Thursday, December 31, 2009

Sports movies you haven't seen but probably should

According to Dictionary.com sport is defined as:
–noun 1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

In no particular order, a list of sports movies that you should probably see...

1) Long Gone (1987) Starring William Peterson as Cecil "Stud" Cantrell as the manager/star of the Tampico Stogies, a step above bush-league minor league team. This movie is set in the south during the height of racism in America. The team acquires a power hitting catcher named Joe Louis Brown (Larry Riley) but Sud has to tell the owners of the team that he's Venezuelan to avoid racial problems. Of course, the owners buy it but the rest of the league doesn't.
Peterson is great as the foul-mouthed leader of the team combining his love for baseball, booze and women and his knack for dolling out pearls of wisdom (Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke is his signature line) to lead his team on a run to the league championship. This is one of my favorite baseball movies and is definitely worth your time.

2) Poolhall Junkies (2002) Now before you tell me that shooting pool isn't a sport, read the definition I posted at the top of this posting.
Mars Callahan wrote, directed and starred in this story about a hustler (Johnny) that once had dreams of becoming a professional but was kept out of it by his backer Joe, played brilliantly by Chazz Palminteri. Once Johnny finally breaks away from Joe and leaves the life of a pool shark behind, a thrililng ride of violence and some excellent pool playing (including trick shots) and plot lines come to life. His little brother Danny (Michael Rosenbaum) unwittingly gets into trouble with Joe after losing to his newest shark, played by Rick Shroder. Johnny has to come out of his semi-retirement to rescue his little brother from the trouble he's in... plus Christopher Walken is in the movie! If you liked The Hustler and The Color of Money, then you have to see Poolhall Junkies.

3) Little Giants (1994) Ok. I admit that this isn't the best movie out there, but it's a fun litte film with some pretty funny one-liners. Little Giants stars Ed O'Neill and Rick Moranis as the O'Shea brothers (Kevin and Danny). Kevin (O'Neill) won a Heisman Trophey in college and lives in his small hometown as a sports hero and uses his social staus to be a successful car salesman. Danny (Moranis) is his younger, unathletic brother that was always in his shadow. After Kevin holds tryouts for the town's pee-wee football team (the Cowboys), the players that were cut decide to form their own team (Giants) and Danny is pegged as their coach.
There isn't anything groundbreaking about the movie and it's plot. In fact, you can probably guess which team wins the big game, but it is a fun movie that has O'Neill fresh off his 'Married, with Children' days, Rick Moranis and teen sensation Devon Sawa as the quarterback of the Giants. There's also a cameo by John Madden and some NFL players in a motivatinoal moment for the young tykes before their big game.

1 comment:

  1. Honorable Mentions?

    Rad - Any BMX race called Helltrack works for me.

    Johnny B. Goode - Anthony Michael Hall as a football star that shows off how truly corrupt the football factories could be in the late 80's
    Also a very hot, young Uma.

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