10 Best Sports Movies Based On True Stories

The best sports movies based on true stories include a strong mix of inspirations from different sports, including football, baseball, basketball, boxing, and more. There is often a struggle for authenticity weighed against the inspirational sports genre tropes of offering intense pressure and a highlight ending. Most of these films are based on individual athletes fighting against all odds to make it to the top and, in some cases, struggling to stay there, knowing that the world is out to bring them down.

However, other sports movies are about full teams facing struggles or coaches being put into a spot where they have to unite the players, often facing problems within the team and from outside forces. These stories stretch back to the early days of major professional sports organizations, the small high schools during the segregation of the American South, and more recent stories of men and women overcoming all odds to reach the top of their profession, no matter the cost.

10

The Rookie (2002)

Based On Jim Morris

In 2002, John Lee Hancock directed the inspirational sports movie The Rookie. This film is based on the true story of former baseball pitcher Jim Morris. Dennis Quaid stars as Morris, a high school baseball manager who lost his chance to become a professional baseball star thanks to a shoulder injury in high school. However, when the students he manages realize he has regained the fastball that made him a high school star, they convince Morris to give his baseball dreams one more chance.

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This is a unique, inspirational sports movie because Jim Morris was 35 when he decided to try out for Major League Baseball, and he hadn’t played in almost 20 years. In real life, Morris made it into the majors and played two seasons for the Tampa Bay Rays. While his career was short and mostly uneventful, the movie was great because his age helped prove that anyone could achieve their dreams, and it was never too late to try. Critics praised the film, awarding it an 84% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.

9

Remember The Titans (2000)

Based On Herman Boone

Remember The Titans

Release Date

September 29, 2000

Runtime

113 minutes

Director

Boaz Yakin

Writers

Gregory Allen Howard

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Remember the Titans stars Denzel Washington as head high school football coach Herman Boone. The film takes place in 1971 and follows the T.C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia. The timeline is during the era when the schools in the state were still segregated. Boone is hired to coach the one school that has begun integration to help bring together the Black and white players on the team. This causes problems, as he replaces a popular white coach, who becomes his assistant.

While not technically historically accurate, the movie is as much about bringing about the idea of working as a unit and easing the racial tensions within the team and the community. With even the city council against Boone based solely on the color of his skin, the coach had to not only prove himself but also bring teens who grew up segregated together as a family. The story is book-ended by the funeral of one of the players 10 years later, which is a nice way to wrap up the story’s themes. Washington won the NAACP Award for Outstanding Actor.

8

Moneyball (2011)

Based On Billy Beane

Moneyball

8/10

Release Date

September 23, 2011

Runtime

133 minutes

Director

Bennett Miller

Based on the non-fiction novel Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, Moneyball follows Billy Beane as he serves as the Oakland Athletics’ general manager. Starring Brad Pitt as Beane, the film is about the business of Major League Baseball. While it could’ve ended up as a boring story, director Bennett Miller and screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian were able to take the book about baseball statistics and create a fun movie that is full of great quotes, intense drama, and Oscar nominations.

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Moneyball is about sabermetrics, which means choosing players for a team using statistics and analytics, not by scouting the players in person and picking from the heart. This caused Beane to struggle with his manager, Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and several of his players (most based on real-life MLB players) but it led to surprising success. Moneyball earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), but didn’t win any.

7

Cinderella Man (2005)

Based On James J. Braddock

Cinderella Man

Release Date

June 2, 2005

Runtime

144 Minutes

Writers

Cliff Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman

Russell Crowe was at the top of his game when he signed on to play real-life boxer James J. Braddock in the Ron Howard movie Cinderella Man. Crowe and Howard had already seen success with the biopic A Beautiful Mind, and they hoped to see similar success with this inspirational sports movie. Set during the Great Depression, Braddock is a former boxer who had to retire after breaking his hand. However, he gets a chance to fill in for an injured boxer and beat the number-two contender in the world.

This re-launched his career, with the press labeling him The Cinderella Man. While the movie is a biopic of a broken man finding himself, he also represents the hopes and dreams the country needed at one of its lowest points. A rags-to-riches story, Cinderella Man was another successful collaboration for Howard and Crowe, even though it wasn’t as financially successful at the box office. The film earned three Oscar nominations and has an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

6

Friday Night Lights (2004)

Friday Night Lights

Release Date

October 8, 2004

Runtime

118 minutes

Writers

David Aaron Cohen

Producers

Brian Grazer, Jim Whitaker, John Cameron

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  Billy Bob Thornton

  Coach Gary Gaines

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  Lucas Black

  Mike Winchell

Friday Night Lights was a polarizing movie when it came out. While football fans, inspirational sports movie fans, and people who love a good drama praised the film, the town it represented was less flattered. Friday Night Lights focuses on the Permian High School Panthers in Odessa, Texas, and their rise to the top of the high school football world. Odessa is an oil town, meaning they have little to fall back on when oil prices are down. That is a big part of the real life of these families, and residents felt the story insulted them (via The Miami Herald).

In small towns in Texas, high school football is a religion, and that is shown in this movie. The townspeople come out to support their team every Friday night, which puts a lot of pressure on those kids. What makes Friday Night Lights stand out is that the movie is based on a true story, and Odessa didn’t win, so this is not a feel-good ending but is instead about the players and their growth as people as they play through the season and find their place in the world. The film proves it’s not always about who wins the games.

5

The Fighter (2010)

Based On Micky Ward & Dicky Eklund

The Fighter

10/10

Release Date

December 17, 2010

Runtime

116 minutes

Director

David O. Russell

Writers

Paul Tamasy, Scott Silver, Eric Johnson

David O. Russell directed a sports movie in 2010 when he made The Fighter. This is a boxing film starring Mark Wahlberg as professional boxer Micky Ward and his half-brother, former boxer Dicky Eklund, played by Christian Bale. The film is based on a 1995 documentary called High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell. This is less about the boxing world and more about their personal lives. It is specifically about Dicky’s addiction issues after his boxing career faltered following his biggest moment when he took Sugar Ray Leonard the distance.

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The movie features a documentary about their family, which the film renames as Crack in America. While there is a lot of attention given to the brothers and Dicky’s struggles to remain sober and straighten his life out, there is also some solid boxing action with Mickey proving himself in the ring. The Fighter earned six Oscar nominations, with Christian Bale and Melissa Leo winning Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

4

A League Of Their Own (1992)

Based On The AAGPBL

Not all sports movies based on true stories are dramatic, inspirational films. Some are a little more lightweight and fun; which is where A League of Their Own falls. The story is serious, as a former cynical baseball manager with a drinking problem named Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) agrees to coach an all-women’s team in a new league created to keep baseball going during World War II. However, this movie isn’t about Jimmy Dugan. It is about this colorful cast of women playing real-life baseball players.

Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Rosie O’Donnell, and more fill out the roster, and they are as entertaining as they are scrappy. They prove to Jimmy and the growing fanbase that they aren’t a sideshow but legitimate athletes who can really play the game. Directed by Penny Marshall, A League of Their Own was added to the Library of Congress in 2012 and was remade as a Prime Video sports series decades later. However, the original movie is still the best version of the story.

3

Coach Carter (2005)

Based On Ken Carter

Coach Carter

Release Date

January 14, 2005

Runtime

136 minutes

Director

Thomas Carter

Writers

John Gatins, Mark Schwahn

As the title suggests, Coach Carter is not about players but the coach trying to turn an undisciplined high school basketball team into a championship-caliber team that all graduate. Samuel L. Jackson plays Ken Carter, a man who becomes the head coach of the Richmond High School basketball team. This is a more contemporary story, as the real-life Coach Carter made headlines in 1999 when he suspended his entire high school basketball team due to bad grades and was almost fired by the school board for it.

The cast of players includes a young Rick Gonzalez (Law & Order: Organized Crime) and Channing Tatum in his first movie role. Critics gave the film mixed reviews, saying it was formulaic, even though it was based on a true story, but praised Jackson’s performance, saying he carried the movie. Jackson won a NAACP Image Award for acting, and director Thomas Carter won at both the Black Movie Awards and Black Reel Awards.

2

42 (2013)

Based On Jackie Robinson

42

Release Date

April 12, 2013

Runtime

128 minutes

Director

Brian Helgeland

Writers

Brian Helgeland

In 2013, Chadwick Boseman took on the role of one of Major League Baseball’s most iconic players, Jackie Robinson. The movie, 42, is named after Robinson’s jersey number, which MLB retired for every team to honor his contributions to breaking the color barrier in professional baseball. The movie sees Boseman play Robinson at a time in history when the Brooklyn Dodgers’ owner (Harrison Ford) said he wanted to recruit Black baseball players for his team. Robinson was the first Black man that he signed.

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The film goes through several notable moments in Robinson’s rookie year, as he faces racial slurs and discrimination from other players, managers, and even a hotel that refuses to allow the team to stay there if Robinson is with them. André Holland also plays a major role as Wendell Smith, a Black writer who chronicles Robinson’s career. 42 had the biggest opening weekend for any baseball movie when it was released (via Forbes). Critics praised the film’s approach to segregation and the struggles Black men faced during that time in history.

1

Raging Bull (1980)

Based On Jake LaMotta

Raging Bull

7/10

Release Date

December 19, 1980

Runtime

129 minutes

Writers

Mardik Martin, Paul Schrader

The best sports movie based on a true story is also one of the best sports films ever made, regardless of its inspiration. In 1980, Martin Scorsese directed the boxing film Raging Bull. Shot in beautiful black-and-white cinematography, Raging Bull tells the story of Jake LaMotta and his rise and fall in professional boxing. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta, and Scorsese doesn’t hold back, showing his incredible career in the ring and his terrible home life, where he was an abusive and violent man.

De Niro impressed critics when he got into incredible shape to play LaMotta at the height of his career and then gained a lot of weight to show him years after his career ended, and he worked as a stand-up comedian. Considered one of the best movies of all time, Raging Bull entered the National Film Registry in 1990 as the first ever selected in its first year of eligibility. However, it was snubbed at the Oscars, where De Niro won Best Actor, but the sports movie lost six of eight nominations, including Best Picture to Ordinary People.