Football season is underway, and while I am not the world's biggest football fan, I do enjoy a good football movie.
So, in honor of the start of football season, I have assembled my top 10 favorite football movies of all time. These choices might not represent the game in its most accurate or purist form but they are entertaining and, in some cases, really remarkable films.
Have I left any out? If so, please share your choices with me on my podcast voicemail line: 773-417-6948 or via email at nick@nickdigilio.com
TOP 10 FOOTBALL MOVIES OF ALL TIME (in order of preference):
Not only is this the best football movie ever made, but it is also the best sports movie ever made (with "Slap Shot" a very, very close second).
Based on the book by former NFL player Peter Gent, this brutal, insightful, and enormously entertaining satire of the NFL still stands as the most pointed indictment of professional sports ever made.
Nick Nolte gives the best performance of his career as a battered, bruised, cynical, and drug-addicted wide receiver for a fictional pro-football team (clearly based on the Dallas Cowboys) who has been benched by his coach and wants nothing more than to finish out his career on a high note.
The movie shows, in candid detail, the inner workings of the sport in the late 70's. It doesn't shy away from exposing the secrets of the business, the shady politics, and that era's wild, alcohol-fueled atmosphere.
The film also examines the acceptance of painkillers and other drugs used by the players to keep themselves on the field, win games, and, most importantly, generate revenue for the rich guys who own the teams.
The movie is also a lot of fun. It is hilarious, entertaining, insightful, and a terrific showcase for an incredible cast that includes Charles Durning, Dayle Haddon, Bo Svenson, Steve Forrest, John Matuszak, G.D. Spradlin, the great Dabney Coleman, and, shockingly, country singer Mac Davis, who is outstanding as the hotshot quarterback.
Workhorse filmmaker Ted Kotcheff directed this movie with skill, nuance, and intelligence. In a resume filled with wildly varying titles like "First Blood," "Uncommon Valor," "Fun with Dick and Jane," "Billy Two Hats," and even "Weekend at Bernie's," this one is definitely at the top of the list. It's the best football movie ever made.
No, not the terrible Adam Sandler remake from 2005. The original classic with Burt Reynolds from 1974 brilliantly combined the genres of Prison Movies and Sports Movies.
An ex-football star (Reynolds) is thrown in prison. While he is serving time, the warden (a tremendous Eddie Albert) forces him to put together a team of inmates to play a game against the guards. It's that simple, but what follows is a complexly structured and morally ambiguous film in which the audience root for criminals to beat the hell out of law officials.
The incredible Robert Aldrich ("The Dirty Dozen," "Emperor of the North"), who specialized in examinations of violence and audience identification/manipulation, directed the hell out of this movie. The result is one of the most shamelessly entertaining films I've ever seen and one of the best films of the 1970s.
I vividly remember seeing this movie on a Saturday night in 1974, in a PACKED house at The Ford City Theaters on Chicago's Southside. To say the film worked the crowd into a frenzy would be an understatement, and it was one of the most memorable communal experiences I have ever had in a theater. "The Longest Yard" remains one of the most unapologetically brazen pieces of ballsy entertainment ever produced.
This is the first of two films (the following entry is the other one) that I hesitated to include on this list because I wasn't really sure if they fell under the category of "football movie," but my girlfriend Julie insisted that I include them, so I did.
The great Warren Beatty (who also co-wrote with Elaine May and co-directed with Buck Henry) stars in this loose remake of the 1941 film "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" as a backup quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, looking forward to leading his team to the Super Bowl who, because of a mistake made by a guardian angel, ends up in the body of multi-millionaire industrialist.
His plan is to buy the team, get this industrialist's body in shape enough to play in the Super Bowl and fall in love with Julie Christie.
I love this movie—really, really love it. I also happen to love Warren Beatty very much and think that he is not only a terrific actor but one of the finest American filmmakers of all time.
This charming, old-fashioned, and enormously entertaining film is, at its core, an unapologetic Rom-Com. Still, it's also a terrific football movie, providing genuine excitement on the field.
Beatty's captivating performance anchors a movie that will make you laugh, cry, care, and feel lovey-dovey, too. It's not a surprise that Beatty and co-star Christie have incredible chemistry or that Beatty was able to assemble such an unbelievable cast that includes James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Buck Henry, Vincent Gardenia, R.G. Armstrong, John Randolph, and Joseph Maher.
This is as good as it gets, and the football scenes are indeed tremendous.
Cameron Crowe's lovely, sincere, and completely captivating Rom-Com stars Tom Cruise as a hotshot sports agent with a moral epiphany that gets him fired. Having only one remaining client, a wide receiver from the Arizona Cardinals (Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding Jr.), and no office, he teams up with a single mom (Rene Zellwegger) to try and put his life and career back in order.
This is a really excellent film with great performances all around. Like Crowe's best work and producer/inspiration James L. Brooks's best work, it has a genuine aura of sincerity that doesn't seem forced, and that washes over the audience in an extraordinary way.
The sports angle and football details in the film work very well and add authenticity and depth to an already compelling love story/character study loaded with memorable moments (the "Show Me The Money" stuff), classic dialogue ("You had me at hello"...I mean, come on!!) and actual maturity.
This outstanding 2004 film, starring Billy Bob Thornton and an impressive young cast, is based on the book by H.G. Bissinger. It tells the true story of an Odessa, Texas, high school football team and their run toward the state championship. It is inspiring, realistic, and rousing entertainment that, in addition to being a critically acclaimed film, also became a very successful TV series.
Director/co-writer Peter Berg (who was once a pretty terrific actor, too) does an expert job juggling the football elements with the human stories to create a very effective and powerful story of a community coming together and a team trying to win.
Lessons are learned, relationships are explored, and great football is played in a very realistic, documentary-like style that packs a huge punch.
6) BRIAN'S SONG
It's a made-for-TV movie of the week, but I must include this one. Everyone knows the story (especially if you're from Chicago) of the relationship between Chicago Bears teammates Gayle Sayers and Brian Piccolo, whose bond got them through the race issues of the mid-1960s and the politics of pro-football but didn't prepare them for Piccolo's cancer diagnosis and struggles with disease.
Heartbreaking, compelling, and beautifully acted by James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, this is truly a classic and an exceptional film. It is also known as the movie that has made grown men cry more than any other movie ever made.
7) THE FRESHMAN
This 1925 silent film starring the great Harold Lloyd is one of his most beloved and enduring works. It is also a terrific football movie.
Lloyd plays a mocked and ridiculed first-year college student who joins the school football team in an effort to become popular and get the girl (Jobyna Ralston). The film is executed with the style, grace, and hilarity you'd expect from Lloyd, and it has some truly moving moments that ground it in a stark reality.
Directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, this is a classic example of efficient and tight silent filmmaking and a great showcase for Harold Lloyd's remarkable abilities as a physical comic and an astute performer.
Yeah, I know, this is a pretty dumb movie, but for some reason, I am very entertained by it. This was a cable standby (it seemed to be on EVERY NIGHT) that I watched pretty regularly, usually very late at night, usually while I was drinking.
It tells the ridiculous story of the Texas State University football team, the Armadillos, and their struggle to rebuild a team completely depleted of players, coaches, and staff. It then becomes a wacky story about a bunch of misfits who have no business being on a football field, winning games, making friends, and finding love. Yeah, it's dumb.
But I like the cast, which includes Scott Bakula, Hector Elizondo, Robert Loggia, Larry Miller, Harley Jane Kozak, Jason Bateman, Fred Dalton Thompson, Kathy Ireland (as the team's kicker), and Sinbad. They all seem to be having a great time, and that translated on screen. The movie always made me happy at about three o'clock in the morning after a few drinks. Also, I'm a Sinbad fan.
That's right, I like Sinbad!
Loosely based on the 1987 NFL strike, this is a very funny comedy about a pro football team forced to reinvent itself after a player's strike occurs with four games left in the season. A group of ragtag players, led by All-American quarterback (played by Johnny Utah himself, Keanu Reeves), reluctantly decide to join the team to get them into the playoffs.
I do have an issue with cheering on scabs (which is addressed thoroughly in the film), but aside from that, this is a very entertaining film. Admittedly, it is far from perfect, and some of the comedy doesn't work. Still, a genuine feeling of joy emanates from the screen, and it goes by quickly in a fun, breezy fashion.
The cast for this thing is pretty remarkable, aside from a hugely charming Reeves, the actors include Gene Hackman, Jack Warden, Keith David, Orlando Jones, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Rhys Ifans, Gailard Sartain, Art LaFleur and John Madden & Pat Summerall as themselves.
It's all expertly directed by Howard Deutch ("Pretty in Pink," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Grumpier Old Men"). As football movies go, it's exciting, accurate, and smart.
10) WE ARE MARSHALL
OK, here's the deal: This really isn't a very good movie; in fact, it's pretty bad. I mean, it's directed by McG, for God's sake. But I am including it on this list for one simple reason: Matthew McConaughey.
The 2006 film is based on the tragic true story of the aftermath of a 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people associated with the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team. The movie covers the rebuilding of the team (McConaughey plays the new head coach) and how the community comes together to honor the memories of the fallen and attempt to have a successful football season.
It's all honorable stuff and a truly inspiring story, but unfortunately, it turns out to be corny, maudlin, and cheap, thanks to a weak script and horrifically ham-fisted direction by the talentless McG.
But... then there's Matthew McConaughey.
McConaughey single-handedly saves the entire picture with his assured, smart, remarkable performance. This is an example of incredible screen acting, movie-star charisma, and an unceasing commitment to sharing the love of the community and their inspiring effort to conquer the horrible situation.
McConaughey's great performance in this film was lost because the film was pretty bad and because he was still in the midst of making ridiculous Rom-Coms like "Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past," "Failure to Launch," "Fool's Gold," and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."
This was a few years before the "McConaughissance" took place, with stuff like "Dallas Buyers Club," "True Detective," "Mud," "Magic Mike," and "Interstellar," to finally cement the fact that he is one of our finest actors.
But out there in that foggy period of the mid-aughts, there exists this truly remarkable performance that remains one of McConaughey's very best. It is the only reason to watch this movie, and the performance actually makes watching this movie a pleasure.
So, that's my list of The Top 10 Best Football Movies. They are also available on my Letterboxd. Check them out and enjoy!
And remember to share your favorite football movies at 773-417-6948 or at nick@nickdigilio.com
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