HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29
Every once in a while there's a documentary about sports that really seems to sum up the sport, or the times, or both. The legendary game of the title took place in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War. Although the movie talks about the war a little, how some of the players were against the war and others strong supporters, the emphasis is on that game.
With les
s
than a minute to go in the game, Yale was ahead by 16 points. You have
to see the movie to find out what happened. (Or maybe the score in the
title will tell you). Every man interviewed for this remembers that game
more vividly than yesterday's dinner.I guess there will never be a better sports documentary than Hoop Dreams, which I watched alone in Manchester England in 1995. And when I say alone, I mean I was the only one in the theater on a weekday afternoon. Obviously, basketball isn't big there. Second place, "When We Were Kings" (Ali). I have yet to see TYSON, which I hear is excellent.
But this movie was exciting and it is always strange to hear about how games played in youth can become the defining moment in person's life. Any favorite sports movies, docs or otherwise out there?
19 comments:
Hmm...sports as a movie theme doesn't usually interest me, Patti, 'though there have been exceptions. This one is one I hadn't heard of, to be honest. It sounds like one of those exceptions.
You already mentioned HOOP DREAMS. When Jackie was teaching, she had any number of third and even second grade kids who had no doubt they were going to make it to the NBA and become rich and famous. None of them did.
Also Ken Burns's BASEBALL series. And I'd have to include Leni Riefenstahl's OLYMPIA.
HOOP DREAMS is my absolute favorite.
Call me overreactive, but the use of Miriam Makeba as the metaphorical Embodiment of Evil in WHEN WE WERE KINGS...atop the whole notion of there being Evil Presences at hand that weren't better represented by Don King...has permanently put me off that film, whatever its other virtues. George Foreman was good in it, in his interview footage. That credit, for me, goes to Foreman. For that matter, editing in every drop of sweat off of James Brown backstage, and only repeatedly using the one 5-second clip of Makeba performing a click song as, again, a Sinister Indication is indicative of just how asinine and probably misogynist the filmmakers on that one were.
Among my favorite sports movies is EDGE OF AMERICA, which is also a feminist and Native American movie, and in part about how suffering doesn't excuse dealing out aggression to others. SLAPSHOT, which is not about much of that. I was fond, as a youth, of the William Bendix comedy KILL THE UMPIRE, but haven't seen it since. Still fond of THE NATURAL and BULL DURHAM. And while I've never liked football as a sport, I have always liked most of what I've seen from NFL Films, the independent documentary production unit, over the decades.
PERSONAL BEST.
THE HUSTLER...but, thanks to Tom Cruise's insufferable performance (worst I've seen from him), definitely not THE COLOR OF MONEY.
Yeah, but none of those are documentaries, which I think was Patti's question.
The NFL films are, leaving aside the misbegotten KINGS, and this was Patti's question: Any favorite sports movies, docs or otherwise out there?
This Sporting Life, Fat City and Ken Burns's Baseball
Jeff-she said docs or otherwise.
i'd have to go with Raging Bull, Fat City and Bull Durham.
Last response was mine. Came up anonymous by accident.
Also love Raging Bull and Bull Durham.
Chariots of Fire was a good one.
Sorry . Must have misread it.
Anything but THE BABE RUTH STORY with William Bendix.
FIELD OF DREAMS
You beat me to it, Patti. HOOP DREAMS.
Patti, my apologies that this is slightly off topic (although i did mention some sports movies in my previous comment) but its beyond my comprehension and understanding that BLACK PANTHER has made an astounding $500 million more in North America than SOLO ($700 million against $200 million) because i actually thought the Star Wars movie was a much better film, i just wondered whether you agreed ?.
Why do I get sense of Fake Steve at play here? Real Steve sholud probably just get a Blogger/Google account...
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