Five of the Best Feel-Good Sports Movies of All Time

Five of the Best Feel-Good Sports Movies of All Time

Sports can be incredibly inspirational and are home to some of the greatest stories ever told. That’s why the movie business has tried to recreate the magic on screen for decades. But the results have tended to be mixed, to say the very least.

When Hollywood gets it right – they really get it right. There have been some classics over the years, quite often based on true-life people and stories. They are not always about teams that regularly appear on sports betting markets. But here are five of the very best feel-good sports movies that will have you cheering and crying in equal measure.

Remember the Titans (2000)

You can’t really go wrong with Denzel Washington – and that is definitely true with this story of an African-American high school football coach battling against racism in early 1970s Virginia. Facing hostility from the community and the school board itself, Washington coaches the team to be better players and people.

Remember the Titans has all the hallmarks of a great feel-good sports movie. There are realistic action scenes, training shots and at least one pivotal motivational speech. The message never seems forced though – and Washington is incredible as an honest man who just buckles down and does his job for the team.

Field of Dreams (1989)

“If you build it, he will come”. It is one of the most famous sports movie lines of all time and refers to a baseball diamond that is created by Kevin Costner in this Oscar-nominated classic. Costner plays a farmer who battles with the idea that he never reconciled with his father before the older man’s death.

Although building a baseball diamond is seen as financial suicide, Costner is supported to do just that and ends up ‘seeing’ old baseball players. He is urged to continue, with the hope of the field becoming a major attraction. He ultimately is successful and gets to ‘see’ and ‘play’ ball with his father.

Rocky (1976)

This is arguably the greatest boxing movie of all time – and definitely a feel-good, inspirational classic. Sylvester Stallone stars as the titular small-time boxer who ends up fighting for a chance at the heavyweight championship of the world. It is the classic rags-to-riches, American Dream story.

Although the actual fight scenes tend to become a little implausible, it is the human story that we come to care about during the film. What makes this even more of a feel-good classic is that Rocky actually ends up losing the fight. It spawned a whole series of sequels - but the original is still the best.

Hoosiers (1986)

Gene Hackman stars in this story of a high school basketball coach winning despite the odds in 1950s Indiana. Hackman joins as the star player leaves the team to concentrate on his studies. The townspeople want nothing to do with him and his tactics are not initially liked by players or fans.

But he slowly wins the school over, even when he employs a former player who now struggles with alcohol dependency as his right hand man. The small school ultimately overcomes the big favorites to become Indian State Champions, with everyone firmly in the Hackman camp.

We are Marshall (2006)

In November 1970 a flight chartered by the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team crashes shortly after take off, killing all 75 passengers on board and wiping out the majority of the roster. This inspirational movie tells the story of how the football program was rebuilt.

Matthew McConaughey plays the head coach brought in to lead the new-look team who has to rely on the goodwill of the local town, the university and the few players that were left. It is an emotional rollercoaster of a movie based on real life that ends up as a real feel-good classic.

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