Top 20 Inspirational Sports Movies

Karate Kid

I attended six different schools between first and seventh grade. A few times, being the new kid meant getting beat up at school and, on one memorable occasion, finding the courage to fight back. I didn't have a Mr. Miyagi, a crane technique, or a cute blonde girlfriend. (She was brunette.) But when I saw "The Karate Kid" (1984), I knew it was my story.

I watched "The Karate Kid" again (87th time, give or take) a couple months ago with my 5-year-old. She's too young for it, but it was worth being a bad dad for one afternoon to see my daughter get mad at the bullies. When Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio) faced his enemies at the end, she got up and kicked her legs and flailed her arms, screaming, "Hi-ya!" She finally fell over and scraped her arm on the fireplace, just as Daniel hobbled his way to victory. As Johnny, the meanest of the meanies, acknowledged that he'd been beat ("You're alright, Larruso"), I wiped away my daughter's tears, then wiped mine.
--Patton Dodd

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Bend It Like Beckham

The summer of 2003 was a tumultuous time for me: My son was diagnosed with autism and my daughter was about to be born--and I feared having another baby with "special needs." A few days before Amal made her entrance, we went to see Gurindar Chadha's "Bend it Like Beckham" to get our mind off our worries. And it worked.

The story of Jess (Parminder Nagra), a David Beckham-idolizing soccer phenom forced to choose between her sport and her traditional Indian family--but who found a way to have it all--made me hopeful that I too could have it all. She loved soccer and her family enough to unite the two.

I walked out of that theater with my hand on my belly and felt that my daughter wouldn't just be fine, she'd be a firecracker like Jess. Five years later, Amal is our own active, feisty version of Jess. Ole, ole, ole!
--Dilshad Ali

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Cinderella Man

In the 2005 film "Cinderella Man," Russell Crowe plays the legendary heavyweight champion James Braddock, a washed-up boxer who struggles to take care of his wife Mae, played by Renee Zellweger, and three children during the Great Depression--often going hungry so that they could have a bit more to eat. When he gets an opportunity to start fighting again, he begrudgingly accepts, not for the fame, but to support his family, even fighting with a broken hand at times. As he starts winning more and more matches, he gets the chance of a lifetime--a title fight against Max Baer, the world heavyweight champion, known for having killed two men in the ring. In one of the film's most touching moments, Mae goes to church to pray for Crowe before the big fight and sees the church filled with people also praying for her husband.

Not knowing much about Braddock before watching this movie, I was surprised to learn that upon retiring from boxing, he helped build New York's Verrazano Bridge. I don't live far from this bridge, and every now and again when I cross it or see it in the distance, I remember this tidbit of information and think about the ordinary man who became a hero to his family, and so many others.
--Dena Ross

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The Jackie Robinson Story

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s and '50s, I was crazy about the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Jackie Robinson was my hero. We had a lot in common, I thought. We were both pigeon-toed. And he was a daredevil when running the bases, as was I. After Jackie stole home during the World Series, I tried barreling into the catcher myself, but with embarrassing results. Jackie's courage, though, is what I remember most.

At a time when blacks were excluded from many areas of American life, Jackie Robinson stood up for black people everywhere at great personal cost. In the 1950 film "The Jackie Robinson Story," Jackie plays himself just three years after he ended 80 years of segregation by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues. As a condition of his playing for the Dodgers, he was required by general manager Branch Rickey to keep his anger and frustration to himself--no matter what the provocation. And the provocations were many, including racial slurs, boos, abuse by other players, sitting at the back of the bus--the full, ugly gamut of racism. This film had a profound effect on me as a 7-year-old Dodgers fan. Robinson's inspiring example planted the seeds of social conscience in many of us who grew up in the '50s.
--Ken Schuman

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Rudy

It was 1993, and I was a senior, and too cool for school. My sister wanted to see this dumb movie, "Rudy," which was going to be so lame, so sentimental, so predictable, that there was no way I would like it. Been there, done that, and Sean Astin was a dweeb anyway. (This was before "Lord of the Rings," obviously. Although he's kinda a dweeb there, too, but that's what makes him so lovable.)

And that's the way it was for most of the movie...but then the ending happened. The part where pint-sized Rudy finally makes good on his dream of playing Notre Dame football. The music swells, the camera pans, the coach yells, "Alright, go get 'em kid," and Rudy races onto the field for a kickoff. Uh-oh. My chest tightens, and I'm grinning just like the people in the shots of the crowd. The music swells higher, the crowd chants "Rudy! Rudy!" and the Georgia Tech quarterback doesn't stand a chance. Neither do I--"Rudy" wins.
--Patton Dodd

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Hoosiers

You can't forget the scene: After getting to the state finals, the rural high school basketball team walks on the court where they will play and are instantly overwhelmed by the hugeness of it all. Coach Norman Dale surveys his team, and then pulls out a tape and measures the distance from the net to the floor. It's the same as in their gym at home. The tension lets up and the kids are ready to conquer Goliath.

In 1986, David Anspaugh's Oscar-nominated "Hoosiers" played all the clichés of the classic underdog sports movie: the unorthodox coach (Gene Hackman), his brilliant but drunken assistant (Dennis Hopper), the teacher (Barbara Hershey) trying to stop the best player from going out for the team, the doubting players who conquered their fears. Inspired by a true story, "Hoosiers" had a predictable outcome, but nevertheless I was a kid mesmerized and inspired by their victory. And I'm sure I wasn't the only one who cried.
--Dilshad Ali

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Ali

Michael Mann's 2001 biopic explores ten years in the life of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith. Set between 1964 and 1974, "Ali" is set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous times in American history: the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, the civil rights movement, the murder of Martin Luther King, and the onset of Vietnam.

What makes "Ali" (and, indeed, the life of Muhammad Ali) so memorable is the way the career of the fighter, considered by many to be untouchable in his greatness, reflected the fiery, passionate mood of the time. Smith's moving and pitch-perfect emulation of Ali shows the heart of a man who fought racism, religious discrimination, war and injustice the same way he fought in the ring: with all the majesty and potency of the human soul. The film also stars Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight.
--John Brooks

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Miracle

You can't read a list of top sports moments without seeing 1980's so-called "Miracle on Ice" (see?). And with good reason. It was the Cold War, the 1980 Winter Olympics was the world's biggest stage, and in beating the dreaded Soviet Union, the United States's team of scrappy amateurs upset the most dominant hockey team ever. Plus, Al Michaels delivered one of the most memorable sports calls of all time--"Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"--as the U.S sealed the 4-3 victory.

It's a story made for Hollywood, and Disney's "Miracle" (2004), starring Kurt Russell and Patricia Clarkson, gets it just right. Each character's story has a dip, then an arc, with redemption all around. The movie plays like good ol' home cooking--a generous helping of comfort food that makes you feel warm inside.
--Patton Dodd

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We Are Marshall

Based on the true story of the 1970 plane crash that killed almost the entire Marshall University football team, "We Are Marshall" (2006) was heart-breaking but incredibly inspirational nonetheless. After the crash--which killed all 75 on board--the university had to make the difficult decision of whether or not to rebuild the team. In one of the most memorable scenes, thousands of students gather on the lawn outside a school board meeting where the question is being discussed. The entire crowd shouts in unison, "We are Marshall"--a show of solidarity to demonstrate that the best way to honor the lives of those who died would be to play again. It makes me tear up just thinking about it.

The film stars Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox as coaches who attempt to convince the team's remaining players (those who were not on board the plane due to disciplinary actions or injury) to join a new team, as well as petition the NCAA to let freshman players on the varsity squad. The first year, that underdog team won only two games--their home opener and their homecoming.
--Dena Ross

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Pride

"Pride" retells the true story of Jim Ellis--played by Terrence Howard--and the dynamic all-black swim team that fought against crippling segregation to claim victory. Set against the gritty backdrop of Philadelphia in the 1970s, Ellis comes to the Philadelphia Department of Recreation by way of the unemployment line. He is sent there to pack boxes in preparation for the center's closing, but instead he uncovers a pool and rediscovers his passion for swimming. He works hard to spruce up the pool for no particular reason until he realizes that his star swimmers are on the basketball court without a hoop to shoot in--and in need of distraction from neighborhood drama. He invites them in to swim for fun, trains them for competition, and the rest is history.

There are incredible losses, amazing triumphs, many a teary-eyed moment, and lest I forget, plenty of laughter by way of comedian Bernie Mac who plays Ellis's acerbic sidekick, Elston.

I loved this movie because it reminded me that to achieve greatness, you must have a formula. PDR had pride, determination, and resilience, and I believe that's a formula we can all use. To have pride in who we are, determination to succeed, and resilience to dust ourselves off and keep moving toward our goals. To victory!
--Nicole Symmonds

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The Rookie

We've all heard the line, "It's never too late to follow your dreams," but it's rare that we come across someone who actually does go after these dreams after he or she thinks they're past their prime. The 2002 film "The Rookie," based on the true story of former Tampa Bay Devil Rays relief pitcher Jimmy Morris, stars Dennis Quaid as a teacher and high school baseball coach who at one time had a shot at pitching in the majors, but was hindered by an arm injury. As Morris coaches his losing team, he realizes he can still pitch well--though has no clue he's actually throwing 98 miles per hour, much faster than he did when he was playing on a minor league team. His students encourage Morris to try out for a Major League team, and Morris reluctantly agrees, but only if they make the playoffs, which, of course, they do. One by one, the players make sure they remind Morris that "It's your turn, coach."

I choke up during many scenes from this wonderful, family-friendly film: My favorite is when his former students show up--along with much of the town--to watch Morris play his first Major League game. The look of awe and amazement on the teens' faces as they enter a packed Rangers Ballpark is priceless, as is the look on Morris's face when he successfully finishes the game (by throwing three perfect strikeouts) and is greeted by all of his family and friends.
--Dena Ross

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A League of Their Own

There was a moment in the early 1990s when a movie about women wasn't a "chick flick," it was a movie with Geena Davis. First there was "Thelma & Louise," which gave us feminist outlaws and Brad Pitt's tush, and then there was "A League of Their Own," which followed a pioneering women's baseball league in World War II.

Based on a true story, the film is about two sisters who join the Rockford Peaches, an Illinois-based team created because there were no men around to fill stadiums.

The sisters (Geena Davis and Lori Petty) diverge when one succeeds and one flails--tension (and trading) ensue. The fantastic cast also includes Madonna (at her sassy rebel best), Jon Lovitz, Rosie O'Donnell, and Tom Hanks as the drunken coach ("There's no crying in baseball!"). Stereotypes are conquered, pitches are perfected, and, years later, the ladies realize that their early baseball struggles and victories not only shaped their own lives, but history.
--Valerie Reiss

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Field of Dreams

"If you build it, he will come." Who doesn't remember hearing that mysterious line from the 1989 "Field of Dreams," and getting a little bit nervous and a little bit excited all at the same time? This classic about baseball, believing, and forgiving stars Kevin Costner as Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who, upon hearing mysterious voices, comes to the conclusion that he needs to build a baseball diamond out in his cornfield. After a while, ghosts of former baseball players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox team--his deceased father's favorite team--start playing on his field.

At the end of the movie, in what is certainly the film's most touching scene, one of the players, Shoeless Joe Jackson, played by Ray Liotta, repeats the phrase "If you build it, he will come," glancing toward the catcher, who then removes his mask and reveals himself to be Kinsella's father as a young man, not yet "worn down by life." They then play an emotional game of catch--a beautiful father-son moment from beyond the grave.
--Dena Ross

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Seabiscuit

In the 1930's, the great Seabiscuit captured the imaginations of a nation downtrodden by the Depression. Like so many people of that time, Seabiscuit was a hard-luck horse, discarded and forgotten. In the 2003 movie "Seabiscuit," Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) rescued him from obscurity, convincing owner Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) to take a chance on the horse and on troubled jockey Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire). "You don't throw away a whole life just 'cause it's banged up a little," Smith insists, potent advice for Depression-era America.

As Seabiscuit fought his way to one victory after another, his raw courage inspired a nation and healed the fractured lives of the three men. "Everyone thinks we got this broken-down horse and fixed him," says Pollard. "But we didn't. He fixed us. Every one of us." The movie is based on the book "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand, and received seven Oscar nominations.
--Martha Ainsworth

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Rocky I

The original (and best) "Rocky" movie is sort of pop cultural shorthand for the very notion of inspiration. Written by its star, Sylvester Stallone, the 1976 "Rocky" is the little movie that could, about the little boxer who could. Down on his luck and stuck in a working class rut, the scrappy and unlikely small-time fighter Rocky Balboa gets a break when luck hands him the chance to compete for a world heavyweight title.

More than 30 years since the film was released, tourists still flock to Philadelphia's Museum of Art to recreate Rocky's iconic run up the steps to the museum, jumping up down with their fists raised triumphantly toward the sky.
--John Brooks

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The Natural

This classic of American baseball mythology follows the life of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), an eager young pitcher whose promise is cruelly cut short by the silver bullet of a deranged, hero-slaying seductress (Barbara Hershey). Hobbs survives, but leaves his fiancee Iris (Glenn Close) and his dreams behind for 16 years before returning to the game as a rookie right fielder everyone calls "Grandpa." His father's words stay with him, though: You have a gift, but you must work hard to do something with that gift if you want to succeed.

Hobbs's quiet determination, his sense of patience with what he knows to be his destiny, is what inspires me about the film. Also the breathtaking way that light functions as a character in the story, from the way the sun floats through both Hobbs's golden hair and the wheat fields of his youth, to the angry lightning that splits open the tree from which Hobbs carves his signature bat "Wonder Boy," to the way Iris's hat gleams pearly white in the brown, gritty crowd to inspire Hobbs to break a cold streak, to the iconic moment when the final home run literally explodes the stadium lights, unleashing a shower of sparks on a great, long-awaited victory.
--Holly Rossi

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Friday Night Lights

Based on the nonfiction book by Pulitzer prize-winner H.G. Bissinger, the 2004 film "Friday Night Lights" tells the story of the 1988 season of a Texas high school football team. The film, which stars Billy Bob Thornton, works partly on the strength of its uniformly terrific cast, but even more so because of its rich and faithful depiction of high school football culture in Texas, which takes on a kind of religious fervor. More than a powerfully real drama about aspiring to the impossible and perseverance in the face of unlikely odds, "Friday Night Lights" is a reminder of how sports can create heroes, bring communities together, break our hearts, and make us believers...often all at the same time.
--John Brooks

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Bull Durham

In this hilarious, well-written classic, local baseball groupie and English teacher Annie Price (played by Susan Sarandon at her sultriest) worships at "the church of baseball," repeatedly referring to the sport as her religion. Each season Annie takes a rookie player from the minor league team the Durham Bulls under her wing (and sheets) and turns him into a master player using mind tricks ("breathe through your eyeballs") to keep him from over-thinking. This time, as she's coaching "Nuke" (her future real-life mate Tim Robbins), she also falls for Crash Davis (Kevin Costner--a new coach who's been sent in to tame the new kid.

Hilarious, heart-breaking sexual tension, baseball highs and lows, and lover triangulation ensue. My favorite part is Crash's amazing speech about sex and baseball, not quotable here, but Annie's breathless "Oh my" after shows she just may have found a new religion.
--Valerie Reiss

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Hoop Dreams

"Hoop Dreams"---the stirring, moving, and utterly unforgettable 1994 documentary about two young black teenagers from the inner city who are offered the chance to attend and play basketball for a mostly white upper-class private school--is perhaps most notable for having been the most critically hailed movie of the year of its release--a year that saw the likes of "Forrest Gump," "Pulp Fiction," and "The Shawshank Redemption." Emotionally, the film works on every level.

Its subjects, William Gates and Arthur Agee, and their family members are heavily featured and as memorable as the best fictional characters, and the film makes poignant and profound observations about race, class, and culture. But ultimately it succeeds in reminding us that no dream, no matter how lofty or unlikely, is ever too big for the human spirit to realize.
--John Brooks

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The Mighty Ducks

While not often thought of as one of the greats in the pantheon of sports movies, Disney's family-friendly tale--of a terrible youth hockey team that comes into its own thanks to the leadership of a hotshot attorney serving community service after a drunk-driving arrest--actually stands as one of the most enduringly popular and winning entries into the genre.

Thanks to the charm of Emilio Estevez and the talented young cast (led by a pre-"Dawson's Creek" Joshua Jackson), the 1992 "The Mighty Ducks" becomes more than the sum of its rather pedestrian and cliched parts and effectively conveys an inspiring and lasting message about the importance of teamwork, leadership, and believing that we all have the ability to surpass the limitations others may impose upon us.
--John Brooks

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