The Best Sports Movies Ever Made
List Rules
Movies about sports teams or athletes
Here is the ultimate list of the best sports movies ever made. Most guys, even some girls can't resist a tale about mostly make believe athletes. Sports may be the overarching theme in these movies, but that doesn't mean that there's anything deeper beneath the surface. These movies allow us guys to connect with our inner emotions through hidden love stories, tales of adversity, humor and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.
At the heart of the best sports movies is relationships between the characters. Some of the best sports films like Rocky, Raging Bull and the Blind Side have either been nominated and/or won multiple Academy Awards. Others like Brian's Song, Hoosiers, and Field of Dreams often times will cause viewers to feel triumphant with the characters, if they don't shed a tear as well.
But people can't resist an amazingly funny sports film. You can point to classics like Major League, Caddyshack, Bad News Bears, and White Men Can't Jump as the best sports comedies.
Anyone can contribute to this list of the best sports movies, which makes this ranking an accurate, real-time reflection of the crowd's collective opinion. Rank your favorites or add whatever sports movie you see missing.
list ordered by
- Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless black teen, has drifted in and out of the school system for years. Then Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Sean (Tim McGraw), take him in. The ...more
- The Chicago White Sox, who are set to play the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series of 1919, are at odds with their team's owner, Charles Comiskey (Clifton James), who pays his players unsatisfactory ...more
- Having become the world heavyweight champion, former working-class boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is rich and famous beyond his wildest dreams, which has made him lazy and overconfident. In ...more
- 42 is a 2013 American biographical sports film directed by Brian Helgeland. The powerful story of Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), the legendary baseball player who broke Major League Baseball’s ...more
- It's late in the season; the playoffs are fast approaching; and the Washington Sentinels have just gone on strike. Scrambling for a solution, the Sentinels' owner Edward O'Neil hatches a plan to ...more
- Forty-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is practically a dinosaur by professional baseball standards, fast approaching the end of his career. But, as Chapel stands on the mound pitching ...more
- Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) never knew his famous father, boxing champion Apollo Creed, who died before Adonis was born. However, boxing is in his blood, so he seeks out Rocky Balboa ...more
- Four Jamaican bobsledders dream of competing in the Winter Olympics, despite never having seen snow. With the help of a disgraced former champion desperate to redeem himself, the Jamaicans set out to ...more
- As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey ...more
- Raised by his overprotective mother, Helen (Kathy Bates), Bobby Boucher Jr. (Adam Sandler) is the water boy for a successful college football team coached by Red Beaulieu (Jerry Reed). When Beaulieu ...more
- During the Great Depression, ex-boxer James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) works as a day laborer until his former manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti) offers him a one-time slot against a rising young ...more
- When slick sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) has a crisis of conscience, he pens a heartfelt company-wide memo that promptly gets him fired. Desperate to hang on to the athletes that he ...more
- Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) was a golf pro with a bright future, but his rebellious nature and bad attitude cost him everything. Now working as a golf instructor, he falls for his newest pupil, Dr. ...more
- The story of a middleweight boxer as he rises through ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown. He falls in love with a gorgeous girl from the Bronx. The inability to express his ...more
- Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran Los Angeles boxing trainer who keeps almost everyone at arm's length, except his old friend and associate Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman). When ...more
- Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) is a white basketball hustler who banks on black players underestimating his skills on the court. When he pulls one over on Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes), his victim sees ...more
- Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton) is a burned-out minor league baseball player who loves to drink and can't keep his hands to himself. His long-suffering lawyer (Marcia Gay Harden) arranges for ...more
- Aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is long past his prime but still ready and rarin' to go on the pro-wrestling circuit. After a particularly brutal beating, however, Randy hangs ...more
- Now long-retired, Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) runs a Philadelphia eatery and mourns the loss of his beloved wife, Adrian. Yearning to recapture a bit of his glory days, he plans to re-enter the ring ...more
- Average Joe's Gym and its owner, Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn), are both down on their luck. A fancy competing gym called Globo-Gym, run by the maniacal health nut White Goodman (Ben Stiller), is ...more
- In West Canaan, Texas, high school football reigns supreme. When starting quarterback Lance Harbor (Paul Walker) turns up injured, the Coyotes' ruthless coach, Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight), must promote ...more
- For Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), boxing is a family affair. His tough-as-nails mother is his manager. His half-brother, Dicky (Christian Bale), once a promising boxer himself, is his very unreliable ...more
- In 1999, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his old high school in Richmond, California, to get the basketball team into shape. With tough rules and academic discipline, he succeeds in setting ...more
- 61* is a 2001 American sports drama film written by Hank Steinberg and directed by Billy Crystal. It stars Barry Pepper as Roger Maris and Thomas Jane as Mickey Mantle on their quest to break Babe ...more
- NASCAR superstar Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is at the top of his game; adored by fans, a trophy wife by his side, and incredible wealth. But Ricky loses it all when French Formula One champion Jean ...more
