By Nicholas Stix
"@alanchamberlain9967 "Hoosiers" is widely regarded as the greatest sports movie of all time. Had these deleted scenes not been cut, it might be regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time, period."
Nonsense. You first statement wasn't even true. Hoosiers wasn't a great movie. The final sequence is tv-level mediocre (of Milan high school's 1950s' championship run, which really happened). Hackman is great, and there are many other fine performances, but it doesn't have the writing or directing to be a great movie.
Here is the complete list of the greatest sports movies of all time:
1. The Natural (1984). The performances, Malamud's story, and Barry Levinson's screenplay and direction are there, but the not-so-secret star is Randy Newman's music, which is the greatest movie score I've ever heard. For years I told myself, "With so many astounding scores by the likes of Elmer, Bernard, Aaron, Maurice Jarre, Jerry, Steiner, et al., it can't possibly be that good, but recently, after the deaths of Duvall, may he rest in peace, and Robert Redford, I watched scenes from it again, and it was.
2. Field of Dreams (1989). Sure, the acting is excellent (even Kevin Costner is pretty good), as are the script and direction by Phil Alden Robinson, but again the music by the late James Horner, may he rest in peace, is the secret star. And he knew nothing ("the 50-yard line") of baseball!
3. The Pride of the Yankees (1942). Herman Mankiewicz' script and Sam Wood's direction are both fine, and the cast is wonderful ("tangle foot!"), but this is Coop's picture--and he wasn't even lefthanded!
4. Not worth mentioning.
5. Not worth mentioning.
6. Not worth mentioning.
7. Not worth mentioning.
8. Not worth mentioning.
9. Not worth mentioning.
10. Not worth mentioning.
Sports movies comprise a lousy genre. So why cite a bunch of mediocre movies, just to fill out a bloc of ten? I'm not selling advertising space here that I need to fill.
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5 comments:
Not "Slapshot"? I saw it once,40 years ago and can't remember much except a lot of swearing, Paul Newman was in it and the twin geek hockey players. Maybe I don't remember even THAT much,lol.
Many boxing movies("Raging Bull"),road racing,horse racing and then there's the ping pong flick that came out late last year.
The list probably is unchanged,lol. I liked "Raging Bull",though--been awhile.
--GRA
GRA, I must have let the idiots praising Hoosiers get me in a bad mood. Yes, Slapshot was great. That's where Newman re-made himself into his late career persona (Nobody's Fool).
Contenders could include "The Fighter" (Mark Wahlberg kicks butt)" "The Smashing Machine" (extreme fighting, came out just last year, with Dwayne Johnson), "Space Jam" (totally goofy but brilliant basketball flick), and "Rocky Balboa" (came out in 2006, the best of the Rocky flicks -- no disrespect to the others). To each their own.
Slapshot(1977)
Slap Shot: Gene Siskel said his greatest regret was initially giving this movie a mediocre review. He now has it on his list of Greatest American comedies of all time.
Newman said,"It was the most fun I ever had making a movie."
--GRA
It's on a free site called m.ok.ru. RM has probably mentioned the site a few times.
--GRA
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