Best Sports movies?

Celtic Pride, anyone? ::

 

All the best, Joe.

The Fighter would have been on the list, but I've yammered on enough about it. It's excellent.

Diggstown.

If chess is a sport (it's not), then Searching for Bobby Fischer belongs in this thread (it doesn't). Fantastic movie though. Larry Fishbourne should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

"Attack! Always attack! Even when you retreat, ATTACK!"

 

about the only wrestling movie ever. haha.

there's actually a recent movie called 'win, win' and it's about high school wrestling. it got good reviews.

 

I was including pro wrestling, but your point is valid. ::

 

I just remembered that John Cusack was one of the nerds that the high school football jocks lifted out of the trunk of their car when the party was over in Sixteen Candles.

Also, nobody has mentioned Remember The Titans, which I really like. It's a great movie. If I were going to recommend a high school football movie, that'd be the one.

 

I know the Baer family and friends have been campaigning tirelessly for years regarding his portrayal in the movie, but it really wasn't that far off to be perfectly honest.

Max Baer was not a "nice guy" to his opponents. He was a provocateur in the vein of Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather today.

I'm sure some things like always in the movies was fictionalized for dramatic effect, but for a movie that needed a villain, he certainly wasn't a bad choice.

He wasn't called "The Clown Prince of Boxing" because he was such a fun-loving and nice guy. It's because he routinely joked, prodded, talked to and disrespected his opponents in the ring.

Like Mayweather, he would often talk to ringside observers and reporters in the middle of a fight while his opponent had his back to the ropes.

It's part of the reason why he pissed away the Braddock fight.

Check with Mike DeLisa over at CyberBoxingZone. He wrote a book on Braddock, and did plenty of research on Max Baer............and not all of it complimentary.

Max Baer started wearing the Star Of David on his trunks, not because he was Jewish (he wasn't, and the story of his grandfather has been hotly disputed), but because he thought it would get under the skin of Max Schmeling, when he fought him.........since he thought Schmeling was a Nazi (he wasn't, but that's another story).

He gets sympathy because he killed one opponent and probably had a hand in killing another. People say it broke him, and took away his fighting spirit. I call bullshit.

The Frankie Campbell fight might have slowed his progress a bit, but a couple years later he nearly killed Ernie Schaaf, a year after that he had a savage fight with Schmeling (channeling his anti-Nazi anger apparently), and another year after that he handed Primo Carnera one of the most brutal beatings ever seen in a boxing ring (check the footage if you get a chance)...........and..........and......... six months after that he nearly killed King Levinsky (who actually was Jewish BTW), in what was supposed to be a friendly 4 round exhibition bout.

He was at the top of his game and cocky as hell when the Braddock fight rolled around. Like I said, he pissed that fight away with his arrogance and was humbled permanently just a few months later by Joe Louis. Never really rose above contender status after that.

 

Nobleart has made a strong case, in line with the impressions I had. Ramonza...you're in CHECK...it's your move!

 

if we're talking pro wrestling too, then the wrestler is the best wrestling movie ever made.

 

It might be the better movie, but Vision Quest is my sentimental favorite of the two.

 

Vision Quest wins that battle hands down. Vision Quest was full of life lessons:

1) Training until you almost die will typically result in odds-defying victories
2) Visit your grandparents often as you never know when one trip might result in tagging hot, grown-up pussy.
3) Always pay attention to local club music because it might be a future superstar.
4) When time is running out always go to the over/under hip toss to win the big wrestling match.
5) It's OK to buy a CD with Madonna on it provided she's sandwiched between Journey, Dio, Foreigner, Sammy Hagar and Red Rider.

 

That's nothing short of outrageous. Baer put Campbell's children through college on his own coin. He cried for both men (Campbell, especially). You going to cite exhibitionism & trash-talking as pre-requisites for celebrating murder in the ring, the way Baer was portrayed to do in Cinderella Man? That's obscene. Baer was in no way what they put him up as in that movie.

 

I have great respect for you Sly, as we do for one another, but you are flat kidding yourself to call this a, "strong case." It simply isn't.

 

NOT a Bad Movie, Actually...



REED:dancingBaby:

 

I thought it was fun.

 

I must have missed that scene. :dunno:

I don't think he was portrayed as poorly as you think he was.

They actually showed him go up and congratulate Braddock after the fight was over, proving it was all a show he was putting on, leading up to the fight...........just as he did in the actual fight.

What about my post was inaccurate?

I never said he didn't feel bad about the Campbell fight or slow down his growth as a fighter, but it didn't exactly break him or turn him into a kindler, gentler opponent. See the fights I mentioned.

I don't care how many misty eyed memories from relatives on internet message boards say otherwise.

 

I forgot about the "celebrating murder" business. In that regard you have a good point. But his general arrogance and mischief I thought was spot on.

 

Driven

 

Good post. This is why I don't mind the way they protrayed Baer in the film. I think they exaggerated some stuff, certainly to make Baer the clearcut villain (which was necessary for the Hollywood aspect of the film) but overall it wasn't as outrageous as many people made it out to be. At least that is my opinon. The depiction of Baer is something I will point out as being a little bit off, but not to the point of disliking the film.

 

If that's the one with Stallone, I liked it.

 

Let me re-phrase. I didn't mean to convey he celebrated murder in the ring in a specific scene, just that he was pictured as doing so in the movie in general (I remember the scene when Braddock appears at the door to his hotel room).

Portraying Baer as someone who took Campbell & Schaff's deaths lightly, & even had fun with the notion, is pure fantasy & slander, & there's just absolutely no two ways about that.

 

& your reaction if it were you who had killed those men, & shown every step of the way you mourned their deaths & even went to to trouble of taking great care of one of those mens' children on your own coin would still be that you, "wouldn't mind," such a portrayal?

You're not obligated to dislike it, but it's purely a fantasy take on who Baer was, & an extremely insulting one, at that. Maybe it made for stronger entertainment value, but to me, it detracted, it didn't add. His depiction was something for the casual movie-goer, a Boxing fan should be above the bullshit.

 

That's the one, but I only mentioned it because it was directed by a Finn.

 

That's fair too.

If it were me I would be angry with any slight imperfection that a movie portrayed of me. Any word they misquoted or misrepresented would annoy me. Asking how I would feel if it were me is not really a good measuring stick.

It was a movie and it was centered around Braddock. They may have even, *gasp* portrayed Braddock as a little more altruistic and good-hearted than he actually may have been in real life. Baer was the villain in the movie, and as I said originally in my first post I did think it was a poor depiction of him. They went too far with the non-chalant attitude towards the ring deaths and exaggerated his character for the villain role in the film. But as a reaction to it, Ring magazine and other people published an equally exaggerated depiction of Baer as the exact opposite. Nothing but a big loveable teddy bear (forgive the choice of words) who was just a fun goofball and happened to punch people for a living on the side.

I thought the movie was good and it told Braddock's story well and that really was the focus of the movie. I can watch the Baer scenes and know what is right and wrong and what is in the middle and take it for what it is. Point is that Baer was a monster compared to Braddock in the ring and it was amazing Braddock was able to win.

Are any historical movies, sports-related or otherwise, really accurate to the fine details regarding the people they portray?

 

It isnt about fine details --- its about gross and deliberate dishonesty.

 

Some parts are dishonest but that's the nature of Hollywood.