Movies can tug at our heartstrings in a number of ways. Many films play on our emotions by pitting their heroes against impossible odds, and others use narratives of love and heartbreak to draw us in with a highly emotive storyline.

Yet there is something about sports movies that has the undeniable ability to provide us with the perfect amount of dramatic action to keep us on the edge of our seats in ways that other genres can only dream of.

Whether it be fictional accounts of sporting greatness, or even sports films inspired by true events, there seems to be no limit to the way that Hollywood can use sport to keep us enthralled. So here’s a quick rundown of some great sporting moments in celluloid.

Rocky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2zFQmHWVCI

For many this is the classic sporting film. With many iconic shots, quotable lines, and of course an epic performance by the star Sylvester Stallone, it has set the template for sporting films.

And whilst there have been numerous sequels of varying quality since the 1976 original, there is little doubt that this is the touchstone for any film that wants to celebrate an individual’s personal travails in the sporting arena.

Dodgeball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUpzAw5Kw7M

And just because sports films are dramatic, doesn’t mean that they can’t be funny too. This was emphatically proven by the hilarious 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

The movie saw its stars Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn playing the unintentionally comical game of dodgeball that made great use of the actors’ slapstick skills along with some perfectly executed quickfire dialogue. But what really drew audiences in was the familiar story of a team of underdogs using their initiative to overcome their big-money rivals.

The Bronze

To further prove how a variety of sports can be used to create highly engaging films, there’s this year’s surprise movie hit The Bronze.

Starring Melissa Rauch from TV’s The Big Bang Theory alongside the redoubtable Gary Cole, the film charts the progress of a foul-mouthed young gymnast who hilariously has to defend her bronze medal position when a new challenger comes to town. The film perfectly exemplifies the small-town mentality, as well as the sometimes illogical competitiveness that sport can bring out in all of us.

Foxcatcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8361stZ8n0w

And finally, just to prove that great sporting films aren’t always about events on the field, there’s last year’s darkly psychological thriller Foxcatcher.

This starred the charismatic actor Channing Tatum as a young wrestler given the chance for Olympic stardom thanks to the sinister millionaire benefactor played by a captivating Steve Farrell. And this movie succeeded through revealing the psychological warfare that can occur within any sport that makes the action in the arena seem like a mere sideshow.

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