creekdipper

Why do so many sports movies that are based upon real-life counterparts have to resort to the same tired cliches?

We just finished watching a recent sports film (won't say which to avoid spoilers), but the same predictable things crop up: long of inspirational homilies but short on teaching fundamentals, cardboard stereotyped characters who are the players, last-second winning shots, villainous opposing coaches, etc.

We knew we were in for a bumpy ride when the opening shots proclaimed that the movie was "inspired by a true story". Not even "based upon"...just merely "inspired".

Also, one of the three principal leads didn't even exist in real life, and wasn't even a composite character. This person...who played a MAJOR role and was in a majority of scenes (third lead)...was simply created out of thin air.

I just wonder why filmmakers so often resort to ridiculous situations that stick out like a sore thumb...epecially when the real facts are fascinating enough.

Ash Ketchum

I suspect that movies that tell the real story about famous athletes won't do well at the boxoffice. People like me who would actually find the real story more fascinating don't know enough or care enough about sports to bother going to such movies, while real sports fans who care enough about the subject to see these movies don't exactly want to hear the truth. They're much more comfortable with the cliches. (Or am I resorting to cliche here?)

It would be interesting to see a list of sports movies that succeeded at the boxoffice versus those that didn't and compare how "real" they were versus how cliched they were.

The director of the fictional BULL DURHAM (1988) later tried to tell a truthful baseball story in COBB (1994). Guess which one did well.

What about something like MONEYBALL, which I haven't seen yet, but which seems to have sidestepped the cliches and told a very different kind of sports story, all fact-based, as I understand. How well did that do and how well did it succeed in sticking to the facts?

Michael Corvin

One overlooked one for me is that no matter the sport, the action is always focused on the offense.

The Bus

One of the reasons Friday Night Lights is one of the best sports movies.

Jules Winfield

*Jules knocks over orange Gatorade jug* You guys are posting sloppy in here! Now, I know talking about the same old clichés is cliche but we can do is. Because we have heart. Because we have soul. Because we're the goddamned Movie forum!!

Groucho

It did well, but a lot of people were flipping their shit because

wm lopez

How about when movies copy from other movies.
Like (1974) THE LONGEST YARD and BAD NEWS BEARS .
The goof ball players movies that win it all that have come along in years.

starman9000

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dstrauss

Fact-based, but many MANY changes to fit the fiction. They simply ignored the elements from real life that didn't fit the narrative they were trying to build. i.e. Not mentioning it wasn't the spare parts that won the division for the A's, but the fact Tejada won the 2002 MVP; and not once mentioning the Hudson/Zito/Mulder pitching that was the primary reason the team was successful.

Plus the Jonah Hill character, while based on real people, didn't exist in real life as he did in the film.

Jules Winfield

*Jules knocks over orange Gatorade jug* I also hate the cliche of remaking goofball players sports movies from the 70's. Also The Bad News Bears lost. I do appreciate when the main character/team loses at the end though. I cheer a little inside.

The Cow

I just take them one movie at at time. And the good lord willing, some of them will be enjoyable.

Trelach24

I have never liked sports movies despite being the biggest sports fan.

Goat3001

As a sports fan (and big baseball fan) the things you listed were very obvious in Moneyball. I still enjoyed the movie a lot but leaving out the 3 big pitchers and Tejada definitely took me out of the film.

With that said, it's very rare for a sports story to make a perfectly good movie. There are big moments we remember that can be the basis for a good film but those are just moments. A movie needs to build around that and form a story that makes us react when that big moment happens on screen. More often than not, the story behind the big moment or the people involved just aren't that interesting. So a movie needs to make up for that and sometimes the only thing to do is create a character or create a dilemma that just isn't there.

With Moneyball, the 2002 A's weren't anything special. They won 20 games in a row, which is admittedly pretty amazing, but the cast of characters they had on the team was nothing special. They did it on the strength of 3 stud pitchers in their prime and with Miguel Tejada (later went on to win MVP) and Eric Chavez, guys that Beane didn't even sign himself. That's not impressive. No one wants to hear a story of a team that won a division because of 3 aces and an MVP, that happens every year. So naturally the movie focused on the average players and made it seem that they were the heroes because that simply makes for the better story.

JumpCutz

*Jumpcutz trips and falls into Jules, who in turn knocks over orange gatorade jug* Generic football movie: Coach gathers team around and announces "There are no atheists in foxholes".

WeylandYutani

What movie? Put it in spoiler tag.

DRG

I always think it's funny when they have one of those underdog stories where the team loses a shit ton of games at the beginning of the season, then goes on presumably a huge winning streak to make it to the championships, but is still considered an underdog/surprise at that point. In real life a team in the midst of a hot streak like that would probably be considered a favorite regardless of how poorly their season started.

Goat3001

Not necessarily. A good real life example of that is the 2007 Colorado Rockies. They ended their season winning 14 of 15 but didn't win the division and were considered underdogs through the playoffs.

Also at the end they're going up against the best team, one they usually peg as being great all season, it's not silly at all to think the hot team that just made it is the underdog compared to the team that was awesome all year.

cleaver

There's never a full team with the exception of Miracle. I yelled at the screen at the end of The Replacments That's why boxing movies dominate the best sports movies, and I love most sports except for boxing.

raven56706

Friday Night Lights is the best sports movie.... great acting, felt real and the ending isnt your typical ending

Lt Ripley

Fixed.

inri222

Fixed for real

Lt Ripley

OK, best comedy sports film. I'll concede that much.

cleaver

Totally agree. I seriously don't understand how Raging Bull isn't the consensus top sports movie.

AnonomusBob15

it is. this and bull durham always get the no. 1 spot.

zekeburger1979

I don't mean to go off topic here, but I wonder if the Indians would have beat them in the World Series if they hadn't blown the 3-1 lead in the ALCS?

I couldn't care less about cliches in sports movies. If it's done well, the movie rises above the cliches; if not, oh well.