The 25 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time

“With the seventh Rocky movie, Creed, coming out later this month and My All American, an inspirational sports film about a former Texas football player, hitting theaters Friday, we at FTW decided to rank the top 25 sports movies ever made. The master list from which to choose is smaller than you think: Since 1976, Box Office Mojo lists the release of just 204 sports movies. By comparison, 604 films have dropped in 2015 with dozens of more slated before the end of the year. It’s not a genre that’s particularly popular: Just 12 sports movies had made more than $100 million at the box office and those were mostly cheesy comedies or feel-good stories peripherally about sports (The Blind Side). Our only rule: No documentaries. There are too many great ones out there (not Hoop Dreams — that’s the most overrated sports film ever) and they’re far too different from a comedy or drama to compare. (That list will come at another time.)

25. THE KARATE KID

The final movie on our list was tough to choose — it was one tale of a diminutive outsider fighting for respect against another, but we had to go with Daniel LaRusso; sorry Rudy. Though the music is great and the last scene is pretty good, the cloying Notre Dame love is a little much and Rudy’s a bit whiny, no? I mean, leave Dan Devine alone. He has a team to coach! But Karate Kid? It’s just Daniel-San, Mr. Miyagi and Elisabeth Shue battling the world. Well, them and Joe Esposito.”

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