People say that baseball is America’s favorite sport, but football is the country’s true passion. During its season, the NFL takes over the airwaves, and college football offers fans a whole other league of sports entertainment. But when the season is over, a good football movie can help fans get through the wait.
A great football movie can be a realistic look at the rough nature of the sport, a hilarious comedy, or a sad story that makes you cry. Great football movies, on the other hand, are great because they have heart. Fans can watch the best football movies at the touch of a button thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max.
Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday is the most honest and raw movie about professional football ever made. The made-up Miami Sharks, who used to be very good, are having trouble getting to the playoffs again because of injuries and fighting among themselves.
Tony D’Amato, played by Al Pacino, is the team’s head coach. As he tries for one last moment of glory, he has to deal with an unfriendly new owner, a backstabbing coaching staff, and a quarterback controversy. Even though it’s nearly three hours long, Any Given Sunday has so much action and mystery that it feels like it’s over in the time it takes to play sudden death overtime.
Brian’s Song
Brian’s Song is one of the saddest movies ever made, so you’ll need a box of tissues to watch it. This “guy cry” movie was first shown as an ABC Movie of the Week, but it was so well-liked that Columbia Pictures put it in theaters.
Brian’s Song tells the story of Brian Piccolo, a Chicago Bears player who was told he had cancer that would kill him, and of his friendship with Gayle Sayers, a star running back. Even though the movie has a strong social message, the sad story of Piccolo’s short life is what makes it so powerful.
Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights was an even better movie before it became a great TV show. The movie shows how important high school football is in small towns by following the Perlman Panthers as they try to win the Texas state championship.
Friday Night Lights has everything: a happy ending, a sad ending, and a happy ending. It draws people into the lives of the players and coaches as they try to meet each other’s expectations. A great soundtrack with jams by Bad Company, ZZ Top, and Public Enemy is also part of the movie.
Johnny Be Good
In the 1988 comedy Johnny Be Good, Anthony Michael Hall plays Johnny Walker. This is his first role that is not a nerd. Fans who knew Hall from movies like “16 Candles” and “Weird Science” were surprised at how old and fit he had gotten for the role.
Johnny Be Good does an amazing job of showing how dirty college football recruiting can be. Walker was tempted by money, cars, and even a coach’s wife, but in the end, he made the right decision by going to a good school.
Necessary Roughness
Necessary Roughness shows that it pays to steal from the best by having a plot that is almost the same as Major League. The Texas State University Fightin’ Armadillos scramble to put together a team with the most unlikely players after sanctions take away most of their players.
Like Jake Taylor in Major League, Paul Blake is a player who is past his best but still wants one more chance. Necessary Roughness doesn’t make you feel anything or give you any new ideas, but it is a lot of fun and great for a party night.
North Dallas Forty
North Dallas Forty is a story about the decadent party life of professional football players in the 1970s. It is based on a book written by a former Dallas Cowboy. The North Dallas Bulls were a little too close to the NFL Cowboys, which was a bit controversial.
Even though it looks like a hedonistic movie, North Dallas Forty is actually about how the friendship between WR Phil Elliot, who has to take painkillers to keep playing football, and the flamboyant QB Seth Maxwell, who is always with different women, falls apart. Because of this, the dramedy has a great mix of funny laughs and really sad moments.
Remember The Titans
Remember the Titans tells the true story of the efforts to integrate a Virginia high school football program in the early 1970s. Even though the Supreme Court had ordered schools to be integrated years ago, there were still many places where black and white students played on different teams.
Coach Herman Boone, who had been in charge of the Black team before, was put in charge of the new team, but he had trouble from all sides. Even though Remember the Titans is often criticized for being predictable, it has a social message, a tense plot, and a happy ending.
The Longest Yard
Even though the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard was good, no movie shows football craziness and chaos better than the original. Paul “Wrecking” Crewe, a disgraced former NFL quarterback, is in prison, where the warden wants him to put together an exhibition team for the guards’ semi-pro team to beat up.
The prisoners’ team, called the “Mean Machine,” is a tough opponent for the guards, so the warden threatens and tries to force Crewe to throw the game. What happens next is a great example of the independence and toughness that football fans look for in a great sports movie.
The Replacements
The Replacements is a sports comedy about a group of likeable losers who are set up to fail but find a way to win. Because of a strike, the Washington Sentinels don’t have anyone on their team. Coach McGinty, who is played by Gene Hackman, picks the best and strangest players he can find.
Shane Falco, played by Keanu Reeves, is a former All-American quarterback who bombed his career and is now getting a second chance. Falco faces every problem he can think of, but he manages to pull the team together and get them into the playoffs. Even though The Replacements is predictable, it is a lot of fun and has a lot of heart.
The Waterboy
Bobby Boucher Jr. in The Waterboy is the best role that Adam Sandler has ever played on screen. Coach Klein, who is tired of coaching, finds out that the shy water boy on the team has made the other players angry, which is great for the football field. He asks him to join the South-Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs, which are having trouble.
Bobby’s overprotective mother doesn’t like football, which she calls “foosball,” so he has to sneak around her to play for the team. Even though the premise is ridiculous and the acting is over the top, this story ends up being surprisingly heartwarming.
