Categorical - Printable Version

Categorical - Printable Version

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Re: Categorical - Hulk01 - 07-15-2014

Ferrari, your slou flaes nor.

Alieu, Hulk

Best sports movies - Mick - 07-15-2014

Miracle
Hoosiers
Million Dollar Baby
Bad News Bears
Rocky
Breaking Away
The Wrestler
Raging Bull
Hoop Dreams
White Men Can't Jump
Dodgeball (Yeah, I said it)
Cinderella Man
A League of Their Own

Most overrated
Rudy.Â Pretty much owns the list.
North Dallas Forty
Bull Durham
Major League
The Fighter
Longest Yard
Remember the Titans

Re: Categorical - CornFed - 07-15-2014

(07-14-2014, 10:46 PM)Oasis link Wrote:My favorite sports movie is Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 about the epic 1968 game between the two Stanford wannabes.Â Usually the games are much more interesting than what the players think about them.Â Not here.

I hadn't even thought about that movie and you're absolutely right!Â I was at that game with my brother and we thought that the world had forgotten about it until the movie came out.Â Who needs fictionalized drama when a documentary covering the most exciting end to a football game in the history of the sport is available (well except for the Greatest Upset Ever, and actually, it's close)?

Brian Dowling was BD and Calvin Hill was a BEAST!Â Nonetheless, Harvard rallied in the final 42 seconds to tie the game on a series of brilliant plays, blown calls by the refs, lucky bounces, stupid penalties, etc etc that a Hollywood screenwriter would be too embarrassed to present as viable.Â

Re: Categorical - Spiny_Norman - 07-15-2014

I will try not to repeat what others have recommended.Â But I certainly would put on any list of best sports movies/documentaries some of ESPN's 30 for 30 works.Â The one that still resonates is The Two Escobars.Â Particularly topical since the World Cup in 1994 is such a big part of that story.

Let me add some of my favorite movies that don't seem to have been mentioned much yet:
The Adventures of Robin Hood (with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone)
The African Queen
Apollo 13 (I love a story where the engineers are the heroes)
Diner
History Of the World Part 1 (I met Gregory Hines once and was able to tell him that he was in one of my family's all time favorite movies)
Local Hero
The Man Who Would Be King
Mutiny On the Bounty (with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton)
North By Northwest
The Paper Chase
The Right Stuff
Some Like It Hot
Stalag 17
The Treasure of Sierra Madre
Working Girl (I still get a lump in my throat during the closing scene as Carly Simon and a gospel choir sing and the camera pans the NY skyline from the harbor and you see the World Trade Center towers).

Among baseball books, I can recommend Philip Roth's The Great American Novel (one of the players is Gil Gamesh and another is John Baal, so you can tell the epic scale of Roth's story); David Carkeet's The Greatest Slump Of All Time; and Ring Lardner's You Know Me Al.Â I read Roth and Lardner for a class at Stanford called The Literature of Baseball.Â Taught by a guy who worked at the post office and sold pipes in White Plaza.Â I actually got 3 credits for that class.

I know there are some golfers on the board and you have to read Dan Jenkins' Dead Solid Perfect if you have not done so yet.Â I think I laughed more reading that book than any other.Â

Re: Categorical - 82lsju - 07-15-2014

to the list of sports movies I'd add a few on car racing

- Senna
- Grand Prix
- Rush
- Le Mans

In other movies I'd add

- Lone Star
- Fargo
- Crash
- Galaxy Quest

Re: Categorical - Leftcoast - 07-15-2014

So .... is a "Nigh Hen" the opposite of an "Away Rooster"?

[Image: Crowing_pains-PD_Looney_Tunes-_sylvester...oghorn.png]

Re: Categorical - martyup - 07-15-2014

One of my favorite scenes from a sports movie is from One on One when Steele tells his coach where he can shove his scholarship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQP-DW-HjHA

Re: Categorical - martyup - 07-15-2014

I've got to mention Papillion, Cool Hand Luke, and Tombstone.

Re: Categorical - oman - 07-15-2014

Yes, loved Lone Star.Â Sayles has a few of my favorites.Â Lone Star, Eight Men Out, Limbo and the very great Matewan.

The Right Stuff may be one of my most watches as well.Â (I must have told five people that "our Germans are better than their Germans" before the US/Germany game.Â Remember seeing that on a very big screen while at Stanford.

And oh man did I fall for Diner.Â I still think the records scene so captures the impossibility of every truly understanding someone else.Â Or at least why they would favor making out to Mathis over Sinatra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpIT1W5wf-0

Levinson is alright.

Steve McQueen would have been awesome as Luke - jacketree - 07-15-2014

As it was, I thought Paul Newman did a creditable job....

Kind of hard to imagine McQueen as Dragline. George Kennedy won an Oscar for that IIRC.

Re: Categorical - Rally - 07-15-2014

(07-14-2014, 10:46 PM)Oasis link Wrote:My favorite sports movie is Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 about the epic 1968 game between the two Stanford wannabes.Â Usually the games are much more interesting than what the players think about them.Â Not here.

Here are the the best war movies:

12 O'Clock High --Gregory Peck, Dean Jaeger -- best of the best
Das BootÂ -- stupendous u-boat epic, a masterpiece.Â Best viewed with subtitles.
Stalingrad -- phenomenal battle scenes; Ostfront epic
Downfall (Bruno Ganz is the best Hitler ever, way better than Guinness or Hopkins-- last days in the bunker)
Patton -- George C. Scott is top of the heap
Letters From Iwo Jima -- Eastwood-directed Iwo from Japanese viewpoint
Fog of War -- Robert McNamara admits his first choice was Stanford.Â Very candid about Vietnam.

Then there is the best film of all time.Â No kidding.Â Actually a miniseries, Brideshead Revisited (1981)(ultimate all-star UK cast (Olivier, Gielgud, Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom) in Evelyn Waugh's classic story). Beautiful musical score by Geoffrey Burgon.Â Splendid throughout.

An overlooked gem of a movie is Thirteen Days, about how that a-hole Krushchev threatened Ole Miss' undefeated 1962 season by putting missiles in Cuba.

I may get flamed for this but if we're going to include TV productions in these lists I have to include these:

Roots
North and South
Rich Man Poor Man
Thorn Birds
Burn's Civil War
Burn's Baseball
Sagan's Cosmos
Shogan

And cherished series from my youth:

Palladin
Little house on the prairie
Gunsmoke
Rifleman
Kung Fu
Hawaii 50 (the original; bookem Danno is part of our family shorthand)
Happy Days
Welcome Back Mr. Cotter
The Cosby Show
All In The Family

Since then, nothing on network.

Re: Categorical - CornFed - 07-15-2014

(07-15-2014, 01:00 PM)Spiny_Norman link Wrote:I know there are some golfers on the board and you have to read Dan Jenkins' Dead Solid Perfect if you have not done so yet.Â I think I laughed more reading that book than any other.

Re: Categorical - Rally - 07-15-2014

(07-15-2014, 08:51 PM)CornFed link Wrote:[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=10113.msg92403#msg92403 date=1405454427]

I know there are some golfers on the board and you have to read Dan Jenkins' Dead Solid Perfect if you have not done so yet.Â I think I laughed more reading that book than any other.

Re: Categorical - CornFed - 07-15-2014

(07-15-2014, 08:55 PM)ferrari link Wrote:[quote author=CornFed link=topic=10113.msg92422#msg92422 date=1405482666]
[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=10113.msg92403#msg92403 date=1405454427]

I know there are some golfers on the board and you have to read Dan Jenkins' Dead Solid Perfect if you have not done so yet.Â I think I laughed more reading that book than any other.

Re: Categorical - 82lsju - 07-15-2014

well in another couple of books that might appeal to some here

The Amateurs by David Halberstam
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown

both about rowing, but actually about much more than rowing (and I am not a rower)

Re: Categorical - Rally - 07-15-2014

(07-15-2014, 09:04 PM)CornFed link Wrote:[quote author=ferrari link=topic=10113.msg92423#msg92423 date=1405482918]
[quote author=CornFed link=topic=10113.msg92422#msg92422 date=1405482666]
[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=10113.msg92403#msg92403 date=1405454427]

I know there are some golfers on the board and you have to read Dan Jenkins' Dead Solid Perfect if you have not done so yet.Â I think I laughed more reading that book than any other.

Quick note on golf books.Â Two I would mention and recommend highly.Â [u]The Match[/u] and Golf in the Kingdom.Â They could hardly be more different, but both capture the essence of golf in their own ways.
[/quote]

Golf is like soccer.Â Great games, beloved worldwide, but boring to those who don't/haven't played unlike, say, football, baseball, basketball.Â Just saying.
[/quote]

Well, you're probably right, Ferrari.Â Golf is not so much of a spectator sport.Â Probably been a while since you gained personal satisfaction from playing football, baseball or basketball, however.
[/quote]

My point exactly, Cornfed, and thank you for bringing it into focus.Â Even though I have never played football, baseball or basketball I, and millions of others, enjoy watching the games.Â I was a swimmer and enjoy watching swim meets.Â Billions do not.Â I know more people play golf than swim competitively, which may be why golf is on TV constantly (the fact that most network execs play golf may factor into this somehow; someone once told me the first HD broadcasts were golf matches to keep the execs happy) but you probably get my drift.Â So, enjoy.Â Someday I'll start a swimming thread, and fill it up replying to myself :)

Re: Categorical - terry - 07-15-2014

I guess this is a matter of different strokes, different folks.

I agree that Bend It Like Beckham belongs on a top 10 list of the best sports movies.

I don't agree with your take on The Natural. When I read Malamud's story, I was prepared to like it, but I really didn't. I thought it was somewhat of a disappointment after the hype. I actually like the movie version better. I know the Malamud story drew on the myth of the Fisher King. But there are some versions of that myth in which the hero ultimately is successful, in the vein of the movie. Folks who like the downbeat version of the myth better probably were rooting for the aliens in Independence Day.Â ;)

With respect to Field of Dreams, I think the book is better than the movie. Really good book. But I still like the movie too.

I did not like the Quiet Man. Maureen O'Hara was good. John Wayne not so much. And the scene where he drags her across the countryside by her hair, arms, and clothing is kind of appalling. The violence against a woman made me wince. Wayne and O'Hara were much better together in Rio Grande.

(07-14-2014, 11:46 PM)FarmDad.01 link Wrote:Of the major American sports, H'wood has always had the hardest time with baseball in terms of versimilitude. I think that's because to begin to understand the game, you have to go out to the ballpark; TV does a great job of showing close-ups of lip-gnawing pitchers and neck-twitching batters, but is terrible at conveying the sport's intricate split-second geometry except in slo-mo replays.

I'd rather sit through The Bad News B..rs again than The Natural, which Barry Levinson directed, per usual, with his toes. Malamud's downer ending, referencing the Black Sox scandal, becomes a walkoff home run by Roy Hobbs that actually shatters a bank of lights atop the right-field stands! Bull Durham's action scenes are only slightly more authentic than Bang the Drum Slowly's, the tech advisor of which didn't bother teaching Robert DeNiro that to properly round first base, use your left foot. Field of Dreams? Rather than thrill to ghosts of major leaguers past exfiltrating a corn field, I'm sure YouTube has archival footage of the minor-league outfielder who literally ran through a plywood fence; or Jose Canseco allowing a fly ball to bounce off his noggin for a home run; or a 1975 Military Night at N.Y.'s Shea Stadium, when a U.S. Army cannon turned the centerfield wall into smoking debris.

That said, one baseball flick made my 10 favorite sports movies (listed alphabetically), each of which I've enjoyed at least four times:

Bend It Like Beckham; 2002. In London, two teenaged girls (Parminda Nagra and Keira Knightley) bond through their exceptional soccer skills. But Ms. Nagra has to play for a prestigious travel club on the sly, as her Indian parents have declared sports unladylike.Â For fans of The Good Wife, Archie Panjabi has a prominent supporting role.
Cool Runnings; 1993. A Winter Olympics bobsled team from Jamaica? Yeh, mon. Moments after an early practice run in Calgary: "Hey, you can pee now." Reply: "Uh... too late."
Downhill Racer; 1970. Robert Redford as a narcissistic skier trying the make the U.S. Winter Olympics team; playing the team's coach is Gene Hackman.
Longest Yard, The; 1974. Definitely the Burt Reynolds original, not Adam Sandler's 2005 remake.
Major League; 1989. A widowed chorine who inherits an MLB team wants it to tank so she can relocate the franchise (think the NFL's Georgia Rosenbloom Frontiere). Players include a Cuban slugger, played by Dennis Haysbert, who handles snakes while practicing locker-room voodoo and a nearly-blind fastballing relief pitcher (anyone old enough to remember Ryne Duren?) played by Charlie Sheen.
Mystery, Alaska; 1999. In a publicity stunt, the NHL Rangers travel to Alaska to play a local amateur squad led by Russell Crowe. The live-telecast game is held outdoors on a ginormous non-regulation rink that takes up much of a frozen lake. And who's brought in to sing "The National Anthem"? Little Richard.
Quiet Man, The; 1952. American pugilist John Wayne visits Ireland, where he has to put up his dukes to win the hand of Maureen O'Hara (as who wouldn't?).
Rocky; 1976. Yo, Adrienne...
Slapshot; 1977. I actually credit the Hanson Brothers with pioneering the au courant Nerd Glasses.
Wind; 1992. Stunning America's Cup sequences, plus credible performances by Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey.

btw, here's a movie I'm betting few have ever seen, starting with myself: Columbia Pictures's 1942 The Spirit of Stanford, in which left-handed QB Frankie Albert plays himself transitioning from high school to Farm legend (among the extras portraying students, Lloyd Bridges and Forrest Tucker).

Re: Categorical - FarmBoy - 07-16-2014

Quote:I did not like the Quiet Man. Maureen O'Hara was good. John Wayne not so much. And the scene where he drags her across the countryside by her hair, arms, and clothing is kind of appalling. The violence against a woman made me wince. Wayne and O'Hara were much better together in Rio Grande.

I had the same reaction. My Father-In-Law showed me the Quiet Man when I was still dating his daughter. I have to admit, I was kind of creeped out and wonder what message he was sending about how I should be treating his daughter. The fact that she woman didn't respect Wayne's character until he essentially beat her up was stomach churning.

Perhaps there's something I missed in that first viewing that redeems those actions, but this is a move for a different time, IMO.

Re: Categorical - oman - 07-16-2014

Similar thoughts here on the Quiet Man.Â

Ford was kinder and greater in How Green Was My Valley?Â

Baseball in a nutshell - Redrum - 07-16-2014

"the tech advisor of which didn't bother teaching Robert DeNiro that to properly round first base, use your left foot. "

Baseball people love that stuff.Â Insider details. It IS the game.Â They turn to you with missionary zeal in their eyes as they explain how the ump mis-applied the infield fly rule.Â Or how a guy taking a second too long watching his home run ball sail over the wall is a major diss to the whole game of baseball and therefore words, escalating to a fight between the third baseman and the runner is justified to protect the unwritten rules of the game.Â And you can tell by the look in the speaker's eyes, he is dead serious about that stuff.

The last baseball game I attended was when we were a video crew at the Oakland coliseum when the Dodgers came up and won the final game of the World Series.Â Got a ball signed by Dennis Eckersley during pregame warmups.Â Gave it to my nephew.Â But that was work, with great access and great perks.Â Last time I just sat and watched a game for fun was in minor league ball in Huntsville.Â For $2 I got to watchÂ Mark McGwire, Walt Weiss and Jose Canseco all on the same team.Â If major league baseball had hits and home runs at the same frequency as that minor league summer,Â maybe I'd be a baseball fan and baseball wouldn't need movie story lines, external literary adornment and scripted action to be interesting.