Friday, September 30, 2022

Cinema Wellman: Origin Story

 Cinema Wellman: Origin Story

Maleficent has one. The Crow has one. Captain America and a ton of fellow superheroes have one. Heck, even Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. have one! We seem to be bombarded by origin stories explaining “How we got here.” So I figured, and Hannah suggested, I should try to explain myself and my fascination/obsession with film. What follows is the closest I can get to the “Cinema Wellman Origin Story.”


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Like everyone else, I am a product of my parents. That’s just science.  My dad, Ray, was a master craftsman/woodworker who was adept at carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, mechanical work and a variety of other things. I got none of that. :)

My mom, Jean, was a phenomenal cook who loved family over all, but also loved reading, making lists, and movies. My mom loved movies, and I got a lot of that. Thank you, mom! 

 

I remember finding a big box of my mother’s movie magazines and scrapbooks at my grandmother’s house. I sat down with my mom and went through pretty much everything in that box. It included pictures of movie stars that once hung on her bedroom wall as a teenager. Some I knew, others I had never heard of, but love now. She told me stories about the stars she admired (Elizabeth Taylor was a favorite) and how she would walk to the movies every Saturday for a newsreel, cartoon, popcorn, and two features for some ridiculously low amount of money. Jean was a movie fan, and she passed that on to me. 

One of my fondest childhood memories is when Jean would host the annual “Academy Awards Party.” Along with her cousin Jo (my godmother), my mom began having a little party for the Oscars. Over the years, other friends (Marie and Marion) joined the fun. The food was out of control as it always was when my mother was involved. The food itself made for a spectacular evening. The Academy Awards were just icing on that cake. 

Jo was trying to help me piece together a time frame (thank you, Jo!), and it looks like those parties began sometime around 1964. The ladies would dress up, cocktails would be served, it was fantastic! Everyone would fill out ballots no matter how many nominated films they had seen that year. 

I was lucky enough to attend quite a few of these parties. I even remember one year that I drove from MA to NY for the party and the next morning I drove straight to school after a 3 ½ hour drive. It was totally worth it.

After my mom passed in 2012 I stumbled upon a sweet discovery when going through her personal items. She had kept all of those Oscar ballots. Like I said…Jean was a movie fan. 


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With the blood of such a movie fan coursing through my veins it’s no surprise that I’ve had dreams in black and white. Is that normal? Do people do that? I’ve also had dreams with subtitles. Those were fun!

I once even had a dream with credits at the end. I read them all. I remember waking up and wondering why my name wasn’t in them. I must have had something to do with the dream! Why wasn’t I credited?!?


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When I was growing up, I really didn’t have much access to movies. Younger people will find this difficult to grasp, but aside from going to the theater, there weren’t many options for movie viewing. The major networks would cut a movie to shreds on a Saturday night, but that was about it… 

…other than a little slice of magic known as the “4:30 Movie” on ABC. It was frequently the only thing that kept me connected to movies between theater visits. 

  

The “4:30 Movie” was an oasis of entertainment waiting for me at the end of the school day. It ran on ABC Monday thru Friday from 4:30-6:00. My favorite aspect of the 4:30 Movie was that they had theme weeks. They had “Action Week!” “War Week!” “Spectacle Week!” and my all-time favorite….”Monster Week!” I love a good theme!


  

On the left is an original TV Guide ad for “Monster Week.”

On the right is a modern mock-up of the same featuring new movies! 

There are still fans out there!


   


They ran the movies from the Planet of the Apes series along with other important sci-fi fare like Soylent Green and The Omega Man. “Spectacle Week” was all Bible stories. The more epic the film, the more days it ran on the 4:30 Movie. If they ran The Great Escape or The Bridge on the River Kwai, well…you were in for the week! At the time, it was the best way to watch movies at home. 


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Jean always told me that my first movie was Mary Poppins, which is disappointing because I hate Mary Poppins. Another early trip to the theater I recall was with my grandmother. She brought Vanessa and me to see some submarine movie where it was attacked by plant life. Some sort of fungus. THAT movie was more in my wheelhouse. I wish that was my first! 

Trips to the theater were very special for me because they didn’t happen too often until I got into my teens. When I turned 13 I tried to go to the movies as often as possible. 


As far as theaters went, I had the Windsor Theater in Vails Gate, Squire Cinema in New Windsor, and the Mid-Valley Cinema in Newburgh to choose from. 

I could walk to the Windsor Theater, and did so often. The other two needed transportation, so those weren’t visited as often until I got my license. 

Donny, Andrew, and I once smuggled beers into the Squire Cinema and were nervous about opening them and drinking them in public. During the movie a couple of guys a row or two in front of us lit up a joint, so we figured we were safe sneaking our suds. This was the same theater where friends of mine moved a classmate's car into the lobby of the theater during a screening of Animal House. Lawlessness!

We always referred to the Mid-Valley Cinema as being in the “Mall of the Damned” because there was never anyone in that mall! It was such an odd place. A memorable screening at Mid-Valley was C.H.U.D. Now that you should see!

When I was doing research for this piece, I actually uncovered photos of all three theaters from my childhood. Yes, the Interwebs have absolutely everything.

They’re all gone now, but the pictures brought back fond memories. I love that the only shot I could find of the Mid-Valley Cinema was blurry! So fitting!




Once I started driving, another option came clear into view, and it was the Drive-In. This was a game changer. The Drive-In became a go-to event on weekends. Sometimes we’d go on Friday AND Saturday nights. Without girlfriends, we always had time for the drive-in. We had three to choose from; Brookside, Maybrook, and Fishkill. 

It rarely mattered what was being shown at the drive-in. Eat My Dust, Krull, Red Dawn, Yor: Hunter from the Future…Donny, Andrew, and I would go anyway. It was the experience, the atmosphere, the beer. At one drive-in, we were even given Slim-Jims upon our arrival! We were V.I.P.s!

What Andrew and I laugh most about from our drive-in days is what we called the “Grab Bag Cooler.” A cooler was filled with ice and four (or more) six packs. All of the six packs were different. We would buy the worst/cheapest beer we could find. Think Hamm’s, Schlitz, Pabst, Old Milwaukee, etc. Then we would also put in one sixer of “premium beer” and that was…Budweiser. Imagine that!!! If you picked a Bud, you were a winner!!!!


          


 



 


 

At one of my many drive-in screenings of The Road Warrior, I got out of my car and walked up the hill and stretched out under the massive screen to watch the opening. Another tale of back in the day where nobody cared what you did…



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Another game changer in my movie life was when we got HBO. I’m not entirely sure when that happened (1980?), but that’s when I pretty much started watching everything. Anything and everything and usually multiple times. I have fond memories of endless viewings of movies like Blue Thunder, The Black Bird, and The Missouri Breaks. Not to mention the stuff that HBO sometimes ran “after hours.”



 


When it came time to choose a college, I went to a place that had a film program. I loved movies and wanted to make movies a career, so I went to Boston University (1980-84) and majored in film.  This is where my film brain was nurtured and exposed to things never seen at the Windsor Theater, the Middlehope Drive-In, or even on HBO. I was in heaven. 

Movie-wise, that is. I realize now that BU was a mistake for me. I overreached by majoring in something I just wasn’t cut out for, and socially, it was a mess. So it was heaven and, to an extent, hell. It was, however, where I was transformed from just a film fan to a full fledged film geek. 

It was at BU when I decided to start keeping a list of all of the movies that I saw. Little did I know how that handwritten list would evolve into a full blown database of multiple spreadsheets. The current version of the database features columns for; title, release date, rating, run-time, genre, director, country of origin, and Oscar nominations/wins if applicable for almost 8,000 films.  It’s called IMDavidb and it’s my archive. 

It was also at BU where I was first exposed to foreign films on a large scale. I didn’t love them all (L’Avventura!), but it sure made me curious about filmmaking outside of the United States. My exposure to surrealism, French New Wave cinema, Italian neorealism, along with American classics like Citizen Kane helped turn me into a next level connoisseur of film. 

Many of my film theory classes were held in large auditoriums and theaters. We’d watch movies and then talk about them. I had a professor who was friends with Charlie Chaplin! I got to make movies. I got to be in movies my friends were making. It was absolutely amazing, and I wish I had taken it more seriously. 

The two student films I’m most proud of are The S.P.C. Cutthroat and Psychic Vegetables. The SPC Cutthroat is about a student who ends up on a waiting list for a class he really wanted, so he murders everyone ahead of him on the list in a series of film-related ways. I made that one on my own. 

I then teamed up with a friend named Bob Ecker (The Oven Mitt Murders) to make Psychic Vegetables which is about a vegetable uprising. It featured a ton of stop-motion work including our “Odessa Steps Sequence” where we had the vegetables march out of the refrigerator in a military formation. It was phenomenal, and it was messy! My friend Audrey was killed in the shower by a pepper. My roommate Mike was killed when a large carrot entered his eye. 

It may sound silly, and it was, but Psychic Vegetables was chosen for screening at the BU Film Festival that year! I was, and am, very proud of that. 

    


Another movie memory from BU was going to movies at “Cinema 700” which was the “theater” in our dorm. That’s my freshman and sophomore year dorm at BU in the middle photo. Warren Towers: the Three-Pronged Monstrosity. In any event, they showed movies on weekends and were extremely relaxed about what you brought in to drink while you watched. To this day, I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Wall or The Kids Are Alright sober. College!


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Then, during the summer of my junior year at BU, something happened that would change me in a very profound way. On June 18, 1983, my family purchased a VCR. A Panasonic PV-1220. A top-loader! With a remote! A CORDED remote!

Having a VCR in the house meant that I could pretty much watch a movie ANY TIME I WANTED!!! Going to the video store to pick out movies became a religious experience for me. There were so many movies, and I wanted to see them ALL! 


The actual receipt from the purchase of our first VCR! $482.49!!!

I think the last DVD player I bought was $40!!!



Fast forward a decade or so and VHS was replaced by the DVD and I went off the rails. I bought so many DVDs that Lysa needed to put me on an allowance at one point. I even bought copies of movies that I only remotely liked, and I did that for years. At the height of my madness, I had over 400 DVDs. In my old house on Franklin, my entire walk-in cupboard/closet was filled with my DVDs! With the introduction of streaming, those DVDs are all like Confederate money now. I, of course, saved 100 or so of my favorites and have them on hand just in case they’re needed. 


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As an adult, my movie watching has changed and intensified. With the ever expanding database comes more movie lists and more movie lists means more movie projects. 

Several years ago I decided to challenge myself and see EVERY movie that was EVER nominated for ANY Oscar. Not just the winners, not just the major categories…EVERYTHING! (to paraphrase Gary Oldman). To assist in this project, Dakota designed a series of binders for me to help keep things organized. I update the books once a month to keep them current by highlighting what I’ve seen. I still have over 1,700 Academy Award nominated movies to see, but at least I know what they are!

A few years ago I decided to see a movie from every country in the world. There are 195 countries in the world. I only have 26 countries left on that list. Some of them may be out of reach, but I’ll give it my best shot.

I have four books about “Cult Movies” covering over 600 cult films throughout film history. I only have 23 of those left to see.

From 2013-2017, I watched my movies by theme. Each month had a theme and all of the movies I watched that month fit with that theme. Here’s just a sample of that lunacy:

*A to Z

*Heists

*Time Travel

*Water

*Hellscape/Dystopian/Wasteland

*Booze

*Simians

*Car Chases

*Conspiracy

*One word titles

*Movies about Movies

*Prison

*Remakes

*Numbers

*Trains

*Courtroom

*Kung-Fu

*Colors

*Claustrophobia

*Snow/Ice

*One Word Bio Pics


A majority of films on those lists were films that I had already screened. Starting in 2018, I decided to watch only movies that were new to me. That is also when I decided to make it a goal of seeing 10,000 different movies in my life. As of this writing, I’m at 7,771. That’s only 2,229 movies away. I should reach that in about three years or so. 


Even though I’m concentrating on seeing movies I haven’t seen before, I still have time for old favorites. Two of my fondest film memories were seeing The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca in theaters for the first time. I had seen both films numerous times, but never in a theater. Never had the opportunity. 

The Wizard of Oz screening was in New Jersey, possibly in 2009 for the 70th anniversary, and I brought the girls. They were in costume. I was not. It was a magical theater experience I had not previously had. Jean spoke of seeing this in the theater as a kid and described it with absolute wonder in her eyes. I was so pleased I got to share one of her favorite movie experiences. 

Seeing Casablanca in a theater for the first time (3/21/2012) was like time traveling. I felt like I was in a theater in 1943. The crowd was amazing. I have a feeling most of us were in the same boat at that screening. First timers. People were laughing at all the right times, they weren’t TALKING, and there was applause at the end of the movie! There was a standing ovation. Stunning!


 




Another memorable movie event occurred on February 21, 2009 when I saw all five Best Picture nominees in ONE SITTING!

     


This took place at a theater in Middletown, NY. I was happy to see that there was a bar, because that was a long day. Especially since I really disliked three of the five movies! Still happy I did it. Wouldn’t be able to do this any more now that they have so many Best Picture nominees these days. Five is still the perfect number of nominees for Best Picture. Still upset that they changed that. Money grab. 


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One of my all-time favorite movie memories is when Dakota took me to see JAWS. The film JAWS and I have a very special relationship. I’ve seen it countless times and have even made a tradition of watching it each and every July 4th no matter where I am. There’s a lot of JAWS stuff in my house including a giant canvas of the poster in my stairwell, and the license plate from the shark autopsy can be seen on the shelves behind me during Cinema Wellman episodes. Dakota made the shark you see next to that license plate. So JAWS is special to me. 

Dakota made it even more special on June 2, 2008 when we went to the Mann Center in Philadelphia to screen the movie. The soundtrack was provided by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. LIVE music being played to accompany one of my all-time favorite movies! I get choked up every time I think about this experience. I had seen the movie so many times that I was focused on the musicians and the conductor who had an ultra modern screen in front of him. Think “Guitar Hero” for an entire orchestra! This was old school movie stuff for me, and it is an experience that I will never forget. Thank you so much for that, Dakota. That’s a keeper. 


 




If you need any more proof of my film geekdom (geekness?) it would be me doing things like the “24 Hours of Wellman” where I watched movies for 24 hours straight (3/30/2019). That got an entire episode of Cinema Wellman! If you missed it, you should check it out!

When I’m asked why I’m so into movies, many thoughts race around my brain. To begin, it’s definitely escapism. Movies can take me anywhere at any time with the press of a button. With documentaries/historical films, it’s about becoming educated in a variety of areas including social issues and civil rights. With foreign films, it’s a way for me to travel beyond my borders and learn about other cultures. With ALL movies, it allows me to enjoy the work of wonderfully creative people who are all working together to tell a story. It takes an unbelievable amount of people to put together what we watch on that screen, and they all play a part. 


As Sam Elliott says at the end of The Big Lebowski, “Welp, that about does her, wraps her all up.” This has been my attempt to explain/rationalize my relationship with movies that began 60 years ago. I hope it made sense. It makes almost total sense to me. :)


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If you’d like to hop aboard this crazy train, feel free. Join us on the “Road to 10,000!” The more the merrier! Follow Cinema Wellman on Instagram and Twitter @cinemawellman  Listen to our podcast on Spotify or watch on YouTube. Just search for “Cinema Wellman.” 


E-mail us with questions/comments/suggestions: cinemawellman@gmail.com

I almost forgot! I promised to explain the bomb on our logo. Well on the database, I use two symbols to help rate the movies I watch. If I liked the film and would recommend it to people, it gets a thumbs up 👍 (an homage to OGs Siskel & Ebert). If I hated the film and/or thought it was total rubbish, it gets a bomb 💣.  Since I watch everything and anything, there will be bombs! It’s that simple! And…Yeah…we watched that!


Cinema Wellman: Upcoming Episodes!

*A look at Cult Movies

*September Screenings: Top 10/Bottom 5

*Stephen King Movies: T10/B5


Thursday, September 22, 2022

Sports Movies: The Second Half

 Sports Movies: The Second Half

Hello and welcome back for the second half of Cinema Wellman’s Favorite Sports Films! Today we’ll take a look at 10 more sports films that are beloved here at the Cinema. 

This list features movies that were nominated for a total of 12 Oscars (exactly the same amount as our first half films!) and won 3 Oscars (also the exact same amount as our first half films!). 

Today’s list is more mainstream, but I will warn you! If you’re here to read about Field of Dreams, Rocky, Rudy, or Bull Durham, you are in the wrong place since they are NOT on my list. I know that will annoy a lot of people, but I was asked to document “favorite” sports films, not the sports films that everyone else likes. When it comes to liking what everyone else likes, we here at Cinema Wellman tend to be quite contrarian.

I wanted to make sure I didn’t have too many films about the same sport, so I capped that at two for this project. Our first half list featured 10 movies and 10 different sports. 

We will also touch upon other films directed by these directors (listed next to their names), and I think you’ll be impressed. There are some heavy hitters here. 

Sports pun intended.


The formation lap is complete! Lights Out! 


#10: The Bad News Bears (1976)

Director: Michael Ritchie (Semi-Tough, Fletch)

baseball


This is the OG of the Bad News Bears universe that includes two sequels, a short-lived TV series, and a reboot in 2005. Like many OG’s, it’s the best of the bunch.

Walter Matthau plays Morris Buttermaker who may be the last person on Earth you’d want coaching your child’s baseball team. Beer-swilling and foul-mouthed (love him already), Buttermaker is the perfect coach for this band of misfits. Tatum O’Neal and Jackie Earle Haley are the two standouts on the team, but the supporting cast is quite funny. Tanner is a HOWL!

I saw this when it came out. I was in 8th grade and still playing organized baseball, and I found this to be perfect in almost every way. 

The best part is the ending. Skip to the next movie if you haven’t seen The Bad News Bears and don’t want it spoiled…


They lose. The underdog team that you’ve been rooting for to overcome everything loses the championship game. Like I said, it’s pretty perfect. My very last game of organized baseball was a championship game while I was in high school. I was on second base when the game ended. 

We lost. It happens. And it should happen more often in movies. It’s certainly more realistic than winning all of the time. 



#9: The Longest Yard (1974)

Director: Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen)

football

Oscar Nomination for Editing


This is a prison football movie, so it’s not as funny as you may remember it. There’s some nasty business in this one. Adam Sandler’s 2005 reboot was more comedic. 

There’s a reason why Burt Reynolds was one of the biggest box office stars of the 70s. He’s pretty damn likable in just about everything he’s in. The Longest Yard is no exception.

Reynolds plays Paul Crewe, a former pro quarterback now serving time in prison (on a bizarre trumped up charge if you ask me). He is recruited by the warden (an evil Eddie Albert) to put together a team of prisoners to play a game against the guards (and presumably lose). 

The supporting cast is tremendous with Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad, and Richard “Jaws” Kiel. 


Spoiler Alert: The Mean Machine does defeat the guards 36-35, so our movies are 1-1 so far. The Bears lost 7-6.



#8: North Dallas Forty (1979)

Director: Ted Kotcheff (Uncommon Valor)

football


This may be the most realistic film ever made about professional football. It is based on a novel written by Peter Gent who was a member of the Dallas Cowboys from 1964-1968. 

It’s all here. From the glitz and glamor to the behind the scenes ugliness of drug abuse, steroids, and the mistreatment of women. 

It shows a professional sports league that is only about business and winning with little regard to the personal safety or health of their players. Sound familiar?

Singer/songwriter Mac Davis (in his first role) and Nick Nolte star in this all too realistic look at pro football. It alternates between being very funny and pretty depressing, which makes for a dynamic movie. 

The supporting cast is wonderful including Charles Durning as the coach and Bo Svenson and John “Caveman” Matuszak as two of the more unhinged players on the North Dallas Bulls. 


Spoiler Alert: The Bulls LOSE the championship game. Our movies are now 1-2. 



#7: Caddyshack (1980)

Director: Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day/Vacation)

golf


What can I say about Caddyshack that hasn’t already been said? It’s unbelievably quote-worthy, Bill Murray and Chevy Chase are at their best, Rodney Dangerfield is hysterical, and Ted Knight is absolutely brilliant.

One tag line read, “It’s The Snobs vs. The Slobs,” which is a hole in one as taglines go. 

The gopher annoys me, as does any Kenny Loggins song, but this is not only one of the best sports movies of all-time, it’s one of the best comedies of all time. 

“Miss it Noonan! MISS! NOONAN!” is still shouted here on each and every NFL Sunday as non-Giants kickers line up for field goals. 


Spoiler Alert: Danny Noonan sinks the putt and wins the match! Our movies are now 2-2.




#6: Slap Shot (1977)

Director: George Roy Hill (The Sting, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid)

hockey


This is one of the first R-rated movies I had ever seen, along with Animal House, and I recall it being very dirty at the time. The language used is poetically obscene at times. 

If North Dallas Forty attempted to show the nasty underbelly of pro football, Slap Shot does the same with minor league hockey. 

The fictional Charlestown Chiefs are an awful team with poor attendance, an aging star, and financial problems. Things are so bad that the word is out that the Chiefs are going to move. That all changes when they start to goon it up and turn every game into fight night. 

The characters in this film are legendary including the Hanson Brothers, Killer Carlson, Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken, and Ogi Ogilthorpe. 

The poster cracks me up because they added something under the R-box: “Certain Language May Be Too Strong For Children.” Yikes! Certain language?!?


Spoiler Alert: The Chiefs win the game, but they are still folded.  Our movies are now 3-2.


#5: Raging Bull (1980)

Director: Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas)

boxing

8 Oscar Nominations

2 Oscar Wins: Actor (DeNiro), Editing


When constructing this list and attempting to put it in order, I decided to place the comedies at the bottom on purpose. I didn’t want to think about comparing films like Raging Bull with Caddyshack. That’s way too complicated, so I loaded the comedies at the bottom.

There’s also a reason Raging Bull is “only” 5th on this list and that’s simply because I don’t like boxing. This film is considered to be the best film in the entire decade of the 80s, and some consider it among the all-time greats. I do agree, but I still put it at five on this list. I have my reasons. 

Nominated for 8 Oscars and walking away with two including one for De Niro, this film is stunning. I still think it’s the most violent movie I have ever seen that doesn’t feature any weapons. Other than fists. 

It is brutal, and it is tremendous. It’s also the ONLY film on this list that I don’t want to see again. Doesn’t make it bad by any means, but I have a list of movies that I thought were great but never want to see again. What a surprise, another list!


Spoiler Alert: I’m going to call this one a loss. In the ring, and out of the ring. Not a pretty sight.   Our movies are now 3-3.



#4: Breaking Away (1979)

Director: Peter Yates (Bullitt, The Hot Rock)

cycling

5 Oscar Nominations

1 Oscar Win for Original Screenplay


This movie transcends being a sports movie since it’s really about everything. It’s about fitting in, it’s about trying to be something you’re not, it’s about determination, and it’s about all sorts of relationships (parents, friends, lovers). 

Breaking Away takes place in Bloomington, Indiana. Dennis Christopher plays Dave Stohler. Dave and his friends are “Cutters,” another word for “townies” or locals. They are looked down upon by the upper crust students at the nearby University of Indiana. I guess this happens in a lot of college towns. I don’t know since I went to college in Boston.

Dave is obsessed with cycling and, in particular, the Italian cycling team. He acts Italian at home much to the annoyance of his father, the great Paul Dooley. His mother, played by Barbara Barrie, is more understanding as mothers tend to be in these cases. Barrie was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her wonderful performance. 

Dave’s friends are played by a trio of accomplished actors. Dennis Quaid is Mike, Daniel “Diner” Stern is Cyril, and here’s Jackie Earle Haley again! This time he plays Moocher. These friends agree to join Dave in a bicycle race that will include most of the state of Indiana.

The training sequences are wonderfully shot. My favorite is when Dave has the give and take with the trucker on the highway. He later falls in love with an IU student which complicates many things because she actually thinks Dave is Italian. 

The race is the set piece of the film and it’s suspenseful and well-paced. The Cutters in Breaking Away are another true underdog in a sports movie who are very worthy of our support. 


Spoiler Alert: The Cutters overcome all sorts of adversity and win the “Little 500.”   Our movies are now over the .500 mark at 4-3.



#3: Miracle (2004)

Director: Gavin O’Connor (The Way Back)

hockey


Did you watch the “Miracle” game from the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY live? You may think you did, but you did not! That’s a great story in itself, but not what this blog is about. We’re here to celebrate great sports movies, and Miracle is certainly one of those. 

Of all the underdog stories on this list, this may be THE biggest of those dogs! How could a team of college kids defeat the powerhouse Soviet hockey team composed of some of the greatest professionals the sport has ever seen? Well, they did!

This movie gives me so many “feels” as the kids say (or said…I don’t keep track of these things). I have chills just thinking about it and my favorite scenes. 

Friend of Cinema Wellman Kurt Russell plays Coach Herb Brooks who wasn’t interested in being anyone’s friend. He makes that quite clear. Patricia Clarkson is excellent as Herb’s wife in a part that’s written to be more than just being the coach’s wife. 

My favorite scene is when he has the team skating after a poor game that ended in a tie. The arena is empty and Brooks has them skating “suicides,” or “Herbies” as the players called them. It’s one of the few scenes that’s not 100% accurate, but that’s okay with me. It was amazing. “Who do you skate for?!”

If you ever wondered where the “USA…USA…USA…” chant started, it was at Lake Placid for these Olympics and this team. 


Spoiler Alert: Seriously? You know they won, right? I mean…how could you have missed this?   Our movies are now 5-3.


#2: Hoosiers (1986)

Director: David Anspaugh (Hill St. Blues, St. Elsewhere on TV)

basketball

2 Oscar Nominations


The poster reads, “It’ll go straight to your heart.” Boy did they get that right! 

From IMDb: “A coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the championship.” 

Gene Hackman has made an awful lot of movies during his long career, and I have this on his personal Mt. Rushmore. Dennis Hopper was nominated for his only Oscar for his performance as Shooter. The pair are what really makes this film work for me. 

It’s another underdog story, but this is also a big redemption story as well. Hackman’s Coach Dale and Hopper’s Shooter both have issues to overcome. Director David Anspaugh does a masterful job telling their story. 

My favorite scene is when Coach Dale brings out the tape measure to measure the height of the basket at the huge venue they’ll be playing in for the championship. It’s 10 feet, just like it is everywhere else. He made a good point there!

I love reading about movies after screening them, and was surprised to find out that Gene Hackman was absolutely terrible on set. He was a black cloud of doom to everyone involved. He even told Hopper that the film would ruin both of their careers. I’m glad he was wrong. 


Spoiler Alert: Hickory wins the State Championship!   Our movies are now 6-3 with one game to go!



#1: The Natural (1984)

Director: Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Diner)

baseball

4 Oscar Nominations


I will choose The Natural over both Field of Dreams AND Bull Durham all day every day and twice on Sundays. If I were to add more baseball movies to this list they would be The Sandlot, Bang the Drum Slowly, and/or The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, not Field of Dreams, not Bull Durham. I can’t stand Kevin Costner or Tim Robbins which makes both of those movies difficult to watch for me. 

Robert Redford, on the other hand, is one of my favorites. This helps secure the #1 slot on both the baseball films list and the list of all sports films.

I loved the novel, even though it has a much darker ending. The movie, directed by a favorite director of mine (Barry Levinson) is a gem. Brilliant storytelling, wonderful set direction, compelling performances all around, and Wonderboy! Some say this is schmaltzy and hokey. When I hear that, I throw Rocky at them. Along with Field of Dreams!

Baseball has always made for great movies, and we all have our favorites. I know mine, and not even Costner himself is going to talk me out of it. I’d actually refuse to speak with him if he tried. I was once in a buffet line next to Tim Robbins in a luxury box at MSG for a Rangers game and I shunned him. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of recognizing him. To me, he was just another guy eating chicken tenders. 


Spoiler Alert: In the novel, Roy Hobbs strikes out and the Knights lose the game. In the movie, Hobbs hits a home run and the Knights win. Since this piece is about movies, I’ll have to award a win. Our movies’ final record is 7-3. Not bad. Not bad at all!


Platforms

Here are the platforms on which you can screen these 10 great sports films!


The Bad News Bears - Amazon Prime/Cinemax

The Longest Yard - Amazon Prime/HBO/Paramount +

North Dallas Forty - Amazon Prime/HBO Max

Caddyshack - Amazon Prime

Slap Shot - Amazon Prime/Starz

Raging Bull - Amazon Prime/Criterion

Breaking Away - Amazon Prime/HBO Max

Miracle - Disney +

Hoosiers - Amazon Prime/Cinemax

The Natural - Amazon Prime/HBO/Paramount +



That’s it for this episode!

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for our next episode:

Cinema Wellman: Origin Story




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