It is getting to that special time of year again. The holidays may be over, but every football fan is eagerly watching the playoffs as the best teams in the NFL battle it out for the opportunity to participate in one of the biggest sports events on the planet. It is estimated that around 150 million people will tune in to watch Super Bowl LX, cementing the game as America’s favorite sport.
Even though so many people regularly enjoy watching football, the sport’s representation on the silver screen has not always been as spectacular. Maybe it is something to do with the intense passion and excitement that sports naturally produce, but the players and teams that appear on all the best Florida betting apps don’t always receive the best cinematic treatment.
That being said, there have also been some movie masterpieces inspired by football down through the years. It is not always the Super Bowl champions or the top athletes who are the stars, however. Some of the best football films are about underdogs and high school students. Here are some of the films about football that we think anyone planning to watch the Super Bowl should check out while they wait to see what happens on the field.
Any Given Sunday (1999)
Sports films don’t always have to be authentic. Sometimes we enjoy a rags-to-riches tale that wouldn’t really happen in the real world. But when a director goes for realism – and gets it right – it can make for captivating viewing. Any Given Sunday certainly scores highly in that category, and provides an insight into what really goes on – on and off the field – at a top football organization.
Having Al Pacino as the main star didn’t hinder this movie’s chance of success, of course. But the entire cast, including Jamie Foxx, James Woods, and Cameron Diaz, shine as we discover what goes on behind the scenes. An Oliver Stone movie is always going to be big, and having Pacino provide an iconic monologue makes this football film a must-see. The camera doesn’t shy away from the chaos and brutality of modern football, while the performances and drama ensure Any Given Sunday makes our list.
Brian’s Song (1971)
Sometimes the best football movies are not really about the football at all. Brian’s Song uses football as more of a background setting for a story about an unlikely friendship. It is also based on a true story, and there is nothing the viewing public like more than to know that the movie they are watching is about real people, especially when it is as dramatic as this.
James Caan plays Brian Piccolo, a player for the Chicago Bears in the 1960s, who formed a great friendship with Gale Sanders, who had a completely different background and personality. Brian’s Song explores the racial issues of the time, as well as one of the main characters dealing with a terminal illness. The football in the movie might not be great, but the acting is, with the story of the bond between two very different people truly absorbing throughout.
Jerry Maguire (1996)
This is another football movie that doesn’t concentrate on scores and games. Jerry Maguire is the main character of a film about how money has transformed football from the sport many of us fell in love with as kids into a multi-billion-dollar business that is as brutal as any of the hits on the field of play.
Tom Cruise stars as an agent who changes his ways to become more compassionate and “real” – and nearly loses it all. He goes all in on just one athlete (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and tries to change the way the business of the sport is going. He may not ultimately be successful with that grand aim, but he does change the way a lot of people involved in football think about agents and contracts – and provided us with one of the most iconic and memorable lines in the history of sports movies.
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Based on H.G. Bissinger’s non-fiction book about a high school football team in Texas, Friday Night Lights provides an insight into how small towns in the Lone Star State treat football as much more than just a game. The entire community centers itself around the exploits of the local high school team, in an act that provides great support but also heaps pressure on the shoulders of teenagers struggling to find their way in the world.
The movie inspired a hugely successful TV series that ran for five seasons in the late 2000s and stars Billy Bob Thornton as the head coach of the Permian Panthers. He not only has to deal with turning his student athletes into state champions, but also the sometimes dangerous and worrying domestic situations of his charges. Friday Night Lights showed a side of football that many of us outside of small-town America were unaware of – to great effort.
Remember the Titans (2000)
Our final must-see football movie is another based on a true story. This one is also about a high school team, but set back at the beginning of the 1970s when the school in question was first racially integrated. The appointment of an African-American, played expertly by Denzel Washington, raises some concerns among the school community, and the film shines a spotlight on the racial tensions of the time.
Once again, the football on show is nothing to write home about – and at times is somewhat farcical – but this movie uses football and sports as a unifying force, bringing together the different people on the team, and within the wider community. Remember the Titans focuses on the way that working as a team is always more successful and gives us the opportunity to embrace the diversity of modern society.
