The best sports movies of all time, from 'Field of Dreams' to 'Challengers'

Before shooting Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese gave this influential movie a spin or two. Robert Ryan is an over-the-hill boxer who must either throw his last fight or risk a cement-shoe trip to Palookaville. This is the kind of resourceful, no-budget noir craft that still prompts film lovers to bow down to RKO, despite all the crap the studio gave Orson Welles, etc.—Joshua Rothkopf

The characters are U.S. track-and-fielders striving to qualify for the women’s team headed for the 1980 Olympics (a Games the States would boycott). But what will always set this drama apart is its exploration of physical attraction between same-sex competitors, presented in an honest, nonexploitative manner. Side note: Here’s how you do arm wrestling.—Joshua Rothkopf

Pat O’Brien may have played the titular character in this ode to the legendary Notre Dame football figurehead, but it’s Ronald Reagan’s gridiron all-star, George Gipp, who inspired football’s most famous inspirational motto: “Let’s win one for the Gipper!” So many coaches have quoted the movie’s line that Reagan’s estate should be paid annual royalties.—David Fear

Hollywood legend Errol Flynn shines as real-life boxer Jim Corbett: scrappy, arrogant, proud and capable. Director Raoul Walsh serves the material with a minimum of showiness; it was reportedly the star’s favorite role and the acting is definitely the high-point here, not the fight scenes.—Joshua Rothkopf

The director, Stacy Peralta, was a teenage celebrity in the late-’70s: a SoCal skateboarder whose revolutionary style got him all the way to a cameo on Charlie’s Angels. His affectionate, irreverent profile of his fearless comrades plays more like a rock documentary, the band broken up by money, endorsements and bad luck.—Joshua Rothkopf

Long before he sang about MacArthur Park and leaving that cake out in the rain, Richard Harris made a name for himself with this angry-young-man drama in which a English North Country miner becomes a local rugby star. It’s British class warfare and disillusionment at its finest, crafted by an inspired filmmaker in his prime, Lindsay Anderson (If…).—Joshua Rothkopf

Fueled by a scrappy, improvisatory energy, this prison-set boxing drama pits a recently incarcerated heavyweight champ (Ving Rhames) against a yard favorite (Wesley Snipes). Apart from the imminent clash of fists and egos, there’s a fascinating side plot concerning promotion, masterminded by elderly con Peter Falk in one of his craftiest turns.—Joshua Rothkopf

The biceps are watermelon-size, the grunts deafening and the imposed narratives a little dodgy. But boring this docudrama is not. Mainly, it serves as a fascinating peek at two future superstars, Arnold Schwarzenegger (witty and already a ham) and TV-Hulk-to-be Lou Ferrigno, his chief competition for the title of Mr. Olympia.—Joshua Rothkopf

No film better captures the psych-out art of athletic trash-talking than Ron Shelton’s ode to playground B-ballers. Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes display serious game on the court, but it’s the way they gracefully ace lines like “Still throwing up bricks? What is this, a mason’s convention?” that makes the duo so dynamic.—David Fear

This box-office blockbuster gave us Tom Cruise as a redemption-seeking sports agent and spawned the oft-quoted catchphrase “Show me the money!” Writer-director Cameron Crowe was only on the ascent at this point in his career, balancing revelatory performances (especially from Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Renée Zellweger) with sharp comic moments and uplift.—Joshua Rothkopf

For every Adrián Beltré success story (he was signed to the Dodgers at age 15 and transitioned well), there are a dozen Dominican players like the fictional composite Miguel “Sugar” Santos—a talented pitcher hacking it out in the U.S. minor leagues. Filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden lay on the culture clashes beautifully, but it’s the dangling promise of the American Dream that really gets this movie hitting fly balls over the fence.—David Fear

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy play a golf pro and her shady but lovable manager in this likable example of the duo’s relaxed chemistry. That’s really Hepburn on the course, a natural athlete with a beautiful swing. Hepburn and Tracy, a real-life couple offscreen, make a totally captivating pair, even as the story gets complicated.—Joshua Rothkopf

Before there was a beloved TV series, there was Peter Berg’s feature film about high-school football in Texas—a lyrical, stirring look at the way communities revolve around their pigskin heroes. Even a viewer who doesn’t know a punt from a pass could understand how these games could give an economically gutted small town something to believe in.—David Fear

With the Rocky franchise down for the count, a spin-off involving the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed hardly seemed like a surefire way of lifting the IP off the mat. But Ryan Coogler’s reboot is easily the best instalment since the original. It hits many of the same beats – troubled kid gets knocked down, gets back up again, earns the respect of his city – but Michael B Jordan brings a star-making tenacity to the role of Adonis Creed, while Sylvester Stallone finds new life in Rocky Balboa, his initially reluctant trainer.—Matthew Singer

This is the moment when baseball becomes golden-hued pageantry onscreen, the diamond dappled with sunbeams and the promise of redemption. Even if the film changed the ending of Bernard Malamud’s classic novel, there’s no doubting the genius of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (Zooey’s dad) and effortless star Robert Redford.—Joshua Rothkopf

Surf documentaries existed before, but no other cultural artefact has done more to spread the gospel of surfing than director Bruce Brown’s quest to film the perfect wave. Following two California beach bros as they literally chase summer sun and massive swells around the globe, it makes tuning in, dropping out and hanging ten look like the essence of freedom – which, in all likelihood, is probably correct.—Matthew Singer

A racehorse takes center stage here, as a taciturn but sensitive trainer (Chris Cooper) and a gifted jockey (Tobey Maguire) come along for the ride. If you know the outcomes of these contests, there’s not much suspense here. Still, Gary Ross’s screenplay has sociopolitical resonance, foregrounding the Depression-era dreamers that turned this wobbly bay colt into a symbol of resilience.—Joshua Rothkopf

Japan’s first hosting of the Games in 1964 was considered a massively important moment for national rebranding. After testy Akira Kurosawa was taken off the plum assignment, the job went to the more flexible Kon Ichikawa, who produced an unusually thorough and artful tribute to both winners and losers.—Joshua Rothkopf

Wax on, wax off and practice your crane before you see this classic bit of ’80s uplift. Make Mr. Miyagi proud. But don’t be surprised if you secretly wipe away a tear or two: Hollywood really knew how to construct a coming-of-age movie in the Reagan era. Ralph Macchio is excellent (“the best around,” you might say) and this movie delivers a roundhouse of an emotional kick.—Joshua Rothkopf

Tom Courtenay gives a classic angry-young-man performance as a borstal boy who starts training for a race while in the juvie clink. You’ll consider his final act either heroic or downright foolish and nihilistic; we’re still undecided, which only adds to the film’s greatness.—Joshua Rothkopf

Leave it to Oliver Stone to make you enjoy feeling like a tossed-around pigskin. His absorbing look at a fictional pro-football team and the veteran coach trying to lead them to victory (Al Pacino at full bellow) packs a testosterone-filled blitz into two-and-a-half thrillingly steroidal hours.—Keith Uhlich

Several Iranian female soccer fans are detained at the stadium gates (women aren’t allowed to attend such taboo “male” events) and engage in a dialogue with the guards about the ridiculousness of it all. Never one to shy away from pressing issues, censored director Jafar Panahi debates the topic of his society’s sanctioned sexism with a more whimsical (and more winning) tone than usual.—Joshua Rothkopf

Dennis Christopher refuses to be just another Indiana nobody…so why not pretend to be a champion Italian cyclist? Peter Yates’s feel-good sports drama says a lot about the allure of competitive biking, but this is really a movie about relying on your teammates—the friends who’ll always get you across the finish line.—David Fear

Even if all you remember is that shot of Olympians running on the beach to Vangelis’s pounding synth score, it’s fine. Sometimes a great sports movie only needs sweat and exhilaration. Return to the story, though, and you’ll be beguiled by a real-life tale of British resolve, imperial hauteur and religious tolerance.—Joshua Rothkopf

In John Huston’s engrossing drama, Stacy Keach plays a past-his-prime boxer who acts as both mentor and rival to cocky up-and-comer Jeff Bridges. The ensemble is stellar—especially Susan Tyrrell as a belligerent barfly—and ace cinematographer Conrad L. Hall brings out the seedy poetry of the back-alley California setting.—Keith Uhlich

This uplifting drama about the U.S. hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Olympics is a fabulous paean to coaching. Kurt Russell fully transforms himself body and soul into impassioned trainer Herb Brooks, never shying away from his character’s family-neglecting obsessiveness, even while delivering spirited speeches that would have amateurs entering the rink.—Keith Uhlich

The mightiest of football movies enters the world of pro athletics through the beer-and-drug-laced locker room, the debauched lifestyle and endless partying. Intended as a satirical comedy, the darker truth of the circus surrounding the game lingers, as does a terrific Nick Nolte performance as a hero past his prime.—Joshua Rothkopf

Not a small number of film lovers—those who see themselves in these foulmouthed little-leaguers—would call this one of the key movies of the ’70s. They wouldn’t be wrong: Subversively, it’s a comedy that revels in the dirty nature of American competition, criticizing it as well as celebrating it to the operatic strains of Carmen.—Joshua Rothkopf

Small-town athletes make good in this enthralling underdog drama about a gruff coach with a checkered past (a terrific Gene Hackman) who leads his high-school basketball team to the state championships. Dennis Hopper is especially memorable as an alcoholic father given a redemptive second chance to get on the winning side.—Keith Uhlich

Fans were still mourning the death of legendary pinstriper Lou Gehrig when Sam Wood’s film about the first baseman hit screens, barely a year after his passing. This tip of the cap was the perfect salve to their grief. Gary Cooper’s “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech captures the dignity, grace and resolve of one of the game’s true MVPs.—David Fear

The legacy of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl will always be tarred by her willing association with the Nazi Party: She directed the towering Triumph of the Will (1935), a landmark of propaganda, and stuck around Germany long enough to enjoy the good life as a pet artist of the Reich. Yet Riefenstahl was also the inspired mind behind this stylish account of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a classic piece of sports glorification. Among its innovations are the tracking shot through cheering crowds, the prerace close-up of a concentrated athlete’s face and the balletic filming of divers seemingly in defiance of gravity. Rising to the occasion, Riefenstahl celebrated the physique of multiple-medal winner Jesse Owens; disturbingly, the film cuts to Adolf Hitler, impressed. In many ways, the movie is a utopian fantasy.—Joshua Rothkopf

Blessed with total access to what would be a seismic, symbolic event, documentary director Leon Gast headed to Zaire, Africa, to capture 1974’s “Rumble in the Jungle,” the apotheosis of Muhammad Ali’s legend. Among the many subjects straying in front of Gast’s perceptive camera are wire-haired promoter Don King, sports writers Norman Mailer and George Plimpton, soul godfather James Brown (on fire in performance) and pitiless dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, grabbing the world’s attention. But all eyes ultimately turn to the fleet-tongued Ali, charming in his training routine and fierce against George Foreman via the celebrated “rope-a-dope.” Ali’s connection with crowds of cheering Zaireans became a spiritual bond, one that turned him into a global icon of pride and power.—Joshua Rothkopf

It takes a certain kind of man to get behind the wheel of a Formula One race car and strategically outmaneuver other speed demons while going 200mph—and the late Ayrton Senna was most certainly that kind of man. Asif Kapadia’s documentary on the Brazilian world champion keeps talking-head testimonies and expert voiceovers to the barest minimum. Instead, he tells Senna’s story almost entirely through footage of press conferences, vintage interviews with the star himself and the races, as seen from the cockpit-cam—there’s virtually no separation between Senna the person and the Senna the driver, who took home three top F1 trophies. Kapadia’s movie doesn’t spend the bulk of its running time fixating on the loss of a great sportsman; instead, it celebrates his accomplishments and lets viewers laud Senna’s remarkable life one lap at a time.—David Fear

For all the high-minded glory of honorable competition, you don’t get a complete picture of sports without a healthy dose of animal rage, vulgarity and shameless rule-breaking. This is where George Roy Hill’s beloved hockey comedy comes in: It undermines the lure of winning with an appeal to the worst instincts. Player-coach Paul Newman leads a squad of ruffians who resort to on-ice fighting to spur interest. The ploy doesn’t work long-term, but for a brief moment in a mill town demoralized by unemployment (the team itself becomes a rumored sell-off), the fans have something worth shouting about. Bloodlust courses through the veins of the film, lending it an unholy potency. And before you call it a “guy movie,” know that the script was written by quick-witted Nancy Dowd (inspired by her hockey-playing brother).—Joshua Rothkopf

Wrestling may be ‘fake’, but the dangers in the ring, and the lifestyle surrounding it, are very real. Darren Aronofsky pierces the sport’s veil of inauthenticity with a fictional story many fans will nonetheless find depressingly familiar. Mickey Rourke is Randy ‘the Ram’ Robinson, a former ’80s star turned self-described ‘broken down piece of meat’ reduced to working grisly hardcore matches in sparsely attended New Jersey rec centers. Rourke, a bit of a distressed slab of beef himself, certainly knows the character, if not the profession, and the lived-in pathos he brings to the role earned him an unlikely Oscar nod. As for Randy the Ram, a comeback is not the same as redemption — it’s the rare sports movie to argue that when life goes for the pin, maybe it’s best to accept defeat.—Matthew Singer

After scoring as the screenwriter of Animal House and Meatballs, Harold Ramis made his directorial debut with this hilarious comedy set at an exclusive golf course. Initially the film was supposed to focus on the teenage caddies played by Michael O’Keefe and Scott Colomby, but cast members Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield and Bill Murray began improvising, brilliantly. What could have been an unmemorable youth comedy became an endlessly quotable classic, from Murray’s famous “Cinderella story” tee-off (created entirely in the moment) to Dangerfield’s bull-in-a-china-shop quips (“Hey, baby, you must’ve been something before electricity”). Tiger Woods has cited this snobs-versus-slobs satire as a personal favorite (snooty Ted Knight types need not apply), and animatronic gophers with a taste for Kenny Loggins agree it’s a hole in one.—Keith Uhlich

Baseball’s finest comedy celebrates the sport in ways that are often overlooked: the long stretches of bum luck, the wispiness of job security, the transient thrill of a valiant at-bat. (Writer-director Ron Shelton had played in the minors and became the go-to guy for authentic scripts.) The movie sets up its themes via three wonderfully complex characters: Catcher “Crash” Davis (Kevin Costner at the peak of his likability) is the aging also-ran, clutching to memories of a 21-day stint in “the Show” while struggling to stay relevant as a leader in the single-A leagues. Annie (Susan Sarandon) is the superfan, luring fresh players to her bed while depositing serious wisdom. And “Nuke” LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) is the goofy hotshot pitcher, undisciplined and the future of the game. The three of them make up a triangle of need and resentment, undergirding a movie of rare grace. (It’s really about the game of life.)—Joshua Rothkopf

Arthur Agee is a wispy kid who worships Isiah Thomas; William Gates is a soft-spoken young man with a killer layup. Both of these 14-year-old NBA hopefuls will see their lives change drastically over the next five years, but the one constant remains basketball. Filmmaker Steve James followed Agee and Gates around Chicago throughout their respective high-school careers, and what he emerged with was something much deeper than a look at up-and-coming B-ballers. This is the ultimate real-life portrait of what sports mean to young men of a certain social class and background, and how the ability to consistently get the fast break offers a ticket to a better life (or doesn’t). By this epic film’s end, you’ll have a better understanding of how the game is played—and how sometimes the game can play you.—David Fear

Martin Scorsese’s evocative black-and-white biopic about real-life brawler Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) is an intensely physical movie, tracing with operatic grandeur its protagonist’s life from volatile middleweight contender to an obese has-been. The punches land hard in and out of the ring—LaMotta’s confrontations with his long-suffering wife (Cathy Moriarty) and loyal-to-a-fault brother (Joe Pesci) often seem bloodier than any of the astonishingly visceral slugfests. It’s also a deeply spiritual film, in no small part due to De Niro’s monastic commitment to the role. His much publicized regimen—training with LaMotta himself to get into tip-top fighting condition, then plumping himself up for the final scenes via a four-month eating binge—is the ultimate in actorly sacrifice.—Keith Uhlich

He’s called a bum, a chump, a never-was—even a “tomato.” Truthfully, if you were to watch boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in his two-bit amateur matches, you’d think he was on the express train to Palookaville. But Philly’s forgotten son is about to get a once-in-a-lifetime chance: challenging the heavyweight champ. Written by its star (who insisted he play the lead), this Oscar-winning hit is the ne plus ultra of underdog movies, the story of every guy who’s been pegged a loser so many times that he believes it. Then Bill Conti’s iconic score kicks in and, suddenly, Rocky becomes a symbol for finding the true winner in all of us. It’s a Cinderella story pumped up to perfection, the kind that gets you out of your seat and cheering the way real athletic events do. By the time Stallone’s battered everyhero steps into the ring with Apollo Creed, it doesn’t matter whether he gets the belt. The man has “gone the distance”—and that makes him the victor.—David Fear