One thing I sometimes like to do when I talk to high school baseball players is ask about their favorite baseball movie. The only other sport with a high volume of quality movies is football, so many people tend to latch onto a movie and defend it to the death.
I want to see where today’s high-schoolers stand, though. In my opinion, neither sport has seen a great movie since 2004 (“Friday Night Lights”). And, for baseball, 1999 (“For the Love of the Game”).
So, when someone seven or eight years my junior tells me that the “The Sandlot” is their favorite baseball movie, I rejoice. I love that movie, and I was only 3 years old when it came out. And, it also means that everyone is forgetting that “Benchwarmers” ever was made.
When I talked to Athlete of the Week Luke Heyer this week, he went with “For the Love of the Game” — the first time in a little while that someone hasn’t said “The Sandlot.” That made me think: What would I say, if I were in the athlete’s position during this interview?
Football: “Varsity Blues” (1998). There are better football movies out there — “Any Given Sunday” and “Rudy” come to mind — but I will never not watch this movie when it’s on TV. It’s got every late-90s sports movie trope to its name: rebellious teens played by actors in their mid-20s, girl trouble and completely implausible situations involving house parties and police officers. It also has a great scenery-chewing cast, with names like Jon Voight, James Van Der Beek (whose Texas accent is, well, questionable) and the late Paul Walker. It’s not the ultimate popcorn movie, but I’ve never regretted watching it.
Baseball: “The Sandlot” (1993). I always have trouble choosing between this movie and Robert Redford’s “The Natural,” because both touch upon my favorite plot devices for sports movies. One could almost call “The Natural” a superhero movie, because Roy Hobbs (Redford) is essentially given Superman’s backstory and Mike Trout’s talents — at an advanced age. But “The Sandlot” hits on how much fun it is/was to be a kid and play sports, and it does it better than any kid-oriented sports movie. Lighthearted enough for young audiences, quotable enough for all ages.
Hockey: “Miracle” (2004). Although the movie focuses more on coach Herb Brooks than the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Team, it’s probably better off that way. Brooks was an interesting, quotable guy (“You’re playing worse and worse every day and, right now, you’re playing like it’s next month.”), and Kurt Russell did a great job in the lead role. Even if you’re not a hockey fan, the in-game action was captured well enough for anyone to follow. The real Herb Brooks never got to see this movie, as he died during its production, but the filmmakers gave him a great shout-out at the end: “He never saw it. He lived it.”
Basketball: “Space Jam” (1996). It’s a shame that basketball, arguably the most exciting of America’s big sports, has been given the cold shoulder by Hollywood. I’d love to say “Hoosiers” is my favorite basketball movie ever, but I can’t write about something I’ve never seen. It’s also telling that (arguably) the second-best basketball movie ever was the critically panned “Space Jam,” starring Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes. I don’t know if calling this movie a “guilty pleasure” is accurate, though, because I don’t think that anybody in my generation does not like this movie. I rank this above “He Got Game,” because Jordan was somehow better at acting like a nice person than Ray Allen was at acting … period.
Golf: “Caddyshack” (1980). A who’s-who of comedy icons (Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield) highlight this one, which may still be the funniest sports movie ever made. A high-schooler (Michael O’Keefe) works at a country club during the summer to raise enough money to pay for college and is eventually caught up in the middle of a bet between Dangerfield’s character and a judge (Ted Knight). Meanwhile, Bill Murray spends all of his time attempting to catch and remove a pesky gopher, eventually turning to drastic measures that affect the entire golf course. No golfer should be unfamiliar with this movie.
If someone were to ask me about my favorite sports movie in general, though, I’m going with “Rocky IV” (1985). Yeah, the first two movies are classics. But, I don’t think there’s a better 1980s popcorn movie out there, which is saying something for a Sylvester Stallone vehicle — the same guy who also starred in “Over the Top,” a movie about truckers and arm wrestling.
“Rocky IV” hits you with a major plot twist early on and serves up a towering, hilariously stereotypical villain, international tension, the greatest training montage in history and a fight of epic proportions to wrap it all up.