The only movie genre that cops a harder time than horror is sport. But gems can be found if you wade through the lame, the predictable and the merely awful. Hayden Meikle lists his 10 greatest sports movies - and brings in the opinion of one of his favourite writers, the late movie critic Roger Ebert.
1. CHARIOTS OF FIRE
Sport: Athletics.
Year: 1981.
Director: Hugh Hudson.
Stars: Ben Cross (Harold Abrahams), Ian Charleson (Eric Liddell), Ian Holm (Sam Mussabini).
The story: Two very different athletes - one Christian, one Jewish - run in the 1924 Olympic Games. Based on a true story.
The quote: ''I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.''
Why it's so good: It's a great story, based on fact, but Chariots of Fire is much more than that. It's compelling and deeply inspiring. Not to mention it has the most memorable soundtrack (Vangelis) in the history of sports movies.
Roger Ebert said: ''Like many great films, Chariots of Fire takes its nominal subjects as occasions for much larger statements about human nature.''
Ebert's ranking: No 2 film of 1981.
2. FIELD OF DREAMS
Sport: Baseball.
Year: 1989.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson.
Stars: Kevin Costner (Ray Kinsella), James Earl Jones (Terence Mann), Ray Liotta (Shoeless Joe Jackson).
The story: A corn farmer in Iowa hears a mysterious voice and is prompted to build a baseball field.
The quote: ''If you build it, he will come.''
Why it's so good: It's corny (sorry) in patches. But it's also undercut by a sweet and moving message. Costner is terrific, the photography is stunning and the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest of the Chicago ''Black'' Sox, implicated in match-fixing, is gripping.
Roger Ebert said: ''This is the kind of movie Frank Capra might have directed, and James Stewart might have starred in - a movie about dreams.''
Ebert's ranking: No 7 film of 1989.
3. ROCKY
Sport: Boxing.
Year: 1976.
Director: John G. Avildsen.
Stars: Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Talia Shire (Adrian Pennino), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed).
The story: A humble debt collector in Philadelphia gets an unexpected shot at the world heavyweight boxing title.
The quote: ''Adrian!''Why it's so good: Well, it's the American dream, isn't it? Rocky is a down-on-his-luck punk who somehow manages to fight the heavyweight champ AND get the girl. Stallone is great, the scenes are raw and emotional, and the action is intense.
Roger Ebert said: ''A description of it would sound like a cliche from beginning to end. But Rocky isn't about a story, it's about a hero. And it's inhabited with supreme confidence by a star.''
Ebert's ranking: No 7 film of 1976.
4. HOOP DREAMS
Sport: Basketball.
Year: 1994.
Director: Steve James.
Stars: William Gates and Arthur Agee, as themselves.
The story: The only documentary on my list concerns two high school pupils in Chicago and their dreams of becoming star professional basketball players.
The quote: ''That's why when somebody say, 'When you get to the NBA, don't forget about me', and that stuff, well, I should've said to them, 'If I don't make it, don't you forget about me.''
Why it's so good: It's the greatest sports documentary of all time, but I can't really explain why. There is just something about that essential dream of making it big that clicks.
Roger Ebert said: ''It is drama and melodrama, packaged with outrage and moments that make you want to cry.''
Ebert's ranking: No 1 film of 1994.
5. HOOSIERS
Sport: Basketball.
Year: 1986.
Director: David Anspaugh.
Stars: Gene Hackman (Norman Dale), Barbara Hershey (Myra Fleener), Dennis Hopper (Shooter).
The story: A team from a tiny high school in small-town Indiana wins the state championship against all odds. Loosely based on a true story.
The quote: ''I play, Coach stays. He goes, I go.''
Why it's so good: Because high school sport in America is awesome. Because the story is a classic. Because Hackman and Hopper are brilliant. Just because.
Roger Ebert said: ''Hoosiers works a magic in getting us to really care about the fate of the team and the people depending on it.''
Ebert's ranking: Unranked.
6. RAGING BULL
Sport: Boxing.
Year: 1980.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Stars: Robert De Niro (Jake LaMotta), Joe Pesci (Joey LaMotta), Cathy Moriarty (Vickie Thailer).
The story: A battered, bitter boxer abuses himself and those around him. Based on a true story.
The quote: ''If you win, you win. If you lose, you still win.''
Why it's so good: It's still an uncomfortable watch - the violence, abuse and high level of obscenities put a lot of people off. But De Niro is incredible and the story is just so powerful.
Roger Ebert said: ''Raging Bull is the most painful and heartrending portrait of jealousy in the cinema - an Othello for our times.''
Ebert's ranking: No 2 film of 1980.
7. THE DAMNED UNITED
Sport: Football.
Year: 2009.
Director: Tom Hooper.
Stars: Michael Sheen (Brian Clough), Timothy Spall (Peter Taylor), Colm Meaney (Don Revie).
The story: Cocky manager Brian Clough lasts just 44 days as boss of Leeds United in 1974. Based on a true story.
The quote: ''As far as I'm concerned, the first thing you can do for me is to chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest f...... dustbin you can find, because you've never won any of them fairly. You've done it all by bloody cheating.''
Why it's so good: The story of Clough, such a fascinating character, and his ill-fated spell with Leeds would have been enough. The scenes of British football in the grey 1970s are also fun. But the movie is made by Sheen's performance. It is simply a work of genius.
Roger Ebert said: ''The Damned United avoids all sports movie cliches, even the obligatory ending where the team comes from behind. Is this the first sports movie where the hero comes from ahead and loses?''
Ebert's ranking: Unranked.
8. MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Sport: Boxing.
Year: 2004.
Director: Clint Eastwood.
Stars: Clint Eastwood (Frankie Dunn), Hilary Swank (Maggie Fitzgerald), Morgan Freeman (Eddie ''Scrap-Iron'' Dupris).
The story: An ageing trainer decides to help an aspiring female boxer into a professional career.
The quote: ''If there's magic in boxing, it's the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.''
Why it's so good: Eastwood is in tip-top form, both behind and in front of the camera. Swank is fantastic, and Freeman brilliant. And the story is powerful, with one of the biggest (spoiler alert, sort of) plot twists in any sports film.
Roger Ebert said: ''Movies are so often made of effects and sensation these days. This one is made of three people and how their actions grow out of who they are and why. Nothing else. But isn't that everything?''
Ebert's ranking: No 1 movie of 2004.
9. THE FIGHTER
Sport: Boxing.
Year: 2010.
Director: David O. Russell.
Stars: Mark Wahlberg (Micky Ward), Christian Bale (Dicky Eklund), Melissa Leo (Alice Ward).
The story: A gutsy Boston boxer tries to rise to the top of the welterweight ranks. Based on a true story.
The quote: ''I'm the one fighting, OK? Not you, not you, and not you.''
Why it's so good: There is just something about boxing movies, I guess. This one has a good story, and a fine supporting cast. But the show is completely stolen by Bale, who is absolutely electrifying as the drug-affected, living-on-his-past older brother.
Roger Ebert said: ''They're being filmed for an HBO documentary, which Dicky thinks is about his own unlikely comeback and everybody else knows is about his decline and fall. Crackheads sometimes get the two confused.''
Ebert's ranking: Unranked.
10. SEABISCUIT
Sport: Horse racing.
Year: 2003.
Director: Gary Ross.
Stars: Tobey Maguire (Red Pollard), Jeff Bridges (Charles S. Howard), Chris Cooper (Tom Smith).
The story: A plucky horse lights up the United States during the Great Depression. Based on a true story.
The quote: ''Though he be but little, he is fierce.''
Why it's so good: Seabiscuit is a great combination of classic story - the underdog (underhorse?) shocking the world - and classic setting. And the racing scenes are remarkably good.
Roger Ebert said: ''It's yet more evidence for my theory that people more readily cry at movies not because of sadness, but because of goodness and courage.''
Ebert's ranking: Unranked.
Also worth a look. -
Moneyball (baseball): Not as good as the book but still very watchable.
Friday Night Lights (American football): Not as good as the book but still very watchable.
The Blind Side (American football): Not as good as the book but still very watchable.
Invictus (rugby): A very decent attempt to tell the story of Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Phar Lap (racing): Hard to believe it was released 30 years ago.
Rudy (American football): ''I've been ready for this my whole life!''Cinderella Man (boxing): Russell Crowe is pretty good as James J. Braddock.
A League of Their Own (baseball): Tom Hanks steals the show.
He Got Game (basketball): Ray Allen as Jesus Shuttlesworth.
We Are Marshall (American football): A terribly sad story but an uplifting movie.
Bull Durham (baseball): Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are all very good.61* (baseball): Billy Crystal directed the story of the home run battle between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.
Tin Cup (golf): Funny without being too silly.
Happy Gilmore (golf), Caddyshack (golf), The Waterboy (American football): Silly but saved by some very funny moments.
Note: With the exception of the immortal Hoop Dreams, I have left out sports documentaries. But do see Senna, When We Were Kings, Murderball, Undefeated, Ken Burns' Baseball, Fire In Babylon, and all the ESPN 30 for 30 films.
