allmovie
allmusicallmovieallgame
Rovi: Powered by AMG

enter a title or name

» Coming Soon » Quick Browse
» Essays » Glossary
» New Releases » Movie Trailers
» AllMovie Blog » In the Spotlight
 
Born Today
Noel Francis (1906)
Mikhail Gluzsky (1918)
Andrew Davis (1946)
Björk (1965)
explore by.../type
Sports Drama

A type of drama whose source of conflict is the struggle of an athlete or team as they rise to the top of a chosen sport. Olympic events, baseball, football, basketball, and boxing have provided settings for this film sub-genre. The resolution usually has one of two outcomes: the protagonist(s) either wins some sort of championship or large individual sporting event (i.e. a race, the Oympics, etc.), or loses, resulting in soul searching, depression and/or enlightenment. Conventions of these films often include romantic subplots, physical or psychological injuries, social and political obstacles, male camaraderie, and an action-oriented climax. Examples include The Natural, the Rocky series, He Got Game, North Dallas Forty, Tin Cup, Hoosiers, Jerry Maguire and Chariots of Fire. Others variations on this subgenre are biopics and historical docudramas of famous sports figures or events of a particular sport. Though these use authentic life stories as source material, often reality is manipulated for dramatic tension and many use similar conventions as fictional sports dramas. Illustrations of this approach include The Pride of the Yankees, Raging Bull, Cobb, The Jessie Owens Story, Knute Rockne, All American, and Eight Men Out.

Major Works
Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1976 Rocky   John G. Avildsen
  9 Stars 1980 Raging Bull   Martin Scorsese
  8 Stars 1943 Sanshiro Sugata   Akira Kurosawa
    8 Stars 1956 Requiem for a Heavyweight   Alvin Rakoff
  8 Stars 1942 The Pride of the Yankees   Sam Wood
  8 Stars 1962 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner   Tony Richardson
  8 Stars 1940 Knute Rockne, All American   Lloyd Bacon
  8 Stars 1981 Chariots of Fire   Hugh Hudson
  8 Stars 1949 Champion   Mark Robson
  8 Stars 1979 Breaking Away   Peter Yates
  7 Stars 1962 Requiem for a Heavyweight   Ralph Nelson
  7 Stars 1931 The Champ   King Vidor
  7 Stars 1963 This Sporting Life   Lindsay Anderson
  7 Stars 1976 Stay Hungry   Bob Rafelson
  7 Stars 1956 Somebody Up There Likes Me   Robert Wise
  7 Stars 1977 Slap Shot   George Roy Hill
  7 Stars 1979 North Dallas Forty   Ted Kotcheff
  7 Stars 1992 A League of Their Own   Penny Marshall
  7 Stars 1984 The Karate Kid   John G. Avildsen
  7 Stars 1951 Jim Thorpe - All American   Michael Curtiz
  7 Stars 1984 The Jesse Owens Story   Richard Irving
  7 Stars 1950 The Jackie Robinson Story   Alfred E. Green
  7 Stars 1986 Hoosiers   David Anspaugh
  7 Stars 1983 Heart Like a Wheel   Jonathan Kaplan
  7 Stars 1970 The Great White Hope   Martin Ritt
  7 Stars 1989 Field of Dreams   Phil Alden Robinson
  7 Stars 1957 Fear Strikes Out   Robert Mulligan
  7 Stars 1947 Body and Soul   Robert Rossen
  6 Stars 2001 61*   Billy Crystal
  6 Stars 2000 Girlfight   Karyn Kusama
  6 Stars 2000 Love & Basketball   Gina Prince-Bythewood
  6 Stars 1994 Cobb   Ron Shelton
    6 Stars 1990 On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story   Zale Dalen
    6 Stars 1979 Aunt Mary   Peter Werner
  6 Stars 1977 Semi-Tough   Michael Ritchie
  6 Stars 1982 Personal Best   Robert Towne
  6 Stars 1991 Pastime   Robin B. Armstrong
  6 Stars 1984 The Natural   Barry Levinson
  6 Stars 1939 Golden Boy   Rouben Mamoulian
  6 Stars 1988 Eight Men Out   John Sayles
  6 Stars 1969 Downhill Racer   Michael Ritchie
  6 Stars 1970 Brian's Song   Buzz Kulik
  6 Stars 1973 Bang the Drum Slowly   John Hancock
  6 Stars 1983 All the Right Moves   Michael Chapman
    5 Stars 1956 Anata Kaimasu   Masaki Kobayashi
  5 Stars 1998 He Got Game   Spike Lee
    5 Stars 1973 Bloodsport   Jerrold Freedman
    5 Stars 1991 Babe Ruth   Mark Tinker
    5 Stars 1986 A Winner Never Quits   Mel Damski
  5 Stars 1992 Wind   Carroll Ballard
  5 Stars 1985 Vision Quest   Harold Becker
  5 Stars 1989 Triumph of the Spirit   Robert M. Young
    5 Stars 1978 See How She Runs   Richard T. Heffron
  5 Stars 1982 Rocky III   Sylvester Stallone
  5 Stars 1979 Rocky II   Sylvester Stallone
    5 Stars 1977 One on One   Lamont Johnson
    5 Stars 1976 The Loneliest Runner   Michael Landon
  5 Stars 1986 The Karate Kid Part II   John G. Avildsen
  5 Stars 1992 The Cutting Edge   Paul Michael Glaser
  5 Stars 1975 Cornbread, Earl and Me   Joseph Manduke
  5 Stars 1992 The Babe   Arthur Hiller
  4 Stars 2000 Remember The Titans   Boaz Yakin
  4 Stars 2000 The Legend of Bagger Vance   Robert Redford
  4 Stars 2000 Price of Glory   Carlos Avila
  4 Stars 1999 Any Given Sunday   Oliver Stone
  4 Stars 1999 For Love of the Game   Sam Raimi
  4 Stars 1994 Rudy   David Anspaugh
  4 Stars 1999 Varsity Blues   Brian Robbins
  4 Stars 1998 Without Limits   Robert Towne
  4 Stars 1997 Prefontaine   Steve James
  4 Stars 1994 8 Seconds   John G. Avildsen
  4 Stars 1994 Above the Rim   Jeff Pollack
  4 Stars 1994 Blue Chips   William Friedkin
  4 Stars 1977 Wilma   Bud Greenspan
    4 Stars 1983 Quarterback Princess   Noel Black
  4 Stars 1979 Ice Castles   Donald Wrye
  4 Stars 1966 Grand Prix   John Frankenheimer
  4 Stars 1988 Everybody's All-American   Taylor Hackford
  4 Stars 1990 Days of Thunder   Tony Scott
  4 Stars 1985 American Flyers   John Badham
    4 Stars 1987 Amazing Grace and Chuck   Mike Newell
  3 Stars 2000 Play It to the Bone   Ron Shelton
  3 Stars 1993 The Program   David S. Ward
    3 Stars 1940 Golden Gloves   Edward Dmytryk
    3 Stars 1971 Drive, He Said   Jack Nicholson
  3 Stars 1982 That Championship Season   Jason Miller
  3 Stars 1986 Boy in Blue   Charles Jarrott
  3 Stars 1986 Bloodsport   Newt Arnold
    3 Stars 1948 The Babe Ruth Story   Roy Del Ruth
  2 Stars 1986 Youngblood   Peter Markle
    2000 Knockout   Lorenzo Doumani
 
 
 
Rovi About Us | Contact | Employment | Product Submissions | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Policy
© 2009 Macrovision Corporation. All Rights Reserved.