Was your favourite sports film snubbed at the Oscars?
Was your favourite sports film snubbed at the Oscars?
We love sports films. Who doesn’t right!?
With the Oscars around the corner, we tried thinking of our favourite Oscar-winning sports films and realised there weren’t any. Or many, at least.
Looking a little deeper showed we’re not alone in our appreciation of sports films – critics often rate them, and audiences adore them. It seems the only people who aren’t generally convinced by sports as a legitimate subject for cinema are the Oscars judges.
Fuelled by outrage on behalf of sports filmmakers everywhere, we analysed reviewers’ scores, audience ratings and Oscar nominations to bring recognition to snubbed sports films which deserve better.
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100 Top Sports Movies Ranked
| Film | Year | Sport | RT Score | RT Audience | IMDB Score | Oscar Noms | Oscar Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Million Dollar Baby | 2004 | Boxing | 91% | 90% | 8.1/10 | 7 | 4 |
| Chariots of Fire | 1981 | Athletics | 84% | 80% | 7.2/10 | 7 | 4 |
| Rocky | 1976 | Boxing | 94% | 69% | 8.1/10 | 10 | 3 |
| The Hustler | 1961 | Pool | 98% | 93% | 8/10 | 9 | 2 |
| Raging Bull | 1980 | Boxing | 94% | 93% | 8.2/10 | 8 | 2 |
| The Fighter | 2010 | Boxing | 91% | 89% | 7.8/10 | 7 | 2 |
| National Velvet | 1944 | Horse Racing | 100% | 78% | 7.3/10 | 5 | 2 |
| The Pride of the Yankees | 1942 | Baseball | 93% | 89% | 7.7/10 | 11 | 1 |
| Heaven Can Wait | 1978 | American Football | 89% | 68% | 6.9/10 | 9 | 1 |
| Jerry Maguire | 1996 | American Football | 83% | 79% | 7.3/10 | 5 | 1 |
| Breaking Away | 1979 | Cycling | 94% | 88% | 7.7/10 | 5 | 1 |
| The Colour of Money | 1986 | American Football | 89% | 73% | 7/10 | 4 | 1 |
| I, Tonya | 2017 | Figure Skating | 89% | 88% | 7.5/10 | 3 | 1 |
| The Blind Side | 2009 | American Football | 66% | 85% | 7.6/10 | 2 | 1 | When We Were Kings | 1996 | Boxing | 98% | 93% | 8/10 | 1 | 1 |
| Undefeated | 2011 | American Football | 96% | 89% | 7.7/10 | 1 | 1 | Seabiscuit | 2003 | Horse Racing | 78% | 76% | 7.3/10 | 7 | 0 |
| Moneyball | 2011 | Baseball | 94% | 86% | 7.6/10 | 6 | 0 |
| Foxcatcher | 2014 | Wrestling | 87% | 66% | 7/10 | 5 | 0 |
| The Natural | 1984 | Baseball | 82% | 88% | 7.5/10 | 4 | 0 |
| Cinderella Man | 2005 | Boxing | 80% | 91% | 8/10 | 3 | 0 |
| Field of Dreams | 1989 | Baseball | 86% | 86% | 7.5/10 | 3 | 0 |
| The Wrestler | 2008 | Wrestling | 98% | 88% | 7.9/10 | 2 | 0 |
| Hoosiers | 1986 | Basketball | 89% | 88% | 7.5/10 | 2 | 0 |
| Invictus | 2009 | Rugby | 76% | 75% | 7.3/10 | 2 | 0 |
| Ali | 2001 | Boxing | 67% | 65% | 6.8/10 | 2 | 0 |
| Hoop Dreams | 1994 | Basketball | 98% | 93% | 8.3/10 | 1 | 0 |
| LAGAAN: Once Upon a Time in India | 2001 | Cricket | 95% | 93% | 8.1/10 | 1 | 0 |
| Warrior | 2011 | Boxing (MMA) | 83% | 92% | 8.2/10 | 1 | 0 |
| Creed | 2015 | Boxing | 95% | 89% | 7.6/10 | 1 | 0 |
| The Hurricane | 1999 | Boxing | 83% | 87% | 7.6/10 | 1 | 0 |
| The Karate Kid | 1984 | Karate | 88% | 82% | 7.2/10 | 1 | 0 |
| Bill Durham | 1988 | Baseball | 97% | 82% | 7.1/10 | 1 | 0 |
| The Longest Yard | 1974 | American Football | 82% | 75% | 7.1/10 | 1 | 0 |
| Bang the Drum Slowly | 1973 | Baseball | 92% | 62% | 6.9/10 | 1 | 0 |
(See the full 100 films in our Oscar snubs data set which includes Oscar awards by category)
Our data shows the top-rated sports films ever made, according to film reviews website, Rotten Tomatoes, and how they got on at the Academy Awards in their respective years.
While we’ve shown the winners in our table above - to give aspiring sports-film directors some hope - you can view the full list of 100 to see how your favourite sports film fared by following the link to the data set above.
You may also think, as we did, that sports films don’t always do as well as they deserve to. So with that in mind we’ve paid homage to some films which critics and audiences love which were overlooked during Oscar season. Scroll down the page to find out more.
The Oscars and Sports: A Breakdown
While the Oscars generally hasn't been kind to sports films since it started in 1928, there were years when certain movies seemed to strike a chord with Oscars judges and earned notable successes.
Our graphic above shows the big winners and some of the losers over the years.
We also took a more in-depth look at which sports have been historically popular with Oscars judges and which sports just aren’t of interest to the Academy, despite several quality movies having been made. Scroll on to find out about how sports films you love have fared.
Chariots of Fire, Rocky and Million Dollar Baby top the list
In the history of sports films at the Oscars, two films lead the pack by some distance.
Clint Eastwood’s moving story of a female boxer, Million Dollar Baby, and the 1981 inspirational athletics movie, Chariots of Fire, both have four Academy Awards each.
Further down the list, Sylvester Stallone’s Philadelphia boxing tale, Rocky, won three Oscars at the 49th Academy Awards. There were also several films which won two statues, including pool-hall con movie, The Hustler (1961), and equestrian film, National Velvet (1944).
The Pride of the Yankees, Sam Wood’s 1942 Baseball film, has the most nominations with 11 in total, including Best Picture, Leading Actor for Gary Cooper and Leading Actress for Teresa Wright. However it won just a single Oscar – for Best Film Editing – at the 15th Academy Awards.
The Pride of the Yankees isn't alone in losing out at the awards:
Snubbed sports films which deserved better, according to critics
The films in our graphic above are some of the highest rated sports films with critics on film reviews website, Rotten Tomatoes, which did not take a single Oscar come awards season.
We also learned that some of our favourite critically acclaimed sports movies which were ignored by the Oscars went down as some of the biggest snubs in Oscars history.
Here's our top picks of films which are adored by critics and reviewers alike and outscore the actual Oscar winner in their year:
The Wrestler
In the end Slumdog Millionaire took the Best Picture award at the 81st Academy Awards, which has an impressive 91% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But The Wrestler is way out in front, scoring 98% with reviewers suggesting it would have been a far more critically popular winner and was worthy of a nomination at least.
The Hustler
This pool-shark classic got close to taking the Best Picture award in 1961 but was pipped to the top prize by the New York-musical, West Side Story.
Today The Hustler has a 98% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes while West Side Story gets 92% from reviewers. IMDB.com has The Hustler at 8/10 while West Side Story is rated at just 7.5/10, showing the sports film has weathered the years far better.
The Pride of the Yankees
Sam Wood’s 1942 epic about baseball legend Lou Gherig lost out to a film about the British upper-class during World War Two, Mrs Miniver. In fairness to Mrs Miniver, it still scores well with Rotten Tomatoes – 93% from critics and 85% from audiences.
But The Pride of the Yankees just edges it with a score of 93% from critics and 89% from audiences. It rates better on IMDB too – 7.6 for Mrs Miniver and 7.7 for the beloved baseball epic.
Raging Bull
One of the biggest injustices in Oscars history came when Martin Scorsese’s biopic about fighter Jake LaMotta lost out on the Best Picture award to family drama, Ordinary People.
Raging Bull outscores Ordinary People on all fronts today with a score of 94% from critics and has a rating of 8.2 on IMDB. In comparison, Ordinary People scores 89% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes and scores 7.7 on IMDB.
We also looked at sports movies which failed to win Oscars but are adored by audiences everywhere. Our graphic below shows five films which score extremely highly on IMDB.com and yet hardly got a look in from the academy:
Le Mans '66 is set to crash out at this year's awards
While Le Mans '66 - or Ford vs Ferrari as it's known in the US - is up for Best Picture at this year's awards, motor-racing films have historically fared exceptionally badly at the Oscars, with sensational films Rush (2013) and Senna (2010) completely overlooked by the Academy.
Le Mans ’66 tells the story of the rivalry between Italian racing giants, Ferrari, and Le Mans underdogs, Ford, for the 1966 title and driver Ken Miles’ obsession with winning it.
The film goes into the ceremony on 9th February with a fighting chance, scoring 92% with critics and 98% with audiences. But with betting firms putting Le Mans ’66 in last place - at 250/1 for the award - it looks like history is destined to repeat itself.
Boxing is a genuine Oscars heavyweight
From the 27 different sports featured on our list, boxing is by far the most popular with the Academy. Of the 14 boxing films on our list, the sport earned 41 nominations and 12 Oscar wins.
This will come as no surprise to many as the sport has a rich history of amazing cinema with films like Rocky (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Cinderella Man (2005) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).
The sport has given us some Best Picture winners too, with Rocky and Million Dollar Baby winning the top prize in 1976 and 2004 respectively. There were also Best Actor/Actress wins for Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and Hilary Swank in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby.
Despite having been showered with Oscar wins and nominations over the years, perhaps one of the biggest sports film snubs comes in the boxing category too. Martin Scorsese’s 1980 biopic of fighter Jake LaMotta, Raging Bull, is not only a favourite among sports fans but also generally recognised as one of the greatest films ever made. While it was nominated for Best Picture at the 1981 Academy Awards, it lost out to Robert Redford’s Ordinary People.
Other notable boxing entries on our list include The Fighter (2010), The Boxer (1997) and Ali (2001) – all of which score highly on films reviews websites. If you want to try your own sparring, check out our boxing equipment
Oscars judges aren't football fans
It’s pretty much a fact that films about football have about as much chance of winning an Oscar as Adam Sandler.
Yet, like Sandler’s career, there have been some great films, among a sea of not-so-good movies, which our research reveals the Academy might have rewarded. Read our list below.
Critically acclaimed football films ignored by the Oscars (Rotten Tomatoes score):
• The Damned United (2009) - (92%)
• Looking for Eric (2009) - (85%)
• Bend it Like Beckham (2002) - (85%)
• Shaolin Soccer (2001) - (90%)
• Early Man (2018) - (81%)
Popular football films critics don’t rate (IMDB score/10):
• Green Street (2005) - (7.6)
• Goal! (2005) - (6.7)
• Mike Bassett England Manager (2001) - (6.9)
• Fever Pitch (1997) - (6.7)
Methodology
We took 100 top films from a list of '130 Best Sports Films' created by the Rotten Tomatoes website using its own scoring system.
The list was compiled in 2018 and only includes films which had more than 25 reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website.
We analysed these sports films to find out which sports movies were the most decorated – and most snubbed - by Oscar judges.
We matched up reviewers’ scores from Rotten Tomatoes and audience ratings from IMDB with Oscars nominations and winners to find out which sports films were unfairly overlooked, and which have been the most successful in the history of the awards.
Sources
Top 130 sports movies of all time according to a Rotten Tomatoes study.
Critics reviews of the top 100 movies according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Public reviews of the top 100 movies according to IMBD.com.
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