some interesting things that came from this exercise: there were at least three sports movies made in the 1890s. all about the same sport. can you guess what that is? here's a hint to anyone who have read any of my previous sports related blogs this year, it's a "real" sport. evidenced now by the fact that people made movies about it at a time when movies weren't even being made. answer to come. there were at least three movies made in the 1930s about college football players being paid money. there was a football made in the 1970s about terrorism. the more i find out about these movies, the more discouraged i get about being an american. land of the forgetful, where we still have the same discussions 80 years later. why haven't we found a solution to these things? we're still talking about college football players getting paid under the table. we're still worried about terrorism, though the answer is really quite simple. we're still finding ways to make lesser and lesser "sports" bigger and better. we're still we're still looking for answers in the wrong places it would seem. we're still making sports a primarily important part of our lives, though anyone with a strong moral make up would not give sports that much importance. it goes hand in hand with bars and drinking, i would assume.
in line with quitting the drunk talk and starting the discussion for real, i will be reducing my role on the sports show and focusing of things that matter. on june 17, my role will be either reduced. but panda and myself will begin a more socially engaging show. but for now, on with the assignment.
5. heading home (1920)
about the young babe ruth. played by babe ruth. think about how important babe ruth has been to the sports world. think about all of his accomplishments. think about how many people had movies made about them in 1920. then think about the fact that babe ruth didn't even start making a name for himself until 1920 when he debuted for the yankees. the fact that someone made a movie of him starring him in 1920 as opposed to 1930 says that he was a big star before he even became a big star. watch the entire movie above.
4. paper lion (1968)
a film starring alan alda, which i have not even seen, though still confident enough to place on the top five list. george plimpton was a socialite founder of the paris review (also a writer for sports illustrated) who tried his hand at virtually all walks of life. this film was made based off his book about being a quarterback for the detroit lions. there is a documentary called "plimpton! starring george plimpton as himself" (2012, trailer is above) which screened at the eastern oregon film fest and is more wide reaching in scope, covering plimpton's attempts at playing goaltender with the boston bruins, boxing matches with sugar ray robinson and archie moore and other disasters.
3. a league of their own (1992)
baseball is the american past time, something exactly between a sport and a game. directed by lavern (penny marshall) about the women's baseball league that was formed during the war years while the men were away in wwii. casting is amazing, in so much that a cast of all-stars never usually turns out to be very much worth watching. music is composed by hans zimmer, who is normally reserved big theatrical musical opuses like "pirates of the carribean". but the messages of sexism (and even racism - check out the scene where the black woman on the sidelines fires the ball back into the field - that would be mamie "peanut" johnson) in sports underline the story. the characters within a baseball roster are very adequately considered. but the best character play of all, tom hanks as jimmy dugan, a former superstar slugger, now a has been, who could care less about the game or life at all for that matter. he just lets it all hang out and tell people exactly how he feels, such as autographing a baseball for two kids that reads "avoid the clap, jimmy dugan" or declining to show up for games at all due to his drunkeness. this film is carefully constructed and every scene in it is an extreme examination of lives and puts sports on a second tier of importance. that is the factor that makes this film better than "major league" which was popular at the same time. "major league" was less of a social examination and more of a baseball character study. still funny, still important, but not what "a league of their own" was.
2. the hurricane (1999)
starring denzel washington as rubin "hurricane" carter, an african american ex-con who reformed his life to become a title contender in the early to mid 1960s, before his career was ended when he was convicted of a payback murder. after 19 years in prison, carter was exonerated when the improper court case was re-examined. he has been a social activist on different levels since. when it was freshly released, it became one of my favorite movies of all time. however, in hind sight, i put it down the list because it is typical hollywood fare, a feel good story where justice is always served correctly in the end. it gets numerous things wrong. such as making carter look like another mohammed ali, when in reality his boxing record was spotty at best. the film focuses on racism, and while there was some racist problems faced this was more of a "man against the bastard" type story. there were lies. conflicting testimony, recantations, recantations of those recantations, re-trial, re-sentences, celebrity interaction and endorsements and more. bob dylan recorded his song "hurricane" shortly after his conviction in the late sixties.
hurricane carter became a celebrity due to the ordeal and the story of him is very compelling, if the film is not so much. it certainly is worth watching as opposed to this jodi arias crap we are force fed now. and denzel washington shows off terrific skill as an actor with a terrific representation of carter.
1. on the waterfront (1954)
starring marlon brando as an ex-boxer turned a waterfront dock worker fighting the corruption of his gangster boss, who is also head of the union. brando threw a fight to win a bet for his brother and his cronies. it ruined his boxing career. likewise, all the other characters in the film plead "d & d" in court to protect their corrupt union boss. this film follows a thread of people not being responsible for their actions (or inactions). fear dictates what people will do and say. this was an early film to question the merits of the union structure and question whether the union would allow injustice. this film doesn't simply bastardize the role of the informer, but almost gives it high merit in showing the struggles an informer faces. that is appropriate because it has also been said that the film is an allegory for the red scare. and the director elia kazan allegedly played a leading role in being an informer to the government of the other hollywood celebrities being ratted out for supposedly having communist ties.
there is a reason this film is one of the greatest of all time and the above clip is an essential briefing on how sports careers are made and broken, how lives are made and broken, by others policies. a film like this is another reason to care about things more important than sports.
and to answer the above question: what sport is featured in films dating back to the 1890s? boxing.
as i said in the previous blogs about soccer: games happen within the mind, sports are physical. unless you are held directly accountable for your cockiness, trash talking and other sports type mojo, then you are not playing a real sport. soccer and basketball players are particularly infamous for not having to back up what they say. they just get ridiculed by the press if they turn out to be wrong, but they still have a job and get a ridiculous paycheck. boxers and hockey players always think twice about what they say because they will lose teeth for their opinions. their careers will be jeopardized. there is a huge measure of accountability. those are real sports.
DJ YeTi's list is here with the notes on the double y-ed facebook page.
here are few more sports movies that i could have just easily included on this list:
qurterback princess (1983, stars helen hunt as a high school girl in mcminnville, oregon who tries to make the football team. there is a similar more recent film starring ice cube.)
slap shot (1977, hockey comedy starring paul newman)
raging bull (1983, scorsese boxing film starring robert deniro)
the natural (1983, starring robert redford, glenn close & robert duvall about an unkonwn baseball player who suddenly appears with superstar talent)
kingpin (1996, starring bill murray & woody harrelson in a comedy about bowling)
major league (1989, baseball comedy starring tom berenger & charlie sheen)
running brave (1983, story of billy mills, an obscure american indian who wins the 10,000 meters at the olympics in tokyo)
bang the drum slowly (1973 baseball film that made robert deniro a huge star)
eight men out (1988, stars john cusack & db sweeney in a story about the 1919 chicago black sox scandal)
field of dreams (1989, starring kevin costner who hears voices telling him to build a stadium, another chicago black sox scandal driven film)
brewster's millions (1983, comedy starring richard pryor & john candy about a minor leaguer that has 30 days to spend $30 million)
bad news bears (1976, comedy starring walter matthau. 2005 remake stars billy bob thornton)
the adventures of bob & doug mckenzie: strange brew (1983, comedy starring dave thomas & rick moranis, somewhat about hockey in so much as hockey would be featured in just about any canadian movie)
cool runnings (1993, all star cast in a comedy about the jamaican olympic bobsled team)
kansas city bomber (1972, raquel welch playing roller derby)
moneyball (2011, starring brad pitt as billy bean who uses a formulaic approach to creating a contending team with virtually no budget)
white men can't jump (1992, basketball comedy starring wesley snipes & woody harrelson)
the great race (1965, starring jack lemmon, tony curtis & natalie wood about a three continent car race)
cannonball run (1981, slapstick comedy starring burt reynolds, roger moore, jackie chan, farrah fawcett, most of the rat pack and may other celebrities about a "sea to shining sea" road race)
enter the dragon (1973, bruce lee's final film & the first martial arts film produced by a major hollywood motion picture agency)
rocky III (1982, starring sly stallone, this is the one where he beats mr t. although we understand that would never happen in real life just about the same as canseco would never beat shaq in real life, this is still the hands down best of the six-film series)
absent minded professor (1961, disney film starring fred macmurray who creates the flubber ball)
heaven can wait (1978, starring warren beatty as a los angeles rams quarterback who is taken away too soon & the angels send him back to earth as a different person)
remember the titans (2000, starring denzel washington as a motivational football coach)
loneliness of the long distance runner (1962, starring tom courtenay as a rebellious youth marathon runner)
winning team (1952, starring ronald reagan as grover cleveland alexander)
beer league (2006, starring artie lange about a nobody who encourages his softball teammates to pick it up a notch)
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