Football Movies for Thanksgiving

Leatherheads, indeed–in 1925, Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman originated the “loser who gets a chance to win the big game” sports film genre. 

Okay, last year I did a list of 8 Movies for Thanksgiving, so I can’t do that again (though you’re welcome to go back and read it just for old time’s sake). So I thought, “What else goes with Thanksgiving? Football!” So here are a list of football themed movies in case you can’t stand to watch the pathetic Lions vs. Titans or the Cowboys vs. the woefully injured Titans and figure you’ll be out drinking by the time Cards-Eagles starts.

This is a list from SportsIllustrated. Go look at their full version if you want to see their entire breakdown (copyright laws and all that); otherwise, here are just the titles and a few comments from me when I have something to say. The list, btw, is in no specific order.

1. Rudy (1993): Sean Astin stars; Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn have small parts. It’s loosely based on a true story. I know a lot of people who just love this movie, but it was a bit mawkish for me. I’m in the minority, though, so feel happy with yourself if you like it.

2. North Dallas Forty (1979): The book it’s based on is a classic, an expose of the hard living lives of pro football players. Nick Nolte stars, back when he was young and presumably sober. Very ’70s, but still relevant.

 3. Brian’s Song (1971): James Caan and Billy Dee Williams star in this true life story. You have to be made of stone to not at least tear up at the end of this one. Yes, even you men.

4. Horse Feathers (1932): A Marx Brothers comedy set against the background of college football. Good news: big time college football was corrupt back then, too. The SI writer references Harold Lloyd’s great silent movie, The Freshman, in his write-up. I’d give it a separate spot on its own because that is the original of the “scrub/walk-on/manager/waterboy who gets a chance to make the big play” movie.

5. The Longest Yard (1974): The original, not the remake. I’ve never seen it, but I have read that the game sequences are actually pretty good looking.

6. All the Right Moves (1983): Tom Cruise, in the same year he made Risky Business, plays a football star in a dying, Pennsylvania steel town, where sports is his only chance out via a college scholarship. I’ve seen this and I think it does do a really good job of capturing the hopeless atmosphere of the town and the desperation of the kids who realize they have no future there, but few means of getting out. It’s actually a pretty bleak movie.

7. Jerry Maguire (1996): I know everyone is constantly raving about this movie (which makes the football list just because Cuba Gooding Jr plays a football star, not because it’s really about football) but I just cannot stand it. Okay, that’s perhaps a bit harsh, especially considering I’ve never been able to make it through more than about fifteen minutes of it. I don’t know, it just annoys me.

8. Heaven Can Wait (1978): Warren Beatty stars as a LA Rams (yes, that’s Los Angeles Rams) QB who is mistakenly killed and then as compensation is sent back to earth in the body of a wealthy man who buys the Rams and turns them into a Super Bowl winning team (obviously, this is pre-salary cap). Never seen, but it was nominated for lots of Oscars and it has Warren Beatty at the height of his ’70s studliness. I’m not sure if I’d include it in the greatest football movies, though.  

9. Friday Night Lights (2004): I feel really bad–this is one of those movies that I keep saying I should see; I know the book is a classic, and I probably should read that, too. The best compliment I can give it, I guess, is that I’ve always heard it did the book justice, which is a pretty good thing to hear about an adaptation.

10. Remember the Titans (2000): Some people love it, others find it too pat. I don’t know. I’ve avoided it because I felt like it probably–perhaps unavoidably–fell into the latter count.

Honorable mention:

School Ties–I like this movie a lot, though again, it’s not a football centered movie; football just plays a part in it. It falls apart in the end, but I like the performances. 
Everybody’s All-American: A kind of quiet movie that creeps up on you and you appreciate much later on.
Any Given Sunday: Some love it, some hate it. Some think it’s very authentic, some people think it’s ludicrously inaccurate. I can’t stand anything Al Pacino past, say, 1977, so I’m out of this one. 
Radio: never saw it, I thought it looked too self-consciously tear-jerking.
The Waterboy: just give in and enjoy it. And this certainly belongs in the fine tradition of football movies more than some others.
Semi-Tough: I always lumped this in with North Dallas Forty. Both very ’70s, I guess.
Wildcats: Wait, do they mean the one with Goldie Hawn as a football coach? Ummm, okay…
Paper Lion: The writer who tries to be one of the athletes he covers classic. I’m betting the George Plimpton book is better, though.
Gus: is this the mule who kicks field goals movie? Wow…we’re kind of reaching here.
Varsity Blues: oh, a total classic of the melodramatic teen genre. So sensitive you have to just love it. Enjoy the earnestness of it.

And enjoy your Thanksgiving, too, whether you watch football, movies, or just your nephews fighting.