......there hasn't been a new good one in years. Last night I was lucky enough to come across the Disney movie The Mighty Ducks. It was a staple in the '80's and early '90's (not the actual Mighty Ducks movies) but sports movies and good ones at that, before they started using animals as the saviors of sports teams. When you think of sports movies I'm sure we all have different ideas of great ones. I automatically think of Slapshot, The Longest Yard (the original not Adam Sandler's remake....all though I liked it too) or maybe the Mighty Ducks. If you are American you probably think of the Miracle on Ice or Mystery Alaska, but the Miracle on Ice is American Propaganda and Russell Crowe was in Mystery Alaska so it sucks for that reason. I just don't understand why out of all the great sports stories in history or all of the writers, directors and production companies why someone can't come up with a good sports movie. Perhaps everyone is too busy making movies about real life events like the end of the world or a clan of blue natives whom the army is at war with or Jack Dawson controlling your dreams. It's not that difficult to put together a sports movie, you just need to have an under dog, the hated rival and an inspirational story that ends with the movie fading to black with "We are the champions...." playing. So why no new sports movies? When did they lose their popularity or appeal? People still pay big money to watch live sport and some even pay hundreds a year in cable subscriptions to watch all kinds of sports everyday of the week. It seems to me as sports movies lost their steam it became about dancing movies or movies that used the same formula that a sports movie would use. Sports movies bring viewers to their feet, tears to their eyes and all in a different way than a Robert Pattenson or the final ending of Harry Potter. Over the years these great sports movies have made their respective production studios plenty of movie, Christ the Mighty Ducks created an NHL team! Sports movies of the early '90's gave fans of struggling francises hope. With the Major League movies came the end of years of losing for the Cleveland Indians who did make a World Series appearance in 1996. There was Little Big League and Rookie of the Year which took their teams from mediocrity to respectability. Don't get me wrong, I'm not attributing the sudden success of these teams to the fact that a movie was made about them, but it the movies provided hope.
Daer Hollywood,
Forget love stories or war movies, books turned into movies or disaster films. SPORTS!!! GO SPORTS GO!! Give me what I want! Sports and maybe Zombies....yeah a Zombie Sports Movie...it'll be just as good as Basketballs or even better!
Honorable Mention
- Happy Gilmore
- Blades of Glory (doesn't count as a sports movie because figure skating is an art, not a sport)
- Semi Pro
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