentaries and stay away from “heartfelt” lol

Warrior definitely deserves a mention as far as sports movies go.

Phar Lap is another great horse racing movie.

The Cooler (2003) is a great gambling movie if you're being a bit loose with the definition, as of course is Casino (1995).

They're certainly as much about gambling as Bull Durham is about baseball.

I loved The Cooler.


The Sting was always overrated. Maybe if I watched it when it came out I would've found it impressive, but there's just too much ridiculousness for it to be a good movie now.

Love both.

Warrior is absolutely amazing and perhaps Nick Nolte's best performance ever... Or at least that drunken scene is an absolute classic and one of my favorite single scene

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same ; of course we are speaking of the 1974 James Caan The Gambler, even if Mark Wahlberg's was a guilty pleasure if me, if obviously (much) critically inferior.

Just watched "Freelance" with john cena, allison brie, alice eve and christian slater.

Action comedy set in a country having a coup.
Actually had surprises in the plot.
It wasn't bad as action comedy, it actually gave a realistic picture of how governments can be worked over, which a couple of folks watching with me said was unbelievable.

I had them look up Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega.

They couldn't believe it could happen.

Side note: Christian Slater looks really good for his age, unfortunately Alice Eve and Allison Brie......

But time catches all of us.

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Blasphemy!

I can not wait for the BHS documentary...

A film like The Sting suffers from setting a template for a hundred future films which have improved on what it did. See also Orson Welles' films. They're not bad, just dated.

lol I just watched the trailer...Alison Brie and Alice Eve look perfectly fine...beuaitful women.

Great sports movie that is a great rom-com and a great satire is Semi-Tough, based on a Dan Jenkins novel, starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, and Jill Clayburg.

One of the great lines in any rom-com is Jill Clayburg character saying to Burt Reynolds's
"How come we never ****ed?" To which Reynolds replied, "Didn't we?"

Pure rom-com. Many of us have those exact kinds of relationships.

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