It is said that life reflects art, but sometimes it is the other way around. Some memorable films based on real life sporting events and/or people, have graced the silver screen. While fiction and creative licence surrounding facts can take over within them, there have been some fantastic sports films made down the years.
While punters can dip into a world of sports betting at bookmakers recommended by some reliable netting info services like Match Center, available in many countries, including Match Center UK, Match Center Nigeria and Match Center Sweden, getting a broad range of sports movies, at least great ones, isn’t as easy.
It appears that some sports appear to translate onto the big screen better than others. Those are predominantly boxing, American Football and Baseball. Regardless of the sport, here is our list of top sports movies based on real life.
Moneyball
Brad Pitt was the star of the show in 2009’s Moneyball, a film based on the revolutionary way that the Oakland Athletics approached baseball in 2002. The film explores the application of advanced statistics to gather information about players already in the franchise and those targeted for trade.
The numbers spoke about ability and potential instead of relying on the traditional scouting method. Now the famous sabermetrics is the backbone of any MLS franchise. Pitt portrays GM Billy Beane who was at the centre of it all.
Rocky and Raging Bull
We couldn’t decide on which of these epic boxing movies to pick, so they both get on the list. Journeyman boxer Chuck Wepner, who had a career spanning 16 years, stepped into the ring with the great Mohammed Ali in 1975. The part-timer was supposed to be fodder, but Wepner put Ali to the canvas in the bout. At the time, he was only the fourth man to have done so.
Wepner’s underdog status in the fight can’t be overstated enough. But he lasted until 20 seconds before the end of the 15th Round against Ali before the fight was stopped, and Wepner’s cited as being the inspiration for Rocky.
Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull is an exhausting rollercoaster about Jake LaMotta, played by Robert De Niro. The world middleweight champion had as many battles in the ring as he did in his personal life.
Chariots of Fire
A pleasant Sunday-afternoon type of film well worth diving into is 1981’s Chariots of Fire which is based on the 1924 Olympic Games. The famous moment of the film, which won Best Picture at the 1981 Oscars, was British athlete Eric Liddel storming his way to an unexpected success in the 400m with Vangelis’s ‘Chariots of Fire’ playing.
Liddel had pursued athletics for religious reasons, culminating in his unexpected success in toppling the main American contingent at the Olympics. The film also portrays the journey of English Jew Harold Abrahams who runs to battle prejudice. After failed attempts in other disciplines, Abrahams grabs glory in his last chance at the 1924 Games by winning the 100m.
Remember the Titans
There are some popular American Football films like Friday Night Lights and the Hoosiers, but perhaps the biggest and best of them all is Remember the Titans by Jerry Bruckheimer which tackles racial division. Denzel Washington takes the lead of Coach Herman Boone, who tries to pull his divided team and community together. Based on a true story from 1971, the film portrays adversity and obstacles being overcome as Boone leads the team to the state championship title through all it all.
Seabiscuit
Based on the true novel about thoroughbred Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, the 2003 film adaptation has all the emotions and tropes that a top sports film should have. It’s an underdog success, a great comeback story about a horse that was deemed too small to amount to much.
But he did. Despite Seabiscuit not winning any of his first seventeen races, he eventually moved to new trainer Tom Smith who transformed the horse into a winner. Seasbiscuit subsequently became one of the most famous US horses of all time. After an injury in 1939, he returned the following year to win both the San Antonio and big Santa Anita Handicaps.
Escape to Victory
We dip into the world of football to round out this list. Escape to Victory features the likes of Pele, Bobby Moore, Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone and is loosely based on a team called F.C. Start in Ukraine in 1942.
The team of former professionals from Dynamo Kyiv and Lokomotiv Kyiv who had found each other after time in prison camps were winning matches against German teams. So Nazi Germany put their Flakelf (Luftwaffe Team) up against them for a propaganda match to show their might. FC Start was expected to roll over under but was triumphant.