I've never watched the Rob Lowe-vehicle, Youngblood from start to finish, but apparently Bill Simmons has, which is why it's clocking in at #57 in his list of the best sports movies of all time:
You can't have a better final game than Youngblood did: Two goals in the final 10 seconds of a championship game (giving you a hat trick), plus, you cold-cock the guy who maimed your friend, and you go home with the coach's daughter. The end. Think about it ... what sports movie character topped that performance in a single night?
Hard to argue with that reasoning. But then again, if you list all of the hockey movies of the last 30 years -- Slapshot, Youngblood, Mighty Ducks, Mystery, Alaska, Miracle and Sudden Death -- Youngblood is coming in last.
BONUS DISCUSSION QUESTION: Has Miracle knocked Slapshot out of the top spot for the greatest hockey movie of all time? I don't know, but it's awfully close.
I’ll try and split the difference: Slapshot’s a better overall movie (it’s funny but also dramatic, and has better characters), but Miracle’s probably a better hockey movie. You could make Slapshot into a baseball movie without a great deal of effort.
they did make Slapshot into a baseball movie. It was called Major League.
I’d still take Slapshot over Miracle because Miracle, in reteling a historical event a) has the advantage of not having to invent a story b) has some glaring inaccuracies c)isn’t as funny as slapshot d) is really, really weak when it comes to Can-Con. Obviously I’m biased.
My favourite sports movies of all-time would have to include Bull Durham (despite my dislike of Costner I love his baseball movies) and Men With Brooms, hands down the greatest curling movie ever. Youngblood gets bonus points for having both Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves in it. And lots of Can-Con.
Eric – How could you forget the movie that got screwed out of an Oscar in 2000…Most Valuable Primate (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196106/)?
Really – a chimp on skates…now THERE is a replacement player!
Sarcasm Off!
I like both movies an awful lot, but Slapshot wins based on the Ogie Oglethorp tie-breaker.
Okay – MVP was a bit of a joke.
However, on a serious note, take a look at “Les Chiefs” (http://www.ehproductions.com/leschiefsflash/).
It has received a number of film festival awards and is a serious look at a Quebec pro league that is to the NHL what hamburger is to filet mignon.
If you are in a city with a screening, I recommend it.
(1) Main discussion… actually, if you’re going to include all the hockey movies of the last 30 years, you’d have to include the Mighty Ducks sequels, Most Valuable Primate (mentioned above) and even Slap Shot 2. Youngblood is a terrible movie, by the way.
(2) Apples and oranges, I think. Miracle is the better movie *about* hockey, but Slap Shot is the better *hockey movie*, being one of the great comedies of all time.
There’s a hockey movie worse than Sudden Death? Egad….
Rhino Brothers is another solid movie about small town hockey. Three brothers- one didn’t play, one washed out and still thinks he’s a superstar playing in a beer league and one that’s struggling to make it in the minors. And if we’re talking about Quebec movies don’t forget Les Boys I, II and III.