20 Most Rewatchable Sports Movies

Casey Pazzalia | Posted on January 13, 2018 |

Like horror, the sports genre gets a bad rap in the film world. Critical success comes few and far between for a sports flick and a lot of times, the movie has no business even being made. A small percentage stands up among the junk, though, either as a legitimate film or just great entertainment. Below, we’ll look at the small percentage with a list of the 20 Most Rewatchable Sports Movies.

Honorable Mention: He Got Game (What up, Spike?)

№20 — The Color of Money (1986)

You know how people always fight over Die Hard; whether or not it’s a Christmas movie? Well, The Color of Money is like that, except instead of Christmas, it’s sports. In my mind, billiards are just as much a sport as bowling is. Spoiler alert: We’ll get to the greatest bowling movie ever later on.

The Color of Money is the sequel to The Hustler, and while both are deserving of the list, the sequel makes the list because of the director (Martin Scorsese) and lead actors (Tom Cruise and Paul Newman).

Paul Newman returns as ‘Fast’ Eddie Felson, for which he won the 1986 Academy Award for Best Actor — his first after several nominations.

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

№19 — Jerry Maguire (1996)

Ironically, this is another Tom Cruise vehicle. Plus, it’s the only movie where Renee Zellweger is mildly attractive.

“Show me the money!” — that is all.

Trivia: Both “Show me the money” and “You had me at hello” are in the AFI’s Top-100 movie quotes.

Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

№18 — Blue Chips (1994)

One of the few feature films about college hoops, Blue Chips is loaded with basketball royalty — Pitino, Penny Hardaway, Shaq, Tarkanian, Bob Cousy, and a young, gigantic-glasses-wearing Jim Boeheim.

Nick Nolte is the lead actor as head coach Pete Bell, but, surprisingly, Shaq steals numerous scenes as one of the lead-recruits Bell is trying to land.

Trivia: Rapper Action Bronson used the Blue Chips artwork on several mixtapes.

Rotten Tomatoes: 37%

№17 — Semi-Pro (2008)

The most underrated Will Ferrell movie, by far.

Let’s fill the bathtub up with sweat…

Trivia: All teams in the film besides the Flint Tropics — which the film is based on — are all real ABA teams.

Rotten Tomatoes: 21% (lowest-rated film on our list)

№16 — A League of Their Own (1992)

If this movie is on TV — which it always is — I always keep it on solely so I can see Tom Hanks in one of his best roles ever. He kills as Jimmy Dugan and was the guy who delivered the infamous line, “There’s no crying in baseball!”

Trivia: In 2012, A League of Their Own was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry archives.

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

№15 — Rudy (1993)

Rudy is one of the few football-action films that is actually tolerable, and probably the best football movie ever made. No matter if you like Notre Dame or not, the visuals of the ND campus and ‘Touchdown Jesus’ are beautiful.

Trivia: Without this film, the world wouldn’t have gotten Swingers, The Break Up, or any Vince Vaughn/Jon Favreau films; as the two met and became friends on the set of Rudy.

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

№14 — The Sandlot (1993)

Probably a little low on the list, but The Sandlot is as classic as it gets. Similar to the famous line from A League of Their Own, this film gave us the famous line — “You’re killing me, Smalls!” — which is still used everyday across the country.

Rotten Tomatoes: 58%

№13 — Tin Cup (1996)

The greatest golf movie ever, led by the greatest sports movie actor of all-time, Kevin Costner, and the greatest sports movie director of all-time, Ron Shelton.

Although it is truly top-notch entertainment, Tin Cup has managed to fly under the radar. If you haven’t seen it, you need to make a date with DVD.com and have it shipped to your house.

Rene Russo is bad as fuck.

Trivia: Kevin Costner — as Roy McAvoy — was a nominee for Best Actor at the 1997 Golden Globe Awards.

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

№12 — White Men Can’t Jump (1992)

Is there a more underrated actor than Woody Harrelson? Not really, at least in my mind. This dude can handle dramatic roles, but somehow, he is comedic no matter what the situation — minus Natural Born Killers. In WMCJ, he teams up with Wesley Snipes for a tour-de-force in playground basketball.

Another Ron Shelton-directed sports movie.

Trivia: Legendary film critic Roger Ebert gave White Men Can’t Jump 3.5 out of 4 stars.

№11 — Kingpin (1996)

This was not on purpose, but Kingpin is another Woody Harrelson-led film. While WMCJ is mildly funny, Kingpin is fuckin’ hilarious. Harrelson teams up with Randy Quaid, also known as ‘Cousin Eddie’, in the greatest bowling movie to ever hit the screen — The Big Lebowski is a better movie, but I wouldn’t classify it as a bowling movie.

Please watch this video…

Rotten Tomatoes: 50%

№10 — Raging Bull (1980)

So this one is a little bit tricky. Raging Bull is a classic film in any category, but as far as rewatchability goes, I think it’s more of a once-per-year-type flick. Some scenes are hard to take and it’s sort of exhausting to take in. Either way, with DeNiro, Pesci, and Scorsese, it’s a true masterpiece of cinema.

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

№9 — Rookie of the Year (1993)

Don’t give me any shit for this selection, Rookie of the Year is hilarious. More specifically, Daniel Stern is hilarious as Chicago Cubs’ pitching coach Phil Brickma. Plus, you get beautiful Wrigley Field, crazy ass Gary Busey, and comedy legend John Candy. Jeez…I think I’m going to put it on right now.

Trivia: ROTY is the only feature film that Daniel Stern directed.

Rotten Tomatoes: 39%

№8 — Major League (1989)

Among actual baseball players, Major League is definitely the favorite when looking for a laugh. My personal playing career spanned 10 years and I can’t count how many times I’ve seen ballplayers gather to watch Major League.

The sequel is also good but the third one was hot garbage.

Long live Charlie Sheen.

Trivia: In the third installment of Major League, one of the main characters was Walton Goggins, an actor who would go on to gain critical acclaim from films like Django Unchained, Lincoln, and The Hateful Eight.

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

№7 — Caddyshack (1980)

Another movie that is classic across all genres, Caddyshack will live on forever in comedic history. It doesn’t get any better than having Bill Murray and Chevy Chase on the same project.

So I got that goin’ for me…

Rotten Tomatoes: 76%

№6 — Field of Dreams (1989)

A truly classic sports film that pulls at numerous heartstrings. I remember being at baseball camp when I was seven and seeing it for the first time. Since then, I watch it two or three times every time basketball season dies down and baseball creeps in.

Nothing is better than the 20–25-minute road trip sequence from Iowa to Boston — something about vintage Fenway Park is really special.

Trivia: Field of Dreams was the last major motion picture of Academy Award winner Burt Lancaster’s career — he played ‘Moonlight’ Graham in FOD.

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

№5 — Moneyball (2011)

Moneyball is as A-list as it gets, as Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Phyllip Seymour-Hoffman all have big-time roles. Plus, the film is directed by Bennett Miller and written by legendary screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

Another film that I simply cannot turn off if it’s on TV. And, also one that I voluntarily put on two or three times during baseball season. However, my favorite scene (or scenes) has nothing to do with actual baseball, as Billy Beane’s daughter (Kerris Dorsey) steals the film with her performance of Lenka’s, “The Show”.

Warning: it’s potentially a tear-jerking experience.

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

№4 — The Fighter (2010)

Christian Bale is amazing as Dick Ecklund, “The Pride of Lowell”. I mean, really fuckin’ amazing. Besides being a kick-ass film, I’ll let The Fighter ride any day of the week just to see Bale’s performance. After first seeing The Fighter, I legitimately talked like Dick Ecklund for 2–3 months after.

Mark Wahlberg also stars, playing Ecklund’s brother Mickey Ward. Plus, Amy Adams plays Ward’s love interest. In more than a few scenes Adams looks great, perfectly playing a pale Boston bartender. You can find one her sexier scenes here.

Trivia: Ecklund was a legitimate boxer before drugs derailed his career. He even fought ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, a fight that is featured prominently in The Fighter. You can watch the full fight here.

Rotten Tomatoes: 90%

№3 — The Wrestler (2010)

Well, 2010 was a great year for legendary sports films, as we were introduced to The Fighter and The Wrestler.

The Wrestler is one of my favorite films of all time and was the real-life resurrection of Mickey Rourke’s career. You don’t have to like professional wrestling to like this film, but if you do, it makes it even that much sweeter. Some of the scenes that take you behind the curtain are awesome; like when they map out the matches for an upcoming event and the steroid drug-deal Rourke makes with a fellow wrestler.

Also, Marisa Tomei lets it all fly, if you know what I’m saying.

Trivia: Rourke (Best Actor) and Tomei (Best Supporting Actress) were both nominated at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. Although he didn’t take home the Oscar, Rourke won a Golden Globe for his performance as Randy ‘The Ram’.

Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (highest-rated film on our list)

№2 — Bull Durham

My favorite sports movie of all time, hands down. Bull Durham is the best display of actual baseball on screen and is hilarious in the process. BD was Ron Shelton’s directorial debut, who in fact, was a former minor leaguer himself. It is Shelton’s third film on our Top-20 list.

The acting performances are great, led by the sports film acting GOAT Kevin Costner. In the film, ‘Crash’ Davis (Costner) delivers one of the best monologues ever, and definitely the best ever in the sports genre.

Trivia: The two other stars in the film, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, were married in real life after meeting on the set of Bull Durham.

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (second highest-rated film on our list)

№1— Space Jam (1996)

Don’t laugh, Space Jam is the most rewatchable sports film ever. Think about it. There aren’t too many scenarios where you’re going to turn off Space Jam if it was on TV. Unfortunately, like so many other great movies, they plan on doing a reboot of Space Jam and as usual, it’s going to be shitty. In the reboot, they are said to be using LeBron James in the Michael Jordan role.

My favorite scene of the old Space Jam is when the old golfer asks Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld) why he is digging up the golf course…it’s guaranteed to make you laugh out loud.

Bill Murray (as himself) also has some hilarious scenes.

Trivia: In the final basketball scene, Bill Murray is seen wearing a blue baseball cap. The hat is from the St. Paul Saints, a minor league team which Murray actually is co-owner of.