Ten of the best movies about sports
We are at the beginning of a dark and rainy November week. If you have not yet decided how to spend it, we have an offer for you. We at Sportalaxy have put together a list of ten of the best movies about sports to fill up your time between the games in the UEFA Champions League. We guarantee that the days will go by much faster and enjoyable.
1. Raging Bull
Year: 1980
Sport: Boxing
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
The film tells the story of middleweight champion Jake La Motta, who during his brief reign in the ring was known among his fans as The Bronx Bull. The first lessons La Mota received on the streets of New York were how to steal and fight. Jake used his aggression on the ring as an outlet for the accumulated anger and emotional instability that manifested in his personal life. The determination and anger that help a young bully to become a champion in the brutal world of boxing, killed his chances of a happy life outside of it. The millions he made, he wasted on nightclubs and prostitutes. When he loses his title, a bitter end seems inevitable.
2. Million Dollar Baby
Year: 2004
Sport: Boxing
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hillary Swank, Morgan Freeman
Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) has spent his entire life in the ring as a coach of the best boxers in the States. His only friend, Scrap (Morgan Freeman), is a former boxer who’s the only one who knows that behind the tough outside of Frankie is a man seeking forgiveness.
Their lives have been the same for years and nothing seems to break the routine until one day Maggie (Hilary Swank) enters the hall. Her biggest desire is to box professionally and all she wants is somebody to believe in her. But Frankie is not the kind of person who would complicate his life dealing with amateurs. He thinks Maggie is too old to start a sports career, and he doesn't train girls. Still, Maggie's firm determination to become a boxer wins Frankie, and he puts his best into it until lifting her to the top, but the hardest battle is yet to come.
3. The Big Blue
Year: 1988
Sport: Diving
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Reno, Rosanna Arquette
Mayol (Jean-Marc Bar) is determined to defeat the current free-diving champion Enzo (Jean Reno), whom he knows since childhood. Although intransigent rivals in the sport, they manage to maintain their friendship, thanks to their strong connection to the sea. Mayol's passion for diving is temporary sidelined when he meets Joanna (Rosana Arquette). But the competition between the two divers becomes fiercer and Joanna begins to alienate herself from Mayol, who is increasingly obsessed with the sea.
4. Rocky
Year: 1976
Sport: Boxing
Director: John Avildson
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
Rocky Balboa is a club boxer who, among other things, works as a debt collector for a local mobster. Everything in his life is upside down, including his relationship with the girl he likes - Adrian. His boxing career doesn't go well before he gets a chance with the current and undefeated world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Waders), who gives him an opportunity to fight him in a demonstration match to give anyone a chance. " The choice falls on Rocky because of his nickname - "The Italian Stallion".
For Apollo, it's another demonstration game, but for Rocky, it's the chance of his life. In a masculine and action-packed movie, Stallone and Weders will have the audience clench their fists, thus becoming part of the titanic clash of the two athletes in a perfectly directed performance.
5. Escape to Victory
Year: 1981
Sport: Football
Director: John Houston
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Kane, Max von Sydow, Pele
“Victory” is one of the best movies ever made about football. A group of prisoners trained and represented by John Colby (Michael Kane) agree to play a demonstration match against a German team. Prisoners can leave the Nazi camp just to play the game, they are expected to return to the camp after it. As a result of a great performance by Luis Fernandez (played by Pele), Carlos Ray (Osvaldo Ardiles) and Arthur Hayes (John Wark) the game is even. The American soldier Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone), who plays as a goalkeeper makes exceptional saves, including a saved penalty shot in the final minutes that prevented the Nazis from winning. Some team members planned a half-time escape (led by Hatch), but the rest of the team (led by Russell Osman) said: "But we can win!".
6. Cinderella Man
Year: 2005
Sport: Boxing
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti
During the Great Depression, a man named James Braddock, also known as the "Cinderella Man", became one of the most surprising sports legends in American history. In the thirties, a former professional boxer is struggling to make ends meet, as did many of his fellow citizens. His career is clearly over, he can't pay the bills and the only thing he cares about - his family, is now in danger. However, he does not give up and in a desperate attempt to return to the ring, his dream becomes a reality. A commoner becomes a mythical athlete.
7. Invictus
Year: 2009
Sport: Rugby
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge
Directed by Clint Eastwood, another influential work tells the inspiring story of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and his attempts to unite the nation at a difficult time. Mandela seeks help from the captain of the South African Rugby Team (Matt Damon). The newly elected head of state is aware that his people are both economically and racially segregated. Mandela believes he could unite people through the universal language of sport. And perhaps that is why he is betting on the many-times rugby team, which, surprisingly for the whole world, in 1995 came to a World Cup match.
8. Rush
Year: 2013
Sport: Formula 1
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde
Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl are starring legendary Formula drivers James Hunt and Nicky Lauda in the midst of their big rivalry. Both are among the best racetrack drivers ever to have existed. When a horrendous Grand Prix crash at the 1976 Nurburgring nearly took Lauda's life, however, their reluctance began to improve, with Hunt realizing how dedicated he was to his biggest opponent in the sport.
9. The Fighter
Year: 2010
Sport: Boxing
Director: David Russell
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams
The fighter is a story about the rise of the famous boxer Mickey Ward-Irishman, played by Mark Wahlberg. The Irishman in question is trained by his drug-addicted half-brother Dickey, while his despotic mother (Melissa Leo) acts as his manager. The result is a series of losses and utter despair, until ultimately Mickey finds the strength to break away from the family and head to the heels of fame thanks to her love for local barmaid Charlene (Amy Adams).
10. The Wrestler
Year: 2008
Sport: Ketch
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
The Wrestler tells the story of Randy Robinson (Mickey Rourke), who was a successful professional wrestler in the early 1980s, but 20 years later, his life is radically different. From star he becomes a second-class athlete. He has long since alienated his daughter, suffered a heart attack and begins to realize that he has long lost himself. Randy is determined to change his life and get his fans back, but will he succeed?
We are at the beginning of a dark and rainy November weekend. If you have not yet decided how to spend it, we have a proposal for you. We at Sportalaxy have put together a list of ten of the best movies about sports to fill up your time between championship games. We guarantee that the days will go by much faster and enjoyable.
Category: Other sports