Football movies

THE TOP DRAMATIC FOOTBALL MOVIES

1 - Rudy (1993) Sean Astin, Charles S. Dutton 
This is a great “real life story” movie about a kid from a working class family who dreams of going to Notre Dame and playing football there. His family and friends mock his vision, but he works hard to save enough money to get to South Bend, Indiana and enroll in junior college. Rudy was never a great student, but he quickly makes friends who help him through school and money problems. He finally gets a walk-on spot on the practice squad through sheer guts and determination. His triumph comes in the final scene when he actually gets to play in one real Notre Dame football game. Great performance by Dutton (Roc, Alien3) as the head grounds keeper who helps Rudy remember that college is really about getting an education. 

2 - Brian’s Song (1970) James Caan, Billy Dee Williams 
Probably the breakout modern football movie, the one that most others are founded on. A touching true story about the Chicago Bear’s Brian Piccolo and Gayle Sayers friendship that crossed racial and sports barriers that were still very real in the 1960s. Caan's portrayal of the stricken Piccolo was outstanding as was William’s (Star Wars) role as the young future star Sayers. Both played up the friendship that would define Sayers forever. Williams showed a very different side of the "Kansas Comet" that could not be seen on the film. And the film must have made a deep impression for showing black and white relationships in the '60s and the '70s - even using the "N" word on TV in a way that was actually not degrading. The made for TV movie won five Emmy ® awards. [Made for TV] 

3 - The Program (1993) James Caan 
A fine second performance by James Caan. I reevaluated this movie on the basis of a fan request. After watching it back to back with Any Given Sun day, the movie really looks good. It chronicles the life of a college football program, where winning is a must. The coaches want to do the right thing, but ultimately the University, the boosters and the fans demand wins. Caan must make tough choices to try to help his players not only win, but make it in life too. It also shows how players are on top one day, and discarded the next. I also remember that they took out a scene where a drunk player lays down in the road to show his machismo, after it was being copied by high school & college football players. 

4 - The Longest Yard (1974) Burt Reynolds 
Dramedy about a former football great who gets in trouble with the law. In jail he agrees to help out the mean spirited warden by training his semi-pro guard team and setting up a match with a jailhouse team. The big conflict comes during the game when Reynolds has to make a choice about his own dignity and that of his teammates who despise him for working for the warden. 

5 - Remember The Titans (2000) Denzel Washington, Will Patton 
Fresh faced Coach Boone (Washington - Glory) is hired as the T.C. Williams High football coach over a white coach in Alexandria, Virginia in the early 1970's during a time when the school has just been integrated to allow blacks into the school. 

6 - Everybody's All American (1988) Dennis Quaid, Jessica Lange 
Great story of football from the college gridiron to the top of the professional heap and back down after it's all over. Quaid plays Louisiana college star Gavin Grey who has it all in college. He marries the Homecoming Queen and gets drafted by the Washington Redskins. What could be better? He learns that the NFL is tougher than college and that life if harder too. After the NFL his life spirals out of control. He has to learn to live without football. Another movie you can take your non-football loving spouse to. 

7 - All the Right Moves (1983) Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson 
A typical story about a kid who wants to do better than the rest of his family and who wants to use his football talent as a ticket to college. Nelson is superb as the mean-spirited coach who tries to crush Cruise’s dreams after he dares to challenge his authority. Nelson finally gives in and shows some heart by helping Cruise get a scholarship, but only after Cruise anguishes over it for a while. 

8 - Jerry MaGuire (1996) Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. 
“Show Me The Money!” What else do you need to say about this movie that shows the dirtiest side of professional football - the agents and the money. Cruise and Gooding play an agent and an athlete that actually care about people more than the money. It is almost too hard to believe, but the story is loosely based in truth. Cuba’s performance was incredible and earned him a best supporting actor Oscar ®. Lots of cameos from real football players and coaches. And the rest of the story about MaGuire’s real life is fairly entertaining too! One of the few football movies that is also a great "date movie" to watch with your significant other. 

9 - North Dallas Forty (1979) Nick Nolte 
Tale of drugs and disillusionment in professional football of the seventies. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys of that time period. This movie shows how professional football players were required to give body and soul to help their teams win and keep their dynasty alive. The Cowboys denied any similarities at the time, but many former Cowboys have since reported that the movie was too close to the truth. 

10 - Varsity Blues (1999) James Van Der Beek 
A great story about how some parents live their athletic dreams through their children, and how some coaches let their kids run wild as long as they win under the lights on Friday night. Loosely based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book "Friday Night Lights," this movie shows the crudest side of high school football - the win at all cost attitude that overcomes many small towns in rural America, where a winning football season is the only decent thing to happen in town. Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) is solid but unimaginative as the backup QB who becomes the hero, but drops football to pursue academics. 

11 - Quarterback Princess (1985) Helen Hunt 
Touching (true life) story of a Canadian girl who goes against the odds in her new (early 1980s) American town by trying out for the varsity football team and winning! Pretty good movie about gender relations in the US and in sports and how far they still needed to go, even in the 1980s. A young Hunt (Mad About You) does a pretty good job as a gritty tom-girl who just wants to play football. [NR - Made for TV] 

12 - Any Given Sunday (1999) Dir. Oliver Stone, Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid 
A story about the win at all cost life in professional football. It pits the owners, players, media, trainers and coaches against each other as they each try to win the game and make the most money while doing it. But who is really in control? This movie is far and above all others as the loudest football movie so far, with a rap and heavy metal soundtrack that is designed to offend anyone under the age of 25. The violence and greed factor are only topped by the number of curse words per minute. But it does have the best, most game-like football action scenes I've ever watched. The full frontal nudity, drugs and open prostitution drag down a good story - but add to the realism. Cameos by Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor and Charlton Heston as the commish. 

13 - Black Sunday (1977) 
A way out there account of how terrorists might try to attack the Super Bowl. Read the Tom Clancy book “Sum of All Fears” if you really want to do it right. The only up side to this movie is that it was shot at a real Super Bowl in Miami. Cameos by Joeseph Robbie and Pat Summerall. 

TOP FIVE COMEDIC FOOTBALL MOVIES

1 - Best of Times (1986) Robin Williams, Kurt Russell 
In this somewhat serious comedy about the regrets of youth, Williams plays a man obsessed with his missed opportunity on the gridiron. He sees his missed catch in the championship game as a turning point in his life and has felt like a failure ever since. Williams concocts a plan to reunite his whole team and that of the nearby town he lost to in high school for a rematch. Russell plays the down and out former quarterback star who helps him put it together so he can have one last shot at glory. The comedy and the story wind down to the game day where you think that Williams will never get his chance at redemption - but he does rewrite history and makes the catch to be a hero. This is a movie for all those who wished they had another chance to beat up on the state champs if they could. 

2 - Necessary Roughness (1991) Scott Bakula, Kathy Ireland, Sinbad 
OK, maybe it didn’t win any awards or any points with the critics, but it was funny. The movie was loosely based on Southern Methodist University’s return to football after facing the NCAA’s death penalty. Bakula plays a over the hill quarterback who skipped college to work the family farm after his father’s death. The new coach recruits him to help start a clean, by the book team at the Texas college. Bakula and Sinbad ham it up with a lot of laughs and funny moments as they try to teach a group of walk-on misfits how to win. 

3 - The Waterboy (1998) Adam Sandler, Henry Winkler 
Hilarious comedy farce about a waterboy who becomes a football star for a tiny Louisiana college. The movie follows the rise to fame of a dedicated waterboy who is fired from big time Louisiana University and who then volunteers to work for free at a tiny rival school. Sandler’s waterboy finally has enough of being picked on and goes ballistic by tackling the quarterback. Coach Winkler (Happy Days) sees his potential as a linebacker. Lots of funny lines and moments pass as the season progresses and the waterboy finds a new life as a football player. The climax comes when Sandler leads his team to victory in the Bourbon Bowl. A great underdog becomes the winner type of film. 

4 - Wild Cats (1986) Goldie Hawn, Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson 
Funny comedy about a woman football coach at a tough inner city school. Hawn first has to prove to the team that she is tough enough, then she has to prove that her crew of rejects has the right stuff to win. Hawn is funny in any role and she does well here with help from up and coming stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson (before they were famous). There is one scene full of cameos from NFL and former NFL players who pose as a prison scrimmage team. 

5 - The Replacements (2000) Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, John Madden 
Comdey loosely based on the 1987 NFL "Scab" season. Never-do-well quarterback (Reeves Point Break, The Matrix) is picked up by a Replacement coach to finish out the regular season for the Washington franchise that was doing pretty well before the strike (just like the '87 Redskins). The regulars do everything they can to make life tough on the scabs, while the scabs have a hard time learning how to play as a team with little prep time. Too many of the best comedy moments were taken directly from Necessary Roughness. The highlight of the movie has to be the Welsh kicker. 

6 - Johnny Be Good (1987) Anthony Micheal Hall, Robert Downey Jr. 
A comedy-expose on the evils of the college recruiting system. The ending is just too sicky sweet. This movie could have been great if they had chosen to do it as a drama instead. Unfortunately this movie is now currently on video. Cameos by the late Howard Cosell and Jim McMahon. 

List of Unseen Football Movies

Knute Rockne: All American (1940) Pat O’Brien, Ronald Reagan 
Classic story about the great Notre Dame coach who leads his team to victory after his star player George Gipp (Reagan - yes the former president) dies. This is the movie with the famous “win one for the Gipper” scene that is replayed in Rudy. [NR] 
Jim Thorpe All-American (1951) Burt Lancaster 
Story of one of the greatest American athletes of all time. Thorpe was an American Indian who defied rascism to become an outstanding athlete in baseball, track and football. He was stripped of his gold medals by the Olympic committee for playing professional sports. [NR] 

Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story (1994) 
Made for TV movie starring Peter Berg as the fallen football star who is given a second chance at life. He credits the help of God and his faith in helping him walk just three months after breaking his neck.  

Gift of Love - The Daniel Huffman Story (HBO - 1999) Debbie Reynolds, Ed Marinaro, cameo by Bobby Bowden 
Not just about football but life. True story of a high school kid who is very close to his grandma and gives her one of his kidneys to save her life. A good one and the whole family can see. 

A Triumph of the Heart: The Rickey Bell Story (1991) - Mario Van Peebles, Marcus Allen 
A made for TV movie in the mode of "Brian's Song." Ricky Bell, an All-Pro running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who died of a rare muscle disease in the prime of his career. The plot centers on Bell's relationship with a father-less handicapped boy, and his efforts to be a big brother to him. The boy ends up being an inspiration for Bell when his disease makes the athlete more afflicted than the boy. 


This list was originally made by Rob.