E.T Feature - Top 10 Football Flicks

Football movies-Jessica Meisels Varsity Blues Starring James Van Der Beek a punk second-string quarterback and Jon Voight as questionable coach Bud Kilmer, Varsity Blues is the 1999 football drama that focuses on a high school football team as they learn to handle the pressures brought upon them by their coach, families, women, friends and football-crazed small town. Set against the backdrop of going through adolescence in small town Texas, it depicts the nation’s fixation on sports culture and the pressure placed on the youth in the sporting spotlight.

Friday Night Lights Boobie Miles: Now hype is something that's not for real. I'm all real.

Based on the novel Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream written by H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights is the incredible true story set in Odessa, Texas, about the 1988 Permian High School ‘Panthers’ football team’s journey toward the Texan state championship. Starring Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Gary Gaines, the film also sheds light on the racial and economic divisions that were still prominent in the South in the late 1980s, and the leniency given toward school athletes in order to cope with the pressures placed on them to give hope and purpose to their communities.

Invincible Invincible stars Marky Mark Wahlberg in the fascinating true story of Vince Papale, a downtrodden bartender in 1976 South Philadelphia . He is in a living rut-he looses his job, and then his wife, and the only thing he has keeping him going is playing football with his friends in his spare time. This is until Coach Dick Vermeil (played with great conviction by Greg Kinnear) announces open try-outs for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. At age 30 and with no formal training, does Vince have what it takes to make the team as a professional football player?

Brian’s Song Perhaps one of the only films known to man where it is okay to cry, Brian’s Song stars Billy Dee Williams as Gale Sayers and James Caan as Brian Piccolo, two teammates who although start as competitors and come from racially and economically diverse backgrounds, form a bond with the knowledge that Piccolo is dying. Based on a true story.

Any Given Sunday Oliver Stone’s 1999 classic leads a star-blazed cast including Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, James Woods and Jamie Foxx in the story of a star quarterback being knocked out of the game and how it affects the people around him. As the star’s

replacement player (Foxx) learns to deal with the pressures of becoming part of the sports elite, he must attempt to maintain his own sense of integrity in the game. In the wake of the fresh tactics brought by the new player to the Miami team, the coach (Pacino) whilst dealing with the aggressive new president of the team (Diaz) is then forced to evaluate his life both on and off the field.

Leatherheads Although not commercially successful, this heartwarming sports romance comedy set in 1925 stars Oscar winner George Clooney as Dodge Connolly, a charismatic football hero who is attempting to move his struggling football team back into the stadium and the limelight with the recruitment of WWII veteran golden-boy Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), who can seemingly do no wrong in America’s eyes. Renee Zellweger costars as Lexie Littleton, the journalist who is out to prove the glitches in their story, but soon becomes entangles in a love triangle amidst the rising profile of the football league.

Will Connolly be able to figure out the right moves both on and off the field before it is too late?

The Longest Yard (original as well as Burt Reynolds remake) Both the original (starring Burt Reynolds) and the remake (with Adam Sandler) focus on a disgraced former professional quarterback who, along with prison inmates, forms an American football team against their guards. The 1974 sports comedy original won the 1975 Golden Globe for Best Comedy, whilst Sandler’s 2005 version is cited as the highest grossing comedy remake of the modern box office era after 1980. Reynolds also starst in the remake as head coach of the team.

Remember The Titans This list would not be complete without mention of Remember The Titans. Based on actual events, the 1971 story set in South Virginia focuses on the forced integration at T.C Williams High School after the segregated schools are closed down. As the AfricanAmerican coach is given the position over that of the white coach, tensions rise and are eventually tested as both the team and the community must learn to work together, both for the sake of the team and ultimately, each other. Stars Denzel Washington.

Rudy ‘When people say dreams don't come true, tell them about Rudy.’

Based on the life of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger (Sean Aston) Rudy is the tale of a boy who never gave up hope. Although Rudy has all the odds placed against him-he is from a working class family, he is small, has bad grades and no-one at home believes in him, Rudy’s dream is to play Notre Dame football. After the death of his best friend, Rudy realizes that life is short and sets about turning his dream into a reality.

We Are Marshall

The devastatingly true story of the 1970 plane crash that captured the lives of 37 football players, as well as their coaches, trainers, athletic director, boosters and crew from the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team. Starring Matthew McConaughey as new head coach Jack Lengyel, the film follows the aftermath of the tragedy and the school’s progress toward creating a new team and the plight to pave the way for new legislation for freshmen to play football.