The 2020 Tokyo Olympics began Friday, albeit a year delayed because of pandemic concerns. It is a natural time to consider movies dealing with sports of all kinds, summer and winter games and even some athletic competitions not represented in the Olympics.
From among movies I have seen, here are my favorite films about athletic competitions or with significant sports scenes. Th movies are classified by their respective athletic endeavors. Let me know if you have any favorites not on my list:
Bicycling
Premium Rush
Breaking Away
Running
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Chariots of Fire
Wrestling
Win Win
The World According to Garp
Auto Racing
Rush
Ford v. Ferrari
Grand Prix
Baseball
Bad News Bears
Pride of the Yankees
Major League
Bull Durham
Bang the Drum Slowly
Eight Men Out
Field of Dreams
The Natural
Moneyball
Hockey
Miracle
Slap Shot
The Mighty Ducks
Boxing
Golden Boy
Cinderella Man
Raging Bull
The Great White Hope
Requiem for a Heavyweight
Horse Racing
A Day at the Races
Horse Feathers
Seabiscuit
Secretariat
National Velvet
Football
Rudy
Invincible
Brian’s Song
M*A*S*H
Jim Thorpe—All American
Basketball
Hoosiers
Hoop Dreams
White Men Can’t Jump
Soccer
Bend It like Beckham
Swimming
The Swimmer
Watermarks
Pool
Hustler
Bowling
The Big Lebowski
Tennis
Borg/McEnroe
Battle of the Sexes
Match Point
Rugby
Invictus
Fencing
The Seahawk
Captain Blood
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Mask of Zorro (1998)