Newman, from the blue line, he shoots...he
scores!
Okay, I'll be honest. I don't even
know if Paul Newman was a player in "Slap Shot" or
whether he was the coach or something. I just thought it worked
for the title. I am not the biggest hockey fan in the world. Some
of my friends love it, so I know a bit about it from them, but I
am by no means very knowledgeable about it. Maybe that is why I
have never seen "Slap Shot." I like Paul Newman though
so I will definitely pick this one up as you guys seem to like it
a lot.
In thinking about the commentary
for this poll, I was wondering what made a good sports movie. I
started trying to think about heroic themes, the sport as a
symbol for something else, perseverance in an impossible
situation, etc., etc. I think some of those things may be true,
but I finally came to the conclusion that what makes a good
sports movie is the same thing that makes a good movie anytime.
We have to care about the characters, we can't laugh at the
dialogue, and we have to get lost in the characters' world for a
while. All of these elements have to be there, the only
difference being the world in which we are getting lost happens
to be the sports world.
Since I haven't seen it, I can't
talk about "Slap Shot." I can, however, talk about the
second choice, which was my choice, "Bull Durham." I
know you are all shocked it's my choice considering I'm not a
very big baseball fan. Yeah, right. I think "Bull Durham"
is the best baseball movie I have ever seen. I say that because
the characters in the movie are not baseball players we already
know like Gehrig in "Pride of the Yankees." Nope. Nuke
Laloosh, Crash Davis, and Annie Savoy were probably based on
people Ron Shelton knew when he was a minor leaguer, but none of
us did. The opening monologue from Annie about "the church
of baseball" remains one of my favorite openings to a movie.
And the rest of the movie is saturated with enough baseball to
keep guys like me happy but not turn away general audiences for
lack of a good story. I was really happy when Nuke got called up
to the Braves (who were the big club at the time for the Bulls)
and I was also glad when Annie and Crash got together. I just
realized something while I was typing this paragraph. I have only
referred to the people in the movie by their character names, not
Tim Robbins, Kevin Costner, and Susan Sarandon. I love that movie
so much that I guess I don't think about the actors in the movie,
I only think about the characters. That's a testament, I think,
to how good it is, and a lot of you guys obviously agree with me.
Plus when Crash calls the ump a "cocksucker" I still
lose it.
I guess "Slap Shot" wins
the poll but jeez this vite was tight! I can't recall another
poll where the nominations were so bunched together. Maybe your
choice of best sports movie is based on your favortie sport. I
think hockey is the fourth major sport in America though so
unless we have an unusual number of hockey fans, then that theory
doesn't carry a lot of weight.
"Hoosiers" was a great
movie and maybe Hopper's best performance ever. I know it was
"Rocky" in high school basketball but I am a sucker for
those underdog themes.
I don't know about "The
Natural." I have never been a Redford fan. He always look
slike "Gatsby" to me. I think that may have been one of
the first movies I ever saw with him and all I can ever see is
"East" and "West Egg" when I look at him. I
just can't get past that and his performances suffer in my mind
as a result. Decent movie though.
Okay, I am going to admit
something here. I have never seen "Field of Dreams."
The Gist nearly shit himself when I told him that a few weeks ago.
I don't know why really. I obviously don't have a huge problem
with Costner, but I have just never had a strong desire to see it.
Everyone I know tells me I have to see it when they find out I
haven't. I guess I will see it one day. I am not sure how great
it will be because, not surprisingly, I already know a lot of
what happens. I will probably still watch it, just for the
baseball.
We love our sports and we love our
movies. I guess it's not surprising that when the two meet, magic
can happen.
Comments and suggestions to lawdogusc@hotmail.com.
Poll
Topic: Best Sports Movie
|
| Slap
Shot |
 12.1% - (86 Votes) |
| Bull
Durham |
11.2% - (80 Votes) |
| Hoosiers |
10.4% - (74 Votes) |
| The
Natural |
9.7% - (69 Votes) |
| Field
of Dreams |
8.3% - (59 Votes) |
| Rocky |
7.4% - (53 Votes) |
| Brian's
Song |
3.9% - (28 Votes) |
| Raging
Bull |
3.8% - (27 Votes) |
| Major
League |
3.1% - (22 Votes) |
| The
Longest Yard |
2.9% - (21 Votes) |
| Chariots
of Fire |
2.5% - (18 Votes) |
| Breaking
Away |
2.4% - (17 Votes) |
| Eight
Men Out |
2.4% - (17 Votes) |
| North
Dallas Forty |
2.2% - (16 Votes) |
| Bang
the Drum Slowly |
1.8% - (13 Votes) |
| Rollerball |
1.8% - (13 Votes) |
| The
Sandlot |
1.5% - (11 Votes) |
| Any
Given Sunday |
1.5% - (11 Votes) |
| Pride
of the Yankees |
1.5% - (11 Votes) |
| Tin
Cup |
1.5% - (11 Votes) |
| He
Got Game |
1.1% - (8 Votes) |
| Diggstown |
1.1% - (8 Votes) |
| The
Games |
0.8% - (6 Votes) |
| Victory |
0.8% - (6 Votes) |
| The
Bad News Bears |
0.8% - (6 Votes) |
| Vision
Quest |
0.4% - (3 Votes) |
| American
Flyers |
0.4% - (3 Votes) |
| Dead
Solid Perfect |
0.4% - (3 Votes) |
| Somebody
Up There Likes Me |
0.2% - (2 Votes) |
| Semi-Tough |
0.2% - (2 Votes) |
| The
Fish that Saved Pittsburgh |
0.2% - (2 Votes) |
| Damn
Yankees |
0.1% - (1 Votes) |
| Blue
Chips |
0.1% - (1 Votes) |
| Follow
the Sun |
0% - (0 Votes) |
Total Votes: 708
|