Two sports motion pictures made the American Film Institute's top 100 movies list of the century Tuesday. "Raging Bull" and "Rocky" certainly are worthy of the top 100, and we at The Post aren't surprised other sports flicks were excluded from the elite list.
The AFI gave you the best American-made movies of the century. The Cincinnati Post Sports Motion Picture Institute - aka The Post sports staff - is giving you the top 100 athletic films. We didn't limit our list to just American-made movies or those produced during a certain time pe-ri-od.Some are great. Some are average. Others are downright horrible. Then again, some are so bad, they're actually entertaining in their awfulness.
In a close vote, boxing's Italian Stallion knocked out home-run hitter Roy Hobbs as "Rocky" (Sylvester Stallone) topped "The Natural" (Robert Redford) in The Post's picks.
"Rocky" socked Apollo Creed and rocked America in 1976, showing us that fighting through adversity can boost you to the top. Rocky Balboa (Stallone) grew up on the poverty-stricken streets of Philadelphia, literally fighting to survive. Boxing at Mickey's gym was the thick-headed, deep-voiced Italian kid's only ticket out of the Philly ghetto and into heavyweight boxing's elite.
Like "Rocky," "The Natural" (1984) also is a story of suppressing a tainted past to reach stardom. Hobbs (Redford) develops into an extraordinary baseball player while growing up on the cornfields of the Midwest Plains during the early 20th century.
After a Chicago Cubs scout invites Hobbs to try out for the major leagues, the 20-year-old Hobbs goes in search of his childhood sweetheart, Iris Raines (Glenn Close). Along the way, he gets sidetracked by a pompous big leaguer and sportswriter - of all people - who question Hobbs' ability to play baseball.
Hobbs gets shot by a woman he meets on the train to Chicago. Needless to say, he didn't make the big leagues until 15 years later. And his famous "Wonderboy" bat helped make his rookie season a bang.
"Caddyshack" earned third-best sports movie of all-time. Certainly the most hilarious golf movie ever - sorry, "Happy Gilmore" - this 1980 film featured an all-star comic cast that included Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dan-ger-field, Ted Knight and the infamous gopher.
Fourth on the list is "Pride of the Yankees," the biography of Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper). This 1942 classic was higher on sentiment than in baseball accuracy, but it endearingly chronicled the legend's baseball career and bout with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, later known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Coach Norman Dale's pint-sized Hickory Huskers played giant-killer en route to the Indiana state high school basketball championship in "Hoosiers," which is fifth on the all-time list.
This 1986 film loosely depicts the "Milan Miracle," a name given to Southeast Indiana's tiny Milan High School after it miraculously won the 1954 state championship.
Hickory's Jimmy Chitwood could drain a jumper like another Indiana schoolboy in the early '70s. You can't help but think of Larry Bird when watching.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The top 100
1. Rocky
2. The Natural
3. Caddyshack
4. The Pride of the Yankees
5. Hoosiers
6. Field of Dreams
7. Jerry Maguire
8. Raging Bull
9. Chariots of Fire
10. Bad News Bears
11. Bull Durham
12. Major League
13. Slap Shot
14. Bang the Drum Slowly
15. Hoop Dreams
16. Breaking Away
17. The Longest Yard
18. Eight Men Out
19. Brian's Song
20. A League of Their Own
21. Rocky II
22. One on One
23. The Sandlot
24. The Hustler
25. Fear Strikes Out
26. White Men Can't Jump
27. Tin Cup
28. Karate Kid
29. Heaven Can Wait
30. When We Were Kings
31. Days of Thunder
32. Rudy
33. Happy Gilmore
34. The Color of Money
35. Karate Kid II
36. Knute Rockne,
All American
37. Rocky III
38. Damn Yankees
39. Mr. Baseball
40. Cool Runnings
41. Mighty Ducks
42. North Dallas 40
43. The Best of Times
44. Forget Paris
45. All the Right Moves
46. Jim Thorpe: All American
47. Searching for Bobby Fischer
48. Angels in the Outfield
49. Rollerball
50. Blue Chips
51. Victory
52. Kansas City Bomber
53. Requiem for a Heavyweight
54. Back to School
55. Space Jam
56. The Stratton Story
57. He Got Game
58. Karate Kid III
59. Rocky IV
60. The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
61. Kingpin
62. The Caddy
63. National Velvet
64. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings
65. The Babe Ruth Story
66. The Basketball Diaries
67. The Kid from Left Field
68. Jackie Robinson Story
69. Somebody Up There Likes Me
70. It Happens Every Spring
71. Follow The Sun
72. Paper Lion
73. Wildcats
74. Rookie of the Year
75. Don King: Only in America
76. Winning
77. Bad News Bears in Breaking Training
78. Ice Castles
79. Personal Best
80. School Ties
81. Semi-Tough
82. The Pride of St. Louis
83. Teen Wolf
84. Mighty Ducks II
85. Dead Solid Perfect
86. Johnny Be Good
87. Little Big League
88. Unnecessary Roughness
89. Over the Top
90. A River Runs Through It
91. Downhill Racer
92. The Great White Hope
93. The Great White Hype
94. Horse Feathers
95. Pumping Iron
96. Gentleman Jim
97. Wind
98. Maurie
99. The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
100. Rocky V
Compiled by The Cincinnati Post