Top 10 Football Movies
I should probably update this article since I wrote it in 2000. I love fantasy football, but I also enjoy a good flick. So I’ll make some popcorn, grab a Mexican Coke (that’s the one in the bottle) and sit back in my recliner and watch one of these classic movies in the comfort of my living room.
10. All the Right Moves (1983) Tom Cruise
Plot: A high school footballer desperate for a scholarship and his headstrong coach clash in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.
The Commish Kit says: “Stef (Cruise) wants out of his crappy town. The only way out is to get a football scholarship so he can become an architect. He loses the big game on a pass interference call. Gets into a fight with the coach, trashes the coach’s house, gets thrown off the football team, and loses any shot at getting a scholarship. All the wrong moves. It’s a pretty good movie for its time.”
9. Brian’s Song (1970) James Caan
Plot: Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.
The Commish Kit says: “Can’t go wrong with Jimmy Caan.”
Plot: When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent sports agent with the only athlete who stays with him.
The Commish Kit says: “‘Show me Da Money!’ It’s a football movie that turns into a chick flick.”
7. Remember The Titans (2000) Denzel Washington
Plot: The true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit.
The Commish Kit says: “A bit Predictable, but it is inspiring and entertaining.”
6. Any Given Sunday (1999) Jamie Foxx, Al Pacino
Plot: “Any Given Sunday” is a behind-the-scenes look at the life and death struggles of modern-day gladiators and those who lead them.
The Commish Kit says: “The football scenes are great. Probably as real a flick about what happens in modern-day football. Jamie Fox was great as Steamin’ Willie Beamen, the third-string QB who ends up becoming an overnight sensation.”
5. Friday Night Lights (2004) Billy Bob Thorton
Plot: Based on H.G. Bissinger‘s book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas, and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.
The Commish Kit says: “Tim McGraw is great as the alcoholic father. Just like Varsity Blues but more serious. The kids are under a lot of pressure from the town to win.”
4. Varsity Blues (1999) James Van Der Beek
Plot: In the town of West Canaan, Texas, football is a way of life, but for Jonathan “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek), he has just about enough of it.
The Commish Kit says: “Mox has had enough of it until he starts winning and starts getting a lot of perks. Like chicks (Ali Larter) in whipped cream bikinis. Based loosely on the book Friday Night Lights. It’s a good look at how many small towns live vicariously through the High School football team. The best scene is when the team goes to the strip club, and their teacher is dancing on stage.”
3. Rudy (1993) Sean Astin
Plot: Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.
The Commish Kit says: “You end up rooting for Rudy.”
2. North Dallas Forty (1979) Nick Nolte
Plot: Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.
The Commish Kit says: “This film tells the tale of pro football like it really is.”
1. The Longest Yard (1974) Burt Reynolds
Plot: A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
The Commish Kit says: “Bar none the best football flick ever. Some have even said that this is the best prison movie ever. The best line was by caretaker: ‘Oh, I ain’t saying you did, or you didn’t. All I’m saying is that you could have robbed banks, sold dope, or stole your grandmother’s pension checks, and none of us would have minded. But shaving points off of a football game, man that’s un-American.'”
The best of the rest:
Something for Joey (1977) Marc Singer
Black Sunday (1977) Robert Shaw
Quarterback Princess (1985) Helen Hunt
The Last Boyscout (1991) Bruce Willis
Everybody’s All American (1998) Dennis Quaid
Semi-Tough (1977) Burt Reynolds
The Replacements (2000) Keanu Reeves
The Waterboy (1998) Adam Sandler
-The Commish
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