Sports Movies - Tin Cup

Tin Cup.

Why is Kevin Costner so damn effective in the role of likeable underdog? I can’t think of anyone who’s had more success playing this role.
(Doesn’t mean there aren’t a bunch of guys who’ve done it, just means I’m not thinking of one at the moment)

Maybe it’s his laconic delivery, or that half smile / smirk thing he does.

Anyhow, Tin Cup is movie about a great golfer whose accumulated life choices has resulted in him managing a driving range, and living in a Winnebago. He falls for a neurotic therapist, who happens to be dating his old golf rival. The rival, played by Don Johnson, is a successful PGA tour golfer, a bit smarmy, and very condescending toward Costner.

So of course, Costner gets his head together, qualifies for the PGA tour, and ends up competing against Johnson for both the girl, and for the honor of being tournament champion.

Does he win the tournament? Nope. He actually loses it in a spectacular fashion, by refusing to be un-true to himself and to the game of golf as he loves it. But he gets the girl, shows he can hang with the big dogs until the last hole of the tournament, and automatically qualifies for next season’s tour. And as Russo puts it, no one’s going to remember who won the tournament a week from now, but everyone’s going to remember Costner’s performance on the 18th hole……

So there’s the Rocky-like “redemption and winning while still losing” you expect from a good sports movie.


Great performances by Costner, and by Cheech Marin as his best friend and caddy. Renee Russo’s as dependably appealing as always. Johnson’s role is not huge, and does not ask him to stretch as an actor, so he also does fine.
Plot’s fairly linear, dialog’s realistic, and there’s lots to enjoy. Good primary and 2ndary conflicts, all resolved tidily.
Movie works ok on it's own merits, but at the same time benefits greatly from Costner's performance.

It’s like Happy Gilmore, but for grown ups.

Sports Movies - Mystery Alaska

Mystery Alaska

Unfortunately marketed with the tagline “The Rocky of Hockey”

Russell Crowe, Burt Reynolds and Hank Azaria star in a movie about a small Alaskan town’s local hockey team, a bunch of amazing hockey players who get together every week for a game of pond hockey. The team is comprised of guys chosen by the town council. They can bump you whenever they feel like it, and in this small town, the hockey team is ALL.

Russell Crowe plays the town Sheriff, and the guy who just got bumped from Saturday’s game, because it was time to “bring up the Weeks kid” (give a much younger guy his chance).
Reynolds plays the stick-up-the-ass town Judge, ex-hockey player, and father to one of the current hockey players.
Azaria is a town outcast (apparently can’t play hockey) who left town and became a writer for Sports Illustrated.

Long and at times convoluted story short – An article he writes about the town hockey team results in the NY Rangers coming to Alaska to play them in a game of hockey. Do they accept the challenge, and risk being humiliated and disillusioned, or do they refuse the challenge, and continue to live safely within their own illusion of greatness? Well, it would be a pretty damn short movie, if they didn’t accept the challenge, wouldn’t it?

Crowe gets his shot at redemption when the town council asks him back to the team, Reynolds redeems himself in the eyes of his son, Azaria gets a little redemption in the eyes of the town.
And there were some decent hockey scenes.
Does it matter who wins the game?
Of course not.

Redemption, baby!!!!

With a fair amount of laughs, and some realistically human subplots.

Sports Movies - The Replacements

Good sports movies have simple plots, too.
They’re aimed at simple creatures.
Namely – me.

This movie stars Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman.
Basic plot: NFL goes on strike, team owners hire scabs to cross the picket line and play ball.
That’s the broadstroke.

The guys that are hired of course make the movie.
Reeves is a once-fantastic college quarterback who crashed and burned spectactularly in a bowl game, and is scraping barnacles off of boats for a living. his team includes:
A deaf wide receiver, A violent cop, a couple of criminals, a Scottish soccer player, and twin brothers who are professional bodyguards.
And Gene Hackman’s their coach.
He does “coach” really well.
There’s mayhem, violence, and bonding scenes, including the obligatory bar brawl.
There’s a great antagonist, namely the overpaid, lazy, fan-shunning striking quarterback.
Of course you hate him. He’s an overpaid, lazy, fan-shunning money grubber.
The cheerleaders are scabs, too.
Their day job? Strippers.
Oh, and there’s some good football.

“Pain Heals, Chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.”

Words to live by. I get a little choked up, every time I think about it.

Does it matter if they win their final game or not with mere seconds left on the clock?
Not really. They’ve already redeemed themselves in their own eyes; the eyes of their coach and each other; and the eyes of everyone watching the games from….everywhere.
And the hero gets the girl. Of course.

When you can’t think of something original to write about……. Review something.

I’d been thinking about sports movies this morning, which is odd, cuz I’m not a huge sports or sports movie guy. While sitting through an 80 minute pep rally at work, I started writing out a list of my favorite sports movies.
Note I said “My favorite” not “The best” or “most critically acclaimed”.

Keep in mind, my tastes are pretty pedestrian.

A good sports movie isn’t actually about sports. I like to opine that a sports movie that truly works, from a viewer standpoint, is actually about…. Redemption.

Was Rocky actually about boxing?
God no.
(And if you watch boxing, you’ll realize that the fight scenes in Rocky are possibly the worst part of the movie..)

I rest my case, by the way.

And remember, Rocky didn’t win the fight at the end of the movie. He lost, but still won. He REDEEMED himself, proving he wasn’t a loser to himself, his girl, and the world.


I expect that the “Rocky-ing” of various sports in movie form pre-dated Rocky, but I’m not a thorough enough student of the history of popular film to speak on movies that pre-date…me.

So my list only goes back 30 years or so.
I'll review one per entry, and probably get bored with this by the time I'm done with the 2nd review