5 Sports Movies You Shouldn’t Fumble

While Summer is winding down, sports fans across the nation are excited for that special time of year when you can catch almost any kind of game you want! Sports and cinema have always gone hand in hand so what better way to enjoy this special season than bring you some your favourite classic sports movies and a few you may have missed from years past with our Sports on Film programming. Here are five I think are worth your time.

The Harder They Fall (1956)

Premieres September 29 at 9pm ET on HS70
Available on demand in September

This film is a noir-tinged look at the corrupt world of mid-century boxing and fight fixing. Humphrey Bogart, in his final performance, plays a washed-up writer who agrees to con an Argentinian boxer into thinking he really is a contender but as their relationship develops he needs to choose to keep lying to his protegé or finally reveal the truth of the fixed fights.

North Dallas Forty (1979)

Premieres September 7 at 9pm ET on HS70
Available on demand in September 

Former Dallas Cowboys wide-receiver Peter Gent raised a lot of eyebrows when he wrote his satirical semi-autobiographical novel North Dallas Forty about the NFL and some of the behaviour and drug use amongst its players. Gent adapts his own book for the screen in Ted Kotcheff’s 1979 film starring Nick Nolte and Mac Davis who star as players much more interested in sex, drugs and football than following any coach’s orders.

Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)

Premieres September 20 at 9pm ET on HS80
Available on demand in September 

This unusual sports and politics time capsule follows a young boy who walks out on sports to protest the nuclear arms race and inspires a group of professional athletes to do the same. While the Mike Newell-directed film didn’t fare well – it was released just as the Soviet Union announced liberal reforms and Cold War tensions cooled – it’s a reminder of the role protest has always played in sports.

Varsity Blues (1999)

Premieres September 15 at 9pm ET on HS90
Available on demand in September 

If you want hearty realism in football you go to Friday Night Lights or We Are Marshall but if you want the best mix of the wild teen movie boom of the late 90s and sports, you go to Varsity Blues. Lead by James Van Der Beek, Paul Walker, Amy Smart, Ali Larger and Scott Caan it’s a ‘who’s who’ of 90s idols and launched a thousand parodies with its over-the-top storylines.

Whip It! (2009)

Premieres September 7 at 9pm ET on HS00
Available on demand in September 

A very different side of Texas sports comes out in this Elliot Page-starring roller derby movie that also marked the directorial debut of actress Drew Barrymore. The film was a critical darling but box office disappointment and has become a cult favourite among women sports fans. Elliot Page also notes in his memoir the film introduced him to two of his biggest supporters in his transition: Alia Shawkat and Kirsten Wiig.