The Best Sports Movies Ever Made? Glen Macnow Has The Answers

09.08.09 | guest-blogs | Guest ContributorsPrint this Post

Glen Macnow--host of Philadelphia-based WIP Radio’s “Movie Club for Men”--and Ray Didinger--football analyst for Comcast Sports Network--have just written “The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies: Featuring the 100 Greatest Sports Films of All Time.” The book is currently available at Amazon.com (you can find it at http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Book-Sports-Movies-Featuring/dp/0762435488 ). In the following interview, Macnow answers some of the most frequently asked questions about this encycolpedic salute to sports cinema.

Why did you name Rocky the all-time best sports movie?

The trick with Rocky is not to let all those sequels – some of which we enjoyed – detract from your view of the original, a great film that deservedly won the Oscar for Best Picture when it came out. We set five standards judging every sports movie - It needs to have a powerful story, a great script. It needs to have three-dimensional characters, heroes and bums who make you care about their lives. Of course, it needs to have topflight sports action.  It needs to create goose bumps. There must be at least one scene in the film that sends shivers down your back or raises a lump in your throat. And it needs to be realistic – but not too much so. Because a powerful sports movie lets us stretch our imagination, allows us to dream.

More than any movie ever made, Rocky meets all five criteria. The script, written by Sylvester Stallone is the touching story of a hardscrabble club fighter who takes his best shot. Stallone may not have invented the lovable underdog saga, but he sure perfected it.  Rocky is chock full of colorful characters. Paulie, Mick, Apollo Creed. Even the bit parts – like Gazzo the mobster – add layers of grit to the story.

You want Grade A sports action? The 25-minute brawl between Balboa and Creed that culminates the film is as good as it gets. And goosebumps? Watch Rocky in the training sequence performing those one-armed pushups just as "Gonna Fly Now" kicks into high gear. Cut to him dashing through the streets of Philadelphia. A quick flash of the fighter punching the sides of beef, and then the iconic shot of Rocky in the gray sweat suit, arms aloft at the top of the Art Museum steps. If that doesn’t create tingles, you must be unconscious.

Why isn't Field of Dreams in the top ten?

There are many who regard Field of Dreams as the greatest sports movie ever made, a wondrous allegory about life, fathers and sons, lost dreams and a bygone America, all staged in an Iowa cornfield. It is, to reverential devotees, the modern version of It’s a Wonderful Life.

But, great as it is, sweetness sometimes seeps into sappiness. Occasionally, the movie becomes just a tad too reverential for our taste – worshiping that deity called baseball. Moses saw a burning bush, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) sees a vision of a baseball diamond in his cornfield. With a chorus of angels singing in the background, just in case you missed the subtlety.

You surveyed more than 100 athletes, coaches, actors and other famous people for their favorite sports movies. What did you learn that surprised you?

What surprised us was how many chose movies outside of their own sports. For example, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels chose Seabiscuit, because when he was a young child his grandmother had told him stories about seeing that famous horse run.  Giants coach Tom Coughlin and Cowboys QB Tony Romo both picked The Natural– both for the confidence and cool that Robert Redford’s character shows in the clutch (something Romo still needs to learn).  Charles Barkley picked Any Given Sunday, about football. Ryan Howard picked Glory Road, about college basketball. USC Coach Pete Carroll picked Field of Dreams, showing his soft side. Arnold Palmer took Hoosiers. Braves catcher Brian McCann selected Rounders, the great poker movie.

What actor turns up the most in your top 100?

Dennis Quaid is a Hall of Fame actor when it comes to sports movies. He stars in five movies in our top 100 – starting with Breaking Away, the great bike-racing which served as his breakout movie when he was a young man.  Quaid also stars in two good sports biopics -- The Rookie, the story of 35-year-old rookie pitcher Jim Morris; and The Express, the story about Ernie Davis, the first black Heisman Trophy winner, in which Quaid plays crusty Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder. And he’s in two other solid films:  Everybody’s All-American and Any Given Sunday.

What actor is the most convincing athlete on-screen? Who is the least convincing?

Kevin Costner is a true athlete who played baseball in college and now competes in pro-am golf events. He carries himself convincingly as a baseball catcher in Bull Durham and as a pitcher in For Love of the Game. And he doesn’t look out of place swinging a golf club next to Craig Stadler in Tin Cup.

The flip side? Anthony Perkins trying to throw a baseball in Fear Strikes Out. As former big leaguer Bob Uecker said: “When Anthony Perkins threw, I thought it was Millie Perkins.”

What are the most popular movies among athletes you interviewed?

Not a lot of surprises. Pretty much their favorites are the general public’s favorites. The Natural, Hoosiers and Bull Durham came up a lot. Bull Durham– which has been criticized by some critics as just a chick flick disguised as a sports movie – gains credibility by being the favorite of many baseball players – from Prince Fielder to Brad Lidge to Hall of Famer Joe Morgan.

We noticed also that athletes tend to appreciate movies that show the dark side of sports. Any Given Sunday, a nasty look at the business side of football, was singled out by Charles Barkley, Reggie Bush and Rudi Johnson. And The Program, a rather cynical movie about college football, was cited by Brian Westbrook, CC Sabathia, Adrian Peterson, Rashard Lewis and Ronnie Brown. That tells you something.

What’s the oldest movie in the book? The newest?

The earliest is The Freshman, a silent football comedy by the great Harold Lloyd from 1925. The plotline combines Rudy with Revenge of the Nerds, and it holds up even today because the Lloyd is so funny and the football action is well shot.

The newest movies in the book are both from 2008. The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke’s great comeback film, made our top 25 and really ought to hold up over the coming years. We also included Sugar, an under-the-radar release from last year about what happens to the young baseball players from the Dominican Republic who come to the United States but don’t end up as front-line stars.

How do you hope readers will use your book?

First, we hope they use it as a guide book to discover worthwhile movies they’ve never seen, and maybe rediscover some they’ve seen too long ago. One thing we do with each chapter is include a feature called, “If you like this, you’ll also like…” So you get a lot of good recommendations right there. And trust us, none of your listeners (readers) has seen all 100 on our list. There’s something knew for everyone.

Also, even if you’ve seen many of the movies – and we’re assuming that anyone buying the book already has a good background in sports films – we guarantee you’ll learn something about all your favorite films that you never knew. For example, Jack Nicholson was originally cast for the role of Coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers until a scheduling conflict came up; Robert Redford studied Ted Williams to better play his role as Roy Hobbs in The Natural; and there was an alternative ending to Bull Durham.

You also wrote about the worst sports movies ever made. What are they?

Well, we did two separate chapters on the worst sports movies. One focused on sequels and remakes – in other words, movies that were based on prior successes but fell flat. Rocky V tops that list. And this comes from guys who consider the original Rocky to be the best sports movie ever.

The worst original film, in our judgment, was Summer Catch, which tried to cash in on the sports movie/chick flick genre with a story about Cape Cod League baseball (a good idea), but created one that combines a lame romance story with poor baseball action.

Does your book recommend sports movies for kids?

Sure. This book is bursting with movies that are great for children. Bad News Bears is one of those rare films that can delight both six-year-olds and 60-year-olds. The Sandlot might not only evoke your childhood – it might remind your son of the one he is living now.There are many others.

Did you discover a "sleeper" hit in your research?

Quite a few. There are some great sports movies that have been forgotten to history.  Check out The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, a great film about Negro League baseball starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor. It’s entertaining and compelling. Or a magnificent unknown hockey film called The Rocket: The Legend of Maurice Richard. It’s a French-Canadian bio-pic with some great hockey action and cameos by a lot of NHL players.