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The 50 Greatest Sports Movies
We rank the very best sports films
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Page 48 of 50 |
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Rocky (1979)
DIRECTOR John G. Avildsen
STARS Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers
Paddy Considine's favourite film has received something of a bum rap over the years, diluted by a stream of increasingly glossy sequels (that said, Rocky IV missed out on this list by the width of a mouthshield, and there's a lot to be said for the valedictorian Rocky Balboa). Watching it again, it's a shock how gritty and raw the film is, with experiences and trauma and dogged determination ripped from Stallone's own gruelling life. It's On The Waterfront with extra punching, unflinching in its examination of the ups and downs in the life of a good, if too open-hearted, man. Some scenes approach poetry, man, and Stallone is just perfect.
Read Empire's review
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| The Stats |
THE SPORT
Heavyweight boxing
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THE PLAYERS
Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed
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DOCUMENTARY?
No.
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DEFINING MOMENT
The long scene between Rocky and Mickey (Meredith), where the latter tries to convince the former that he's the man to manage him. The film's about perpetually open doors, and Balboa's failure to recognise them due to pride and stupidity. He takes this one.
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KEY TACTICS
Run up some steps accompanied by the most pulse-pounding theme you can find; hit the other guy as hard as you can.
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Page 48 of 50 |
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Have your say Agree with the list? Which sports movie would you add to the list? Register or login now to have your say.
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| 1 | See Also
Karate Kid, The Waterboy, The foot fist way, Hot rod, Caddy Shack, The mighty ducks, coach carter, blades of glory, mean machine, leatherheads, the ringer, nacho libre, kicking and screaming, baseketball, remember the titans, brians song, don king: only in america, cinderella man, million dollar baby, somebody up there likes me, the boxer, knuckle, bend it like beckham, fever pitch, zidane Read MorePosted on Saturday September 15, 2012, 18:42 by bnicholson50 | | | | | 2 | RE: What the Hell!?
l largely an excuse for Chaplin to show off his legendary slapstick skills and rubbery physical abilities while poking fun at sports clichés and underdog stories, but it's still more entertaining than most of the films it skewers.
ow exactly does Chaplin, in 1915, skewer films that are very very far from being made and poking fun at sports clichés that do not yet exist? Read MorePosted on Wednesday July 25, 2012, 00:42 by Evil_Bob | | | | | 3 | RE: Rocky - third place
BASEketball should totally be in here. Okay it's not a real sport, but it is a sport movie. And it's funny as shit wise a pretty damn solid list. (Rocky 2-4 should be included as well, but maybe that's being a bit greedy...) Read MorePosted on Tuesday July 24, 2012, 13:55 by Whistler | | | | | |
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