Thursday Movie Picks Meme: Sport Movies

The subject this week for Wanderer's Thursday Movie Picks Meme is something a little bit out of my usual comfort zone. I've never been a particularly athletic person so naturally I'm not normally attracted to movies that prominently feature sports. I remember once in early high school an assignment required us to watch the movie Coach Carter, and while everyone else was super-excited I kept complaining simply because it was about basketball and I didn't like sports movies (with hindsight, I think I might have been a bit harsh on it, and it might be worth giving another chance if the opportunity presents itself).

Of course even with the genres that I am not normally interested in I can still find a few good ones. I'm not a big fan of musicals but that didn't stop me enjoying Singin' in the Rain, and I did enjoy both Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies even though I usually prefer science fiction over fantasy. Same goes with sport movies, even if it's not a genre that usually gets me excited, I do know a few good ones. Here are some of them.

Horse Feathers

This early Marx Brothers film is a lot of fun, and it's all about football. Basically, Groucho is appointed headmaster of Huxley College and decides to try and improve the school's football team by hiring two of the greatest football players who hang out at a local speakeasy. Unfortunately a misunderstanding leads to him just missing rival institution Darwin College hiring those players while Groucho ends up mistakenly recruiting deliverymen Chico and Harpo, leading to inevitable craziness and quite possibly the strangest football game ever put on film.

The Big Lebowski

Okay, technically this isn't about a sport but bowling does play a pretty big part in the whole thing. You could probably make a drinking game out of every scene set in the bowling alley, letalone every major bowling motif throughout the film. The three main characters are even preparing for an upcoming tournament (though we never actually see it). It is a really fun movie that sheds light on a great sport. (fun fact: the only sports team I ever played on willingly was my High School bowling team).

Million Dollar Baby

It was a toss-up between this and Invictus, but that movie seemed a bit too obvious. Million Dollar Baby is a rather touching story about the relationship between a troubled young woman who finally finds herself through boxing, and her trainer who is also trying to redeem himself for something he did in the past. It is an emotional story with plenty of great fight scenes that inevitably come with a film about boxing, but it isn't afraid to show the darker side either, something that helps build up to a real tear-jerker of a finale.