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Football is the greatest sport ever. It is the ultimate team game. Every person on the field is vital to the success of the game. Many movies try to capture that, but some are better than others...

Gridiron on the Big Screen: Top Five Football Movies

by Scott Fitzsimmons (Analyst)

22

806 reads

Rankings/List

July 21, 2008


Football is the greatest sport ever. It is the ultimate team game. Every person on the field is vital to the success of the game. Many movies try to capture that, but some are better than others.

Some even get Chris Berman to be in their movies! Well, most do.

The other day I watched "Necessary Roughness," and realized just how funny it was. It really is one of the classic football movies. It is somewhat realistic, and was knowingly exaggerated, but was quite funny even 15 years later!

After watching this movie I realized I wanted to put a list together of the best five football movies ever! "Necessary Roughness" was good and takes honorable mention, but doesn't quite make my list.  

I am such a huge fan of football, that it would be hard for me to not like ANY football movie. But there are two movies that make it into that category. Here they are.

No. 2 Bad Football Movie - The Replacements

Honestly, there were a few funny parts, and I think they all belonged to Rhys Ifans (the kicker). "I'm Wiry." Aside from that, there wasn't much funny to take away from the lack of reality in this movie.

There were some big hits that helped keep it interesting, but as football movies goes, it takes the second last spot.

No. 1 Bad Football Movie - Any Given Sunday

I take a lot of heat for this one because some people really like it. I was SO excited for it to come out and I was not impressed. Al Pacino was decent in his role, but not as groundbreaking as he has been in other roles.

The football players weren't bad, and I know that they portrayed some things that real football players go through, which was realistic. But there were two things I could NOT get past.

First off, I can enjoy different cinematography to try and set a tone, but the "chaotic" camera work really took away from the ability to enjoy the movie. Although there is a lot to take in when you are on the football field, it never even resembled anything like that.

Secondly, Cameron Diaz played a role that would never happen EVER! No owner would ever be the GM of a football team.

The owner has enough say to be able to control aspects of their team without taking on the role of the GM. It's a job that takes a lot more hours than any owner would want to put in. She portrayed the role well, even if I didn't like the character. Therefore, that role is not realistic in the slightest.

 

Good Football Movies

Honorable Mentions

Once again there are so many that are good that I can't have them all. Along with "Necessary Roughness," honorable mention goes out to "The Longest Yard" for being a quality movie that was pretty much groundbreaking for football movies.

True-to-life stories usually rank higher for me, and seeing Vince Papale portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in "Invincible" was pretty cool. Although the actual play that gave him his touchdown was much quicker, and not as exciting. But that's Hollywood for you.

"We Are Marshall" was a really good look at the history of one football program, and is worth watching even if you don't like football.

Now for the BEST!

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22 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Chris D'Aniello 11 months ago

    Great list!! While I agree for the most part about Any Given Sunday, Pacino's pregame speech is one of the best speeches in any movie. I think that scene alone lifts it out of being regarded as a bad football movie. Here's a link to the speech if you haven't seen it (coaches, get out your pen and paper):

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=WO4tIrjBDkk

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  2. Adam Amick 11 months ago

    Guess you haven't seen "We Are Marshall", and I would suggest "Facing The Giants" as well.

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    • Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

      I have seen both of those movies, and I gave it honorable mention. It was great, but sadly I had to drop it. It was between that and the waterboy.... I know you may have a different opinion on that, but it's a classic.

      As for Facing the Giants, it is a fabulous movie! I forgot about it as a football movie though. I loved it! It is one of my favoirtes, but not quite in my top 5 football movies. For the budget, it's fabulous, but the budget is the only reason it wasn't as good in the football sequences. But I loved the movie though! I understand why you did too!

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  3. Tony Bishop 11 months ago

    I rated the article three stars because you explained yourself well.

    I just think you couldn't be more wrong about almost everything.

    First of all, "Waterboy"?????? You have that Adam Sandler drivel in here and you don't have North Dallas 40? The Longest Yard (original, for obvious reasons)? Brian's Song? I mean, I liked the Waterboy, it was funny and all, but it was crap compared to those movies. In fact it was worse than The Replacements, with out a doubt.

    Rudy was about the only ranking I agreed with. The Program should be higher, Remember the Titans should be lower, and Varsity Blues was better than Friday Night Lights.

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    • Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

      Don't you just love opinions Tony! I know exactly why you disagree with The Waterboy, which is part of the reason I went with it. I haven't seen Brian's Song in such a long time, and I'm sure it was good, but I don't remember. I haven't seen North Dallas 40. Opinions are great, and I really liked Varsity Blues, but it wasn't as good as Friday Night Lights. It was if you are fan of unnecessary Teacher Stripper Scenes in the movie.

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  4. david mannherz 11 months ago

    brians song?

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    • Tony Bishop 11 months ago

      The story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. It's on the list of movies during which men are allowed to cry.

      I recently found out that it was actually a made for TV movie, but I still think it should count.

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  5. Taylor Gram 11 months ago

    your'e right Adam Facing the Giants is a really good one, invincible was pretty good too, not top 5 or anything but worth a mention.

    But I think that remember the Titans is #1. Notice how your top 3 are related to true stories, that's what makes those movies great because this wasn't something that a hollywood producer just came up with and put on the big screen. These things really and truly happened with a little Hollywood drama.

    Oh, and Scott, the Owner of the cowboys, Jerry Jones is the also the GM.

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    • Tony Bishop 11 months ago

      Umm.. I hate to break it to you, but Rudy was a true story as well. How you didn't know that baffles me, but it is.

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    • Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

      Okay... I'll give you the Jerry Jones thing, but it doesn't happen very often, and some would argue it hasn't been a good thing for the Cowboys either.

      I debated putting "Remember The Titans" first because I think very highly of it. But I just couldn't put anything above Rudy. But it was in no way a slight to the Titans.

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    • Taylor Gram 11 months ago

      tony, i know Rudy was a true story, like a said above"the top three are based on true stories" I've seen Rudy many times, and don't get me wrong it's a great movie, but what I was saying, was I think that the Titans is a better movie.

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  6. Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

    Come on Tony...That's what he was saying. The top 3 are true stories.

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  7. Todd Morse 11 months ago

    The Express comes out this year. It looks really good. I also always kind of thought Little Giants was a pretty underrated football movie.

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  8. Tony Bishop 11 months ago

    Oops, sorry.. I misread it. I thought he said that he wanted "Remember the Titans" to be number one because it was true, as if Rudy wasn't. My bad.

    And Todd.. I completely agree with the Little Giants.

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  9. Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

    I actually had Little Giants in my original list. I was very impressed with how they did it! It was a great one!

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    • Taylor Gram 11 months ago

      th elittle giants is a hilarioius movie that has good football in it too, you never see movies about football in kids lives like that. But it would be really hard to put that in the top 5.

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  10. Jordan Kurtz 11 months ago

    Aren't we all forgetting a little movie called Ace Ventura Pet Detective?

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    • Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

      I actually had that as a consideration in my list when I went through figuring all the football movies. It really doesn't have much ACTUAL football at all...

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  11. Jordan Kurtz 11 months ago

    Aren't we all forgetting a little movie called Necessary Roughness?

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  12. Scott Fitzsimmons 11 months ago

    Nope...Its in the Honorable Mention! Plus it's what started the whole thing...

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  13. Jordan Kurtz 11 months ago

    Aren't we all forgetting a little movie called Caddyshack?

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    • About the Author Scott Fitzsimmons (analyst)

    • 36 articles written
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