The sports Top 10 is a difficult list to assess. How many truly good sports movies are there, and I ask this as a sports fan? Raging Bull (1980) is arguably the greatest film of the 1980s, and Rocky (1976) was a little labor of love, far from the semi-joke blockbuster that it is often remembered as in light of its sequels. They likely deserve their places at the top of the list, especially Raging Bull.
As to the rest of the films, I have a lot of affection for Breaking Away (1979) and really, it's a lovely little film that I'd put higher on the list. I also like Hoosiers (1986) and Bull Durham (1988), but they both have obvious flaws (as Anne-Marie noted, the basketball film falls short in its depiction of the on-the-court action; the final is especially poorly paced and shot and edited in an oblique way. I've always thought that Bull Durham's final act stretched on a little too long, needlessly deferring Annie and Crash's final settling in together). For the remainder, well, I don't have much good or much bad to say about any of them; I can see why each ended up on the list, with the possible exception of Jerry Maguire (1996), which seems a stretch as a sports film even by the AFI's definition (“a genre of films with protagonists who play athletics or other games of competition” - I don't see how either of the leads meet this standard). However, I would struggle to find a replacement. Tin Cup (1996)? Cross-apply Field of Dreams (1989) from the fantasy list? How about Downhill Racer (1969) or Slap Shot (1977)? (And I'll just admit right now that I have nothing to say about football films as I don't care or know much about the game). I dunno. I think that this genre is doubly cursed for being both a genre and about sports, two aspects of American life that are seen as culturally “lesser” in many circles. So, as a result, you get films that are either goofy comedies or fairly predictable dramas. The best films on the AFI Top 10 do better than that, but only Raging Bull, I think, can be considered great cinema.
Link to introduction.
Originally posted on:
Short-Circuit Signs