The top 50 sports films of all time

Get into the game with our definitive list of the best sports movies: inspirational dramas, rude comedies and classic documentaries celebrating the real thing.

First published on 7 Aug 2012. Updated on 10 Aug 2012.

London’s Olympics are already underway – and who knows how many hours you’ve logged watching disqualified teen gymnasts weep before a global audience. Let us suggest additional viewing: In ranking the 50 best sports movies of all time, we stuck to traditional athletics.* (Please, chess and billiards fans, save the fury for another comments board.) To get in shape, we pounded the heavy bag, swore off sweets and drank plenty of raw eggs—by which we mean we watched a lot of DVDs. Surely there are titles we’ve missed. Raise a penalty flag if that’s the case. Remember, it’s not about winning—unless you’re counting backward in a ranked list. What’s the mightiest sports film of all time? Dive in and find out.

*"We" in this instance is our colleagues at Time Out New York. Here at Time Out Australia we'd have added a few other films to the list: Cool Runnings, The Club, The Mighty Ducks, Sandlot Kids, Bring it On, Baseketball, Blades of Glory, and – when we're hung over or flying long-distance – Wimbledon.