Stuck at home with no sports: Fill the time with Mike Brown's favorite sports movies
I’ve probably spent more of my life watching and talking about movies than most people would consider healthy or normal.
On two occasions I was privileged to write an article about the greatest sports films for the Tulsa World.
The current assignment is more personal: What are my favorite sports movies and what are five I consider overrated?
Favorite is defined as movies I will rewatch over and over again with little or no decline in interest. “Groundhog Day” and “Pulp Fiction” are not sports films, but have the same effect on me.
Overrated includes, but is not limited to, films about which I am asked, “How could you possibly not think this is a great movie?"
The favorites: Moneyball
2011, Director: Bennett Miller
Yes, the Oakland A’s won 103 games in 2002, but not completely by using smoke and mirrors. Not mentioned in the film were the A’s top-flight starting pitchers. Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson combined to win 57 games. Why ruin a good story with too many facts? Brad Pitt is terrific as general manager Billy Beane and the film is entertaining throughout. It largely succeeds in explaining the concepts of sabermetrics, described in Michael Lewis' 2003 book and used by Beane to rebuild a limousine out of discarded parts.
The favorites: North Dallas Forty
1979, Director: Ted Kotcheff
Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Pete Gent wrote the book in 1973, a serious examination of the hypocrisy and cut-throat nature of big-time sports. Awash in alcohol and narcotics, it is disturbing and furiously funny at the same time. And that’s before it gets to the weird part. Nick Nolte is the free-spirited receiver and Oklahoma-born G.D. Spradlin is the dictatorial head coach who warns his players, “Not one of you is better than that computer.”
The overrated: Major League
1988, Director: David S. Ward
Some people could watch Charlie Sheen’s “Wild Thing” knock the head off that batting target 1,500 times and never think it’s less funny. There are 1,500 other mildly amusing moments in a film that makes absolutely no sense from a baseball perspective. No owner ever tried to dismantle a team with such undisguised glee. Bob Uecker’s over- and understatements from the broadcast booth get tiresome before the end of the first hour. Call me humorless, but the best baseball movie of all time? Give me a break.
The favorites: Bull Durham
1988, Director: Ron Shelton
Shelton directed his own script, a sentimental look at the minor leagues — funny, often vulgar and intensely romantic. Centers around career minor leaguer Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), who believes in "the hanging curveball, high fiber, good scotch and long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."
The overrated: Friday Night Lights
2004, Director: Peter Berg
A big comedown from the 1990 book by H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger, about Odessa (Texas) Permian football. Opening legend should read: "very, very loosely based on a true story." No, the Panthers didn’t reach the state final in 1988. They lost in the semifinals. And no, Don Billingsley’s father didn’t come onto the field and beat up his son for fumbling the ball in practice as coaches and players watched without lifting a finger. If that happened around here, dad would be banned from the program for life. Bissinger’s book is a nuanced account of life in the oil patch. Where he suggests Permian fans might have been overboard about their team, the film makes them into a bunch of Neanderthals.
The overrated: Varsity Blues
1999, Director: Brian Robbins
Described as an American “coming-of-age” tale but actually a bitter indictment of high school football and growing up in a small town. Apparently, nothing good can come of either. In this view, every team in Texas has a cold-blooded jerk for a head coach who is too mean to be fired, and not one but two Division I-level passers capable of saving the season. Every Christian is a weirdo and every parent is a boob. And the kids don't "come of age." They indulge themselves in every adult vice and then blame the oldsters for stealing their childhoods.
The overrated: Field of Dreams
1989, Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Based on the novel “Shoeless Joe” by W.P. Kinsella. I sympathize with every person who reconnected with his dad over this film. But I try to avoid such manipulation. The film piggybacks off of Kevin Costner's popularity in “Bull Durham,” made a year earlier, and the tone is in the same metaphysical ballpark as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Oh, the wonder! Forgive my calloused heart. This is sound and fury signifying very little.
The overrated: Hoosiers
1986, Director: David Anspaugh
A satisfying Cinderella story as far as it goes, but does little to expand on the excitement of Indiana’s one-class championship basketball tournament at the time. Focuses instead on the fictional stories apparently added to make the film seem "dramatic." Only slightly based on tiny Milan High's run to the title in 1954. Bobby Plump and his teammates had gone to the state semifinals the year before and were considered a powerhouse. And if one of them had an alcoholic dad who helped coach the team for a while, history does not record him.
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Mike Brown
Sports Writer
I have covered high school football, basketball and baseball for the Tulsa World since Spencer Tillman, Wayman Tisdale and Troy Aikman were in the 10th grade. Phone: 918-581-8390
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