Hot, steamy days in the upper deck. Beer swigged.
Sleeveless T-shirts, biceps showing. The grunt of a pack of men in a
football scrimmage on a late fall afternoon. The resigned and
disappointed look on a rookie’s face when he realizes he’s been
cut. Coaches named "Stud". Cotton clothing for golf, rough
wool for football. Cigars in the clubhouse. Taped ankles, buzz cuts,
and the crunch of cleats in a sand-covered dugout.
Admit it: these mainstay tools of contemporary
sports cinema have a whole lot more potent effect on us than they do
straight men. And I hate to assume, but I can’t see my old college
roommate feeling the same way as I did when Rudy couldn’t get a
break, or hit the lows I hit when Roy Hobbs re-aggravated his
decades-old gunshot injury. While 90% of guys might not notice, the
other 10% find such masculine drama, well, "inspiring."
So if a gay male sees more to a sports film, then
which make the grade? What are the top sports flicks for the
minority of us who can’t bear to watch Ollie’s foul shots in
"Hoosiers" because we can’t reach into the screen to
console the guy should he miss? Here are the most watchable sports
movies for sports fans who, to borrow a phrase, "see a
different game."
10. "The Endless
Summer" (1966). Ever felt totally out of your element but
enjoyed what you were experiencing so much that the fascination
stuck? That’s what happens here, unless this pseudo-documentary
travelogue flick from the "Gidget" era happens to read
like an autobiography. For the rest of the world, surf lingo,
tactics, and sites remain a mystery, which is why this 34-year old
film still pleases. An incredibly masculine, violently thrilling
joyride around the world in search of the "perfect wave"
with a team of bad boys from surfing’s golden age, "Endless
Summer" begs the inevitable question: whatever happened to
surfer fetishists?
9. "Tin
Cup" (1996). At first glance, this is nothing more than
"Bull Durham" on the links, a middle-of-the-road romantic
comedy full of flirtatious one-liners between Kevin Costner and Rene
Russo, hardly worth a mention for its relative absence of steam. But
in a laid-back, witty way, this movie hits the heart, no matter the
avalanche of corny straight-guy schmooze techniques and relatively
inane script. A "date movie" if there ever was one,
"Tin Cup" benefits from a weird, indescribable aura that
surrounds every scene: the characters sweat, the sun is blinding,
the landscape bakes. It’s a summer flick, and if you’ve ever
played golf it’s a thriller, and it contains the most handsome,
most loveable incarnation of Costner on film (for my money, anyway).
Few times did I manage to escape its relatively oddball charms.
8.. "8
Seconds" (1994). There isn’t a man alive (that I’d identify
with, anyway) who would pass up a chance to ride in Lane, Tuff, and
Cody’s Caddy, across miles of deserted nothingness in search of a
dream, listening to Cody’s cowboy poems, and feeling what it’s
like to be a free man. Of course, what makes a rodeo man tick is the
secret stuff of legend, but here’s a good peek inside, a highly
underrated film with a surprisingly well-paced and patient
performance by Luke Perry. He makes a great Lane Frost, right up to
his tragic death, and you can’t help but feel it was somehow
destined to end up that way. All the stud cowboy posturing aside
(and there’s plenty of it), "8 Seconds" is a melancholy
film about the things that drive each of us to chase a dream, and
how we sometimes lose ourselves along the way. Highly recommended,
not just for the boot set.
7.
"Hoosiers" (1986). Time has not been kind to this
much-revered Cinderella story of the smallest-town-makes-good
Indiana state basketball champs of 1952. The warm, entertaining
story I remember from years ago now seems so forced, the drama so
painted, and the subplots ridiculously trite. The soundtrack
humorously reminds me of the sort of melodramatic dreck that served
as "tension-building" background noise for bad 1980s
dramas like "Dallas" and "Dynasty" (as the music
plays during the Sectionals game segment, I swear I expect Blake
Carrington to stroll out on the court). But you don’t come here
for the atmosphere, you come for the tear-jerking cheese, and it’s
here. Basically, nothing more redeeming about this film is as
powerful as the boys of the Hickory Huskers themselves, and they do
stand the test of time. Ollie is still as nifty and cherubic as I
remember, and Jimmy (the "franchise") still opens my eyes
as an awfully handsome farm-boy who carries the team on his back.
These are the type of guys who get haircuts every Saturday, who wear
their letter jackets every day of their high-school lives, and who
you just KNOW have been up in the loft of the family barn with the
cheerleaders, discovering what it’s like to be men and growing up
accordingly. There simply isn’t a better cast of this sort who can
evoke so many boyhood memories in a man and do so convincingly and
tastefully. Despite the years, it’s a pleaser.
6. "Rudy"
(1993). A college coach once chuckled while discussing this movie
with me years ago, then turned deadly serious as he told me,
"There’s a Rudy story in everyone’s life, I think." It
was a touching moment, and it makes sense: commitment, perseverance,
and determination are what shape a man’s character, and Rudy
Ruettiger became one in a hurry at Notre Dame despite incredible
odds. What makes this film worthwhile is how incredibly masculine
such characteristics become when related to a story of such
heart-wrenching power. How else can you explain why this film has
been known to make even the most manly of us cry, knowing that if
Rudy gets cut, we won’t stand a chance at that job promotion or
secret personal goal? Rudy did it, and so can we. Extras: Sean Astin
in pads, Sean Astin in a letter jacket, and Sean Astin being carried
off the field on his teammates’ shoulders (the real-life Ruettiger
remains the only player the Irish have ever done that for).
5. "Bull
Durham" (1988). Without a doubt the most overrated comedy in
American cinematic history, "Durham" is nonetheless a
touchstone for rabid masculinity, outrageously humorous
philosophical takes on life and love, and the first in a long line
of Costner man-pose flicks. The celebrated "church of
baseball" jokes aside, this is one film that plays for a
different audience on a level the other 90% will never understand.
Cases in point: Costner’s curiously resigned but red-hot sexy
cockiness, the humorous and respectfully engaging game scenes, and
the whole "guys in the clubhouse" vibe that permeates the
whole program. This is one hell of a man’s movie, and despite the
groans from baseball purists, it does something phenomenally
original with the theme that other baseball films can’t best.
4. "A River Runs
Through It" (1992). If we could get what we wished for in an
instant, who among us would not want to erase the painful parts of
our pasts, selectively replace them with pillars of strength, with a
family bond so ideal and strong it would cure every hurt, soothe
every rough spot? It’s the stability, the sense of order out of
chaos, the magnificent integrity of the subject matter here that
almost erases any sense that this is a "sports movie" at
all. For what ultimately happens in Norman MacLean’s
autobiographical novella is a realization so profound, viewers are
caught unaware, having witnessed the passing of a man’s world
between generations, across ages and over our created distances.
MacLean’s life gets the Robert Redford treatment here, and the
effect is nothing short of stunning. The family of men in this film
(with the father portrayed by Tom Skerritt, one of the most
competent actors in modern cinema) endears itself to the viewer,
allowing us to grow with the characters, through shared experiences
of joy, adventure, and sadness. It’s about life, and family, and
the search for an ideal way of living we can be happy pursuing. The
cinematography is rich, the locations bright with inspiration. Just
a marvelously moving movie about men.
3. "The
Natural" (1984). Leave it to Barry Levinson to make a story so
simple seem deeper than Redford’s eyes. As many times as I’ve
watched this one, I can’t help but chant its many philosophical
one-liners right into next week, mantras divine and justly so
because of the source. This is the grand slam of sports movies,
wherein dugouts are sanctuaries (christened by Wilford Brimley in a
role he was born to play), drawing us into Roy Hobbs’ life story
so effectively we actually WANT to cheer for him. The acting is
superb: Robert Duvall in another of his subtle and outstanding
performances; Glenn Close is a gem; even Kim Basinger turns a wimpy
role into a performance worth remembering. But it’s the life
lessons themselves that steal the show, such as this bomb dropped on
Roy as he sits in a hospital bed, thinking about a life he wanted
badly but instead settled for the one he lived: "We have two
lives, the one we learn with, and the one we live afterward."
This movie isn’t just about men, a game, and a gift; it’s a
movie about the essence of sport and life. A beautiful, captivating,
and solemn story.
2. "Breaking
Away" (1979). A bittersweet and engaging film set in small-town
Indiana, starring a talented corps of pre-Brat Packers who
out-perform their roles in a tale of adolescent bliss. Dennis Quaid
(in what I remember was his first prominent role) still is a looker
here, even with the Carter Administration-era ‘do, and Dennis
Christopher became the guy who forced me to ask weird questions
about myself years ago. There still is no greater story of a
foursome of friends-til-the-death buddies than the Cutters, a crew
so tight you’d swear there was more to those quarry swims than
made the final reel. Hardly outdated, "Breaking Away"
still gives me pause.
1. "Long
Gone" (1987). About 8 years ago, one boring weekday night, a
bunch of old fraternity buddies of mine and I went to Blockbuster
with nothing in mind, and "Long Gone" somehow made it back
with us by one pal’s popular demand. Turns out this 1987 HBO
special, a low-budget pre-"Bull Durham" tale of a
fictional minor-league team in Florida in the 1950’s, electrified
me in such a way that I felt as though I was watching the best, most
unabashedly homoerotic sports flick I’d ever seen. Nothing has
since come close to besting it on several fronts. For starters, the
team depicted is the Tampico Stogies, a squad whose uniforms are
adorned with a cartoon of some studly Tom Of Finland – type
character, cigar clenched between his teeth, up at the plate and
meaning business. The whole team smokes cigars and plays ball with
such masculine abandon (often simultaneously) it resembles my most
secret fantasies of manhood gone wild. Then there are the actors,
virile baseball men, sleeves deftly rolled up to just the right
height for peeking, gorgeous and sunburnt, starring the highly
underrated William Petersen as Stud Cantrell (you heard right), a
daddy of a manager whose rough-around-the-edges demeanor makes the
whole film. The music is vintage country, including some Hank
Williams (Senior) that I’d forgotten was so erotic. The plot? It
doesn’t hit the comedic highs of "Durham" itself, but
you’ll see the resemblance, and given the distractions all over
the place, you won’t care enough about its flaws not to get
taken on its fun, charming ride. Suffice to say it’s a cigar and
baseball fetishist’s dream come true, and I bet you can get it on
Amazon.com (good luck finding it for rent anywhere). It’s one for
the ages, and unintentionally the most endowed film about sports I’ve
ever seen.
Honorable mention:
"Everybody’s All-American" (1988).
Dennis Quaid in a flattop, beer in one hand, babe in another, game
on the tube.
"Caddyshack" (1980). Drop-dead laughs, easily the best
sports comedy ever.
"The Program" (1996). The horror, the horror of
high-school sports.
"The Bad News Bears" (1976). The first movie I ever saw.
Our
Readers Weigh In
(Most
recent submissions on top)
From Erestes2:
Masculinity. Camaraderie. Athletic endeavor. Overcoming obstacles in the
pursuit of excellence. Physical and muscular beauty. If there is any guy out
there who appreciates these elements, who appreciates male energy expressed
in a male environment, who appreciates a good story and wouldn't mind a
little inspiration to boot, then "Remember the Titans" is the flick for you.
It's a movie that weaves its multi-varied themes -- competition, race,
allegiance and betrayal, friendship, and yes, even same-gender eroticism (to
name just a few) -- into a tapestry that is at once, wonderful to look at as
well uplifting. And all this -Get This!- WITHOUT the standard Hollywood mass
market extraneous "love story" or 'T&A' scenes dropped in to reassure anxious
males of their heterosexual bonifides. It's easily THE best gay-friendly
sports movie out there--if you haven't seen it yet, you're missing a gem....
From Rudy:
``For Love of the Game'' This movie is kind of two movies in one - a love
story that's pretty mediocre and not all that believable, and the story
of an aging vet's last chance at pitching a perfect game. Forget the love
story; focus on the baseball. The excitement and drama that build
during the big game make this movie truly memorable. And there's the rumor
that Kevin Costner was actually peeved they edited out his full-frontal from
the final cut. I don't really pant for Kevin Costner, but it'll make me
raise an eyebrow when the DVD hits the rental stores.
``Bang the Drum Slowly'': A simple, beautiful story of an unlikely
friendship between a star pitcher and a none-too-bright, journeyman catcher dying
of Hodgkins. The performances made me wonder why Michael Moriarty hasn't
had a more stellar film career, and confirmed why Robert DeNiro has. This is
one of the all-time great friendships in moviedom, and it's my favorite
sports flick of all time.
From Matt:
``Brian's Song'' tells the story of Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers. I first saw it in high
school health class taught by a coach I had a huge crush on. When some guys saw that he had tears in his eyes while
watching the film they gave him shit forever. No need to say, it made me more infatuated than ever. Anyway a great movie
about sports, friendship and life.
``Pride of the
Yankees.'' The Lou Gehrig story ... One of the best baseball movies ever.
Great player and classy, classy man.
``Raging Bull,'' directed by Martin Scorcese and starring Robert DeNiro. The story of boxer Jake LaMotta. If you can
see it on the big screen its even better. WIth so many athletes struggling to deal with the 'glory' of being a star (Darryl
Strawberry, Rae Carruthers, Lawrence Taylor, Mike Tyson etc.) this movie is more meaningful than ever.
From
Paul in Las Vegas:
Great list, but you missed "Steel Magnolias."
Yes, "Steel Magnolias." Claree, played by Olympia
Dukakis, takes comfort in her husband's death in the fact he
lasted through the state playoffs, and ponders whether she can
parlay football into a reason to live. She eventually becomes
a football commentator against a backdrop of the hottest,
most unforgettable locker room scene ever to play in
mainstream theaters.
From A
Reader:
OK, so Robby Benson may be a little dated, although I was surprised to
learn he's only 4 years younger than I am, but "Running
Brave" should definitely be on your list. Not only is the film based on the life of an Olympic track star full of great looking guys, but there is a totally gratuitous
shower scene early on that lingers on ... and on and on and on the supple
track team's butts with more than a hint of
"frontage." Even in the New Millennium, Benson still looks good and there's some eye candy for
everyone here with a decent story line and moral to boot.
From Alfonso:
I nominate as one of my favorite sports films from a gay
perspective the movie 'Major League'. It's a baseball
comedy with some good laughs, a good plot, acting and Dennis
Haysbert. He is a black actor who plays a Cuban defector who
joins the Cleveland Indians. I a couple of scenes Haysbert
appears on camera wearing only a purple jockstrap. He's big,
black and beautiful!
From PredtrFan71:
Jamie Lee Curtis in "Perfect"- 'nuff said!
(Jockstrap scene for the guys, too!)
From Everton
Fan:
I'd like to echo the praise of "Chariots of Fire."
What a beautiful movie in terms of the photography, the music and the men. The Scotsman
was played by the quite gorgeous---OK, I love British men---Ian
Charleson. Sadly, Ian died of AIDS in 1990, age 40.
I'd like to add to the list of omission's the John Sayles film
"Eight
Men Out". This is a lovingly detailed period piece about one of the
low points in Major League Baseball history, the Black Sox Scandal of 1919. Great
costumes (what hell those heavy wool uniforms must have been to play
in!),
wonderful dialogue and excellent acting.
And to top it all off, it has two of my favorite geek-boy lust objects,
John Cusack and D.B. Sweeney, not to mention a more "mature" lust
object, John Mahoney (Marty Crane on "Frasier"). D.B. Sweeney was also in (and
shows a little of that yummy pale flesh of his) a straight-to-cable
movie
about college basketball recruiting called "Heaven Is A
Playground"
which is not a bad movie either.
Matt:
I've gotta second the nomination for "Slapshot", in my mind the most
enjoyable and hilarious sports movie ever made. Themes of marginalization and
not fitting in abound, there's some treatment of homosexuality (albeit
not in a positive light—but hey, this was the 70s after all!), and great
performances from Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean. Who can resist the
GM's tales of a player who would pick fights to get 5 minutes in the penalty
box so he could compulsively masturbate? Or the sight of dreaded ruffian
"Ogie" Oglethorpe taking the ice with a huge red
Afro that surely inspired the one worn by Guillermo Diaz in "Stonewall"?
John
in Tucson:
I can't believe you left off American Anthem! Not only
does it revolve around the gayest sport ever, gymnastics, it
was the feature film debut of the dreamy Olympic Gold Medalist,
Mitch Gaylord. In the movie, he makes a point of training for
the Olympics in the least amount of clothing possible. A side
note, the movie also featured Mrs. Wayne Gretzky (Janet Jones)
as Mitch's love interest.
Rich:
Well, I just joined the site and I was fascinated by your list
of movies. I am looking forward to trying to locate your #1.
Another
not mentioned which was great was Chariots of Fire!!
Every thing about it was great and I am positive more than one
was truly gay, it was just not the purpose of the movie or the
times to portray it. Thanks for the great reviews and insights
on #2-10, I agree with you.
Charles: "Youngblood," the hockey movie starring Rob Lowe. When he gets locked out
of the locker room and drops his towel, I literally shed a tear.
Maddog:
My top 10: "Slap Shot" - Best sports film ever made with Michael Ontkean stripping
to just his jock at the very end...
"In God's Hands" - Recent surferboy movie ala Endless Summer but in the
opening scene the three boys are in their skivvies, in prison, in a
foreign country...very nice... "Streets of Gold" - Adrian Pasdar and James Marshall as two body
beautiful tough street kids. Very hot. "RollerBall" - James Caan as a futuristic gladiator...'nuff said. "Varsity Blues" - Just to see James' son Scotty in the buff with just
his cowboy hat covering his decency...to an MTV soundtrack nonetheless. "Bloodsport" - I know Jean-Claude is getting old, but boy did he make
my juices flow... "The Longest Yard" - Why doesn't Hollywood make prison/football movies
anymore??? "Visionquest" - Even with Matthew Modine and Michael Schoeffling
looking studly, my eye wonders to the beefy bad guy Shoot
doing steps with
a huge log on his back...talk about tossing my caber! "White Squall" - Scott Wolf, Ryan Phillipe, 6 or 8 other scantily clad
youths...Yachting is a sport, right? Right? "Rocky IV" - I still see Dolph looking directly into my eyes saying "I
vill break you"...my response..."K".
Mike
in Ohio:
What about "Field Of Dreams"? WHAT were you thinking???? Any guy who can watch Kevin Costner
ask his 'dad' - "wanna have a catch?" and not force back a tear is superhuman. In fact I had a boss once who told me that if he had known I like Field of Dreams
he wouldn't have even bothered interviewing me.
