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Best/Worst depictions of sport in films

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    Best/Worst depictions of sport in films

    I’ve just been reading an article in today’s Guardian about the forthcoming “Borg Vs McEnroe” feature film.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgfFdEOGUqE

    The article looks at the difficulty of depicting the drama of tennis in a convincing manner on the big screen. It mentions the 1979 film “Players” which I’ve not seen, and “Wimbledon” from 2004, which I remember as an enjoyable piece of fluff (even though its tennis scenes were about as convincing as Tim Henman’s clenched fist).

    Thinking about films that centre around football, I really enjoyed “When Saturday Comes” (1996) with Sean Bean. The drama of the storyline is stronger than the football scenes, in which Sean Bean is a stiff penguin on the ball. Then there’s “Yesterday’s Hero” (1979) with Ian McShane playing for Leicester Forest (surely the only team to be named after a Motorway service station?) I saw the trailer for this at the cinema when it came out but have never managed to see the film. There’s “Goal! The Dream Begins” (2005), again which I’ve not seen. Has anyone seen it? Was it part of a trilogy?

    I really enjoyed “Rush” (2013) which tells the story of the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, even though I’m not the slightest bit interested in Formula One. This new “Borg Vs McEnroe” strikes me as being a similar type of thing.

    Is it possible to depict sport in a realistic way in feature films? Which films have done it well, and which have done it badly? What are your favourite “sports” films?

    #2
    It's many, many years since I last saw it, but This Sporting Life did rugby league pretty well.

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      #3
      The Goal! Trilogy is hackneyed, mawkish tripe.

      Hoop Dreams is phenomenal

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        #4
        Invictus did the rugby scenes pretty well. It did help that the South Africa games, which it focuses on, were in real life quite cagey affairs with a lot of forward play, which is a lot easier to recreate than open, running rugby.

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          #5
          I really enjoyed “Rush” (2013) which tells the story of the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, even though I’m not the slightest bit interested in Formula One. This new “Borg Vs McEnroe” strikes me as being a similar type of thing.
          The security guards at the Commercial Court yesterday were saying how great Rush is. Still haven't seen it myself.

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            #6
            Rush is a very good call, probably the best depiction. I suppose cars are a lot easier than footballers. But I've not seen any of the football ones mentioned in the OP. There's Escape to Victory, but we all know the story there.

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              #7
              Escape to Victory is very possibly my favourite film of all time, never mind my favourite sporting one. What was the one about Bob Champion winning the National called? The one with John Hurt?

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                #8
                And I quite like "The Legend of Bagger Vance" just for its portrayal of Jones and Hagen.
                Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 14-07-2017, 12:11.

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                  #9
                  The elephant in the room here is going to be The Natural, which surely set the bar on cheesy sports sentimentality.

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                    #10
                    Slapshot is a classic in the way that Youngblood isn't and I suspect a lot more realistic as it was written by an ex-player. The hockey is pretty realistic (the Hansons were pro players) and many of the moments were based on real events. Haven't seen Miracle yet - it has a good reputation though there are two fantastic documentaries about Soviet ice hockey which put the story of Lake Placid into perspective. Mighty Ducks is less silly than Sudden Death, though both pass the time and are rubbish depictions of the sport.

                    There is a 1980s BBC series on Bodyline which I remember loving as a kid. Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine. Would love to see it again.

                    In baseball, A League Of Their Own is a classic and by all accounts accurate.The Ringer has a lovely article on it. And Major League is a huge guilty pleasure and again is probably a bit closer to the truth than people might want to let on. There is a fantastic fictional "untold story of the Cleveland Indians" article kicking around the internet that I can't find.

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                      #11
                      I was just thinking the other day of The Fix, which the BBC did about the 1960s match-fixing scandal. Steve Coogan as a hack, Jason Isaacs as Tony Kay and the lad who played Archie in Emmerdale planing Peter Swan, who later played in the same Bury team as my uncle.

                      There was also Eleven Men versus Eleven on Channel 4, with James Bolam as a club's manager. I enjoyed that too.

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                        #12
                        Of course, Any Given Sunday - does a pretty good job.

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                          #13
                          Champions is the film about Bob Champion. Perhaps predictably, perhaps not.

                          I watched the entire Goal trilogy over the course of a weekend for 200% once and felt as though I could do with a spot of counselling afterwards.

                          United Passions, the FIFA film, is almost admirably terrible.

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                            #14
                            Does anyone remember "Murphy's Mob"?

                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4YXfPNF5sY

                            I really enjoyed this back in the day, but I was shocked later on when I saw the likeable Mac Murphy playing a baddie in "Straw Dogs".

                            "Thunderbolt and Smokey" in the Eagle comic, portrayed schoolboy soccer in an enthralling way!

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                              #15
                              I thought the baseball in Bull Durham and League Of Their Own seemed convincing in their depictions, but I guess the caveat is I don't know baseball very well.

                              The athletics in whatever the Abrahams/Liddell film was called looked plausible too, but I guess that should be fairly easy to pull off.

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by Sits View Post
                                Rush is a very good call, probably the best depiction. I suppose cars are a lot easier than footballers.
                                What a scene this is:

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                                  #17
                                  There was a BBC biopic last year called The Rack Pack, which dramatised the era of Alex Higgins and Steve Davis. The 70s/80s snooker recreations were spot on.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                                    The elephant in the room here is going to be The Natural, which surely set the bar on cheesy sports sentimentality.
                                    SYM!!! The Natural is one of the greatest films of all time.

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                                      #19
                                      Things I remember about Murphy's Mob:

                                      I'm not sure how many series of it they made, but it was first filmed at Vicarage Road and later at The Baseball Ground.

                                      That is all.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post

                                        There is a 1980s BBC series on Bodyline which I remember loving as a kid. Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine. Would love to see it again.
                                        So would I. I thought it was fantastic at the time. One memory of it is of Jardine explaining bodlyline theory using salt and pepper pots.

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                                          #21
                                          Does this help?

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Etienne View Post
                                            I thought the baseball in Bull Durham and League Of Their Own seemed convincing in their depictions, but I guess the caveat is I don't know baseball very well.

                                            The athletics in whatever the Abrahams/Liddell film was called looked plausible too, but I guess that should be fairly easy to pull off.
                                            Chariots of Fire, one of my favorite movies ever. Largely because I loved it as a kid, but it is a beautiful movie.


                                            The baseball film canon should be:

                                            The ones everyone should see to understand the mythology of baseball and why people shed tears over it:
                                            The Natural - dream-like, mythology, good vs bad, loss of innocence, etc.
                                            Bull Durham - Best portrayal of minor leagues, especially pre-1990s boom in MiLB stadium construction. But also is the best portrayal of the day to day grind of baseball. Very quotable.
                                            Field of Dreams - Better than the book, IMO. About fathers and sons, regret, and the power of sport.

                                            Next tier:
                                            Major League - Just the first one. Kinda cheesy, but the characters are archetypal player-types that repeatedly appear in real life. And they did a good job of filming real major league baseball, though IIRC, they used the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore to stand in for Cleveland's old stadium. Lots of great Bob Ueker quotes. The first sequel is ok too, but the later ones are crap.
                                            The Sandlot - You're killing me, Smalls.
                                            A League of Their Own - Portrays the game very well, both on the field and the grind of it. Some classic lines.
                                            Pride of the Yankees - I've never seen it, TBH, but everyone says so.

                                            I'd also include:
                                            42 - The newest addition. Pretty straightforward biopic on Jack Robinson's early days with the Dodgers. Great performances all around, but what I loved is the way it uses CGI, costumes, and set-design to bring the old ballparks back to life. Also the scenes in the beginning showing the negro leagues are so good. Really best seen on the big screen. You can feel the humidity and hear the chatter. If it were older and more accepted, I'd say it belongs in the top tier.
                                            Love of the Game - Another Kevin Costner joint. Does a really good job of portraying a real MLB game. The love story etc, is kinda neither hear nor there, but not awful.

                                            Maybe worth a look:
                                            Everybody Wants Some - I only watched about a quarter of this. It's Linklater's movie about being a college baseball player in the early 80s. Not really about baseball, but if you liked Dazed and Confused and like his oeuvre generally, it might be worth a look.
                                            The Rookie - The one about Jimmy Morris, a high school coach in Texas who agrees to try out for the majors in his 30s. He did manage to debut for the Rays. Not much of a major league career, but given that he debuted at 35, it's nothing to sneeze at, really. Inspiring, but not mawkish, Disney stuff with some nice performances by Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, and Brian Cox.
                                            Bang the Drum Slowly - Haven't seen it in a long time, but I recall that it's very good. Just not really about baseball, as I recall.
                                            Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 14-07-2017, 15:59. Reason: Forgot The Rookie. Needed torecategorize.

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                                              #23
                                              Days of Thunder is a pretty good bit of 80s cheese about NASCAR. Nowhere near as good as Talladega Nights, of course.

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                                                #24
                                                There was also that crappy film about when the US beat England in 1950. The less said the better, perhaps.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Slapshot is a classic in the way that Youngblood isn't and I suspect a lot more realistic as it was written by an ex-player. The hockey is pretty realistic (the Hansons were pro players) and many of the moments were based on real events. Haven't seen Miracle yet - it has a good reputation though there are two fantastic documentaries about Soviet ice hockey which put the story of Lake Placid into perspective. Mighty Ducks is less silly than Sudden Death, though both pass the time and are rubbish depictions of the sport.
                                                  Hockey doesn't have many movies, good or bad.
                                                  Slapshot is the classic, of course.
                                                  Youngblood isn't great, but has some good bits. Too much about fighting. Most hockey movies are too much about fighting.
                                                  I really liked that Canadian TV movie about Rocket Richard. Hagiography, sure, but it did a great job of portraying how the game used to look and feel in the old Forum.
                                                  Miracle is very good for many reasons, especially the hockey and how it explains Herb Brooks' coaching genius. Does a good job of making it apolitical, which it should be.
                                                  The Mighty Ducks franchise is kinda ridiculous (ICELAND???) but people of a certain age (mostly younger than me) remember it fondly. I thought the first one had a nice story of learning to enjoy the game and not worry so much about winning. Good for kids and parents, I suppose.
                                                  Mystery Alaska has a ridiculous storyline, but it portrays the game well. It also has a nice performance by Mary McCormack as the Russel Crowe character's wife. Women in places like that are a special type of person and underappreciated and misunderstood.
                                                  Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 14-07-2017, 16:06.

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