Top 14 Football Movies to Watch While Waiting for the 2010 Season
Now that the NFL draft is over and spring football is winding down, August can't get here fast enough for college football nuts like myself.
May, June, and July are the slow months in college football where everyone starts watching recorded bowl games and highlight videos on YouTube to get their fix.
When college football is your drug, not even Division I-AAA flag football is out of the question.
Before you resort to watching Lou Holtz's greatest ESPN moments, I felt an obligation to remind you of all the great football movies there are.
A few months ago, I compiled a list of the top college football movies in existence. Well, that list really only scratched the surface of great football movies out there.
So, if you are in need of a football fix, here are the top 14 football movies to watch while waiting for the 2010 season to start.
14. The Replacements
Despite a paltry 39 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Replacements is a decent football movie with an added bonus of mega hot cheerleaders.
This movie was released in 2000 and stars Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Jon Favreau, and Orlando Jones. Chances are you'll recognize more actors than that, as The Replacements is loaded with notable actors.
It's definitely not The Matrix, but it's worth a watch.
13. Johnny Be Good
I got a lot of flack for including this in my top college football movies, but I still stick by my assessment.
Johnny Be Good is an oldie but a goodie and one of the better movies made during the 1980s.
Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration.
Johnny Be Good stars a young Anthony Michael Hall as the No. 1 high school quarterback prospect in the country—and he is being recruited by every major college in the US.
It gives a comical view of how the college football recruiting process works.
This movie also stars a young Uma Thurman and a young Robert Downey, Jr.
12. Friday Night Lights
If you can get over the bad wig Billy Bob Thornton has on in this flick, you will definitely enjoy Friday Night Lights.
You can't go wrong with a movie based on a book dealing with Texas high school football.
11. We Are Marshall
This movie could have been 10 times better had Matthew McConaughey not mucked it up with his acting.
It tells the story of the Marshall football team tragedy in 1970, when a plane carrying almost the entire Marshall University football team and staff crashed, killing 75 people and devastating the town of Huntington, West Virginia.
The movie follows the team and the town as they try to recover.
It is a great movie, but McConaughey should really stick to roles like his character in Dazed and Confused.
10. Radio
Radio is a film based on the true story of a high school football coach named Harold Jones, played by Ed Harris, and a mentally challenged young man, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.
How Gooding didn't win an Academy award for this movie is beyond me.
9. The Junction Boys
The Junction Boys is the name given to the “survivors” of coach Bear Bryant’s 10 day-summer football camp in Junction, Texas that began Sept. 1, 1954.
The camp has achieved legendary status and was eventually turned into a television movie by ESPN.
This movie gives a great impression of what football used to be like. Sure, the coach nearly killed all of his players, but at the end of the day Bryant turned them into champions.
8. Varsity Blues
"In America, we have laws. Laws against killing, laws against stealing. And it is just accepted that as a member of American society, you will live by these laws. In West Canaan, Texas, there is another society which has its own laws. Football is a way of life."
7. All the Right Moves
Before there was Scientology Tom Cruise, there was '80s movie sensation Tom Cruise.
All the Right Moves is one of his best movies even though it was one of his first.
Cruise plays a defensive back in pursuit of a scholarship to get out of the factory town he lives in, but unfortunately life gets in the way.
Lots of great football happenings in this one. A little cheese, but nothing too bad.
6. Invincible
Invincible is a movie based on the true story of the Philadelphia Eagles' Vince Papale, who played from 1976-78 and earned his spot during an open tryout for fans.
Mark Wahlberg plays Papale, and Greg Kinnear plays Dick Vermeil, Papale's coach.
Don't expect any award-winning acting in this one, but it's worth a watch or two in the offseason.
5. The Program
Some people love this movie, some people hate it.
The Program is a great movie about several players from different backgrounds trying to cope with the pressures of playing football at a major university.
Each player deals with the stress differently, and the movie shows how some players thrive off the stress while others fail under the pressure.
The movie also featured several familiar actors, including James Caan and Omar Epps.
4.The Blind Side
The Blind Side is a great feel-good football movie for the whole family.
The Blind Side is based on the 2006 book about Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL that defeated all odds to rise out of poverty to become a gentle football giant with a little help from the Tuohy family.
Lots of great college football coaches make a cameo appearance in the film, giving the football junkie in need of a fix a good dose of medication to cure the shakes.
3. Any Given Sunday
Oliver Stone directs what is arguably the best all-around movie about football ever, and he adds his usual flair to it.
The cast list is sensational, the football scenes are amazing, the story lines all draw you in, and it reflects the professional football lifestyle that exists in the NFL today.
Any Given Sunday even has a great soundtrack. "My name is Willie...WILLIE BEAMEN!"
2. Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is a fantastic movie about high school football and racial tensions starring Denzel Washington.
The members of the football team clash in racially motivated disputes both on and off the field but overcome the stress and drama to achieve success and a high school football championship.
Leave it to Disney to make one of the best football movies ever. I've probably seen this movie 25 times.
1. Rudy
Rudy is definitely the best football movie there is and arguably one of the greatest sports movies ever made despite staring Samwise Gamgee.
The movie Rudy is about the life of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, who had dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite significant obstacles.
When his best friend Pete is killed in an explosion at the mill, Rudy decides to follow his dream of attending Notre Dame and playing football for the Fighting Irish.
It's a difficult journey for Rudy, but it all pays off in the end.
It's a must see, if you haven't had the chance to catch it one of the bazillion times it has been on TV in the last five years.
Honorable Mention
The Comebacks
Jerry Maguire
Everybody's All-American
Brian's Song
Necessary Roughness
The Express
School Ties
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