Many people work hard at the necessities of parenting. It is literally the most important thing many of us will ever do in our lives.
My daughter and her husband are wonderful parents to the six children in their blended family, and one of the things truly special about them is the effort they put into what I would call extras.
One of those extras is introducing their kids to great movies. Each month they pick a genre and then watch films that fit that genre. They divide the films into three categories.
From my son-in-law:
1. Family movies – content is interesting and generally appropriate for the whole family.
2. Big Kid movies – more mature themes and content included, R ratings are common, but we still try to steer clear of very crass language.
3. Little Kid movies – parents have no interest, but the kids probably like it.
Their May theme is sports movies, and I have been asked to offer input.
Since they don’t watch movies every night, it would be silly to give them too long a list, so I’m going to pick a dozen movies to recommend and a few to warn them off of.
I’m going to suggest a few offbeat ones, so let’s start there.
EDDIE THE EAGLE (2015) — A wonderful movie about ski jumping, based on a true story from the 1988 Calgary Games. It’s not about winning or losing, because Edwards never had a chance to do anything more than compete. It’s about never giving up no matter how much people are putting you down and laughing at you. I love this movie. Category 1.
COOL RUNNINGS (1993) — Oddly, another movie to come out of the Calgary Games. The story of the Jamaican bobsled team that captured the world’s imagination. Again, about far more than winning or losing, and my daughter and her family actually spent three years in Jamaica and little Albanie was born there. Category 1.
Honorable mention Olympic movies: “Chariots of Fire,” “Miracle,” “Running Brave.”
WE ARE MARSHALL (2006) — Maybe the most tragic story ever in football, about the 1970 airplane crash that wiped out the Marshall University team and how the school recovered from it. Oddly, I have a friend who was part of that team. An injury kept him from making that trip and saved his life. Category 2.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2004) — Texas high school football. It’s the only place in the country where the prep game outweighs the college and pro game for many football fans. Not just a terrific movie, but a five-season television series. If you want to understand Texas, watch this movie. Category 2.
NORTH DALLAS FORTY (1979) — Not as good as the book, but what is? One of the first movies to go past the glamor of the NFL. One of Nick Nolte’s best roles, with G.D. Spradlin also excellent as a Tom Landry-type coach. Category 2.
Honorable mention football movies: “Brian’s Song,” “Rudy,” “The Waterboy.”
HOOP DREAMS (1994) — Maybe the best sports documentary ever made, and without question one of the top two films about basketball, the story of two African-American boys who grow up dreaming of someday playing in the NBA. Category 2.
HOOSIERS (1988) — Not just a great basketball movie, a great sports movie based on Indiana high school basketball in the early 1950s, when a tiny team from a tiny town goes all the way in the state’s one-size-fits-all state tournament. Category 1.
SPACE JAM (1996) — Michael Jordan is second billed in this movie … to Bugs Bunny. See it for all sorts of great NBA stars of the time and of course Bill Murray. The LeBron James sequel a generation later doesn’t measure up. Category 3.
Honorable mention basketball movies: “Air Bud” for little kids.
VICTORY (1981) — Also known as “Escape to Victory,” a pretty good movie about a match between POWs and Nazis during World War II. Worth it just to see the great Pele in action. Category 1.
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (2002) — A rarity on this list in that it’s about girls, not boys. A story of two girls in England who dream of playing professional soccer (football). Category 1.
Honorable mention soccer (football) movies: “Fever Pitch” (the original film, not the Jimmy Fallon one), “Ladybugs” for little kids.
THE MIGHTY DUCKS (1992) — Oddly, the first movie I ever took Pauline and her brother to see. Not a great movie, but a cute one about a kids’ youth hockey team. Ignore the sequels. Category 3.
MYSTERY, ALASKA (1999) — A surprisingly fun movie about an outdoor game in the Alaskan winter between a local amateur team and the New York Rangers of the NHL. Category 3.
Honorable mention hockey movies: “Slap Shot” is a truly great hockey movie, but I don’t think it’s for kids.
I’m not going to say much about baseball movies, but I’ll link to a post I did just recently about 16 great ones.
People who know me know how much I love baseball, and there probably would be at least three baseball movies in my top 10 favorite films ever.
I’m not a fan of “The Natural,” and I explain why in the other post. If I had to pick just one movie that says the most about the game, it would be “Field of Dreams.”
Read the other post.
That pretty well covers it, although I feel like I ought to mention “Rocky” (1976) for boxing, one of the only sports movies ever to win the Best Picture Oscar.
There is one other movie I love and it’s about cycling.
BREAKING AWAY (1979) — Maybe the closest thing to a perfect sports movie I’ve ever seen, with only one false note in the entire movie (in the bowling alley at the student union). A great movie about chasing dreams and sometimes catching them. Category 1.
Enjoy.