Hoosiers to Mighty Ducks: Best ever sporting underdog movies
With the classic underdog sports movie genre appearing to make a comeback — Emilio Estevez will lead a reboot of the classic Mighty Ducks film for example — The Sunday Telegraph counts down the top 11 of these types of movies over the years.
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The classic underdog sports movie is back for another season of plucky come-from-behind victories and, the occasional villain copping a football to the groin.
After seemingly being benched in the last few years, this staple of the 1980s is coming out of retirement.
Last month we heard that Emilio Estevez will lead a reboot of the classic Mighty Ducks film series, to be turned into a 10-episode TV show for Disney+.
And this week Ben Affleck takes the genre to new heights with a convincingly close-to-home performance in The Way Back, about a former high school basketball star who’s now a drunk and winds up coaching his old school team.
While Affleck’s portrayal is “beautifully observed” according to The Sunday Telegraph’s movie reviewer Vicky Roach, the genre usually sticks to an essential formula. A coach with issues, a pack of underdog youngsters — plus at least one with undiscovered incredible talent — a team of arrogant bullies and an important competition to win.
Lessons will be learned, bullies will be hit in the groin by a ball and the underdog will triumph. It’s predictable — but we still love it.
With that in mind, let’s run out Insider’s First XI of young underdog sporting movies.
11. HOOSIERS
Gene Hackman stars as a coach who lost his job for bullying players, then went to World War II and came back a changed man. Now he and an alcoholic mate try to take a small school’s side to win the state basketball title. Very loosely based on a true story. This 1986 movie has all the essential requirements but one — the team to beat isn’t nasty, instead they are all black kids. These days, cheering for a team of white kids to beat a team of blacks in 1950s America is a little unfortunate.
The moral: Always make sure your assistant coach is an addict of some kind.
Watch it on YouTube, Google Play
10. LITTLE GIANTS
When Rick Moranis’s football-loving daughter can’t make the local football team that’s coached by his loudmouthed older brother (Ed O’Neill), Moranis forms his own side to take down the arrogant champs and prove that girls can also play football. Naturally it has some important messages hidden among all the fart jokes.
The moral: If you belittle sporty girls, you’re going to cop a football to the groin at some point.
Watch it on YouTube, Google Play
9. AIR BUD
Josh is grieving the loss of his dad and is struggling in a new town. He meets a dog who has been abandoned by his cruel owner (a circus clown!) and together the two form a friendship. Josh discovers that Buddy is brilliant at basketball and together the two set the court alight — until Snively the Clown hears about his old dog’s hidden talent and tries to get him back. It’s got heart and a cute dog — what’s not to like?
The moral: If you’re going to adopt a stray dog, make sure you pick the one with the secret talent.
Watch it on Disney+
8. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Billy Bob Thornton thinks he has a title-winning football team — until star player Boobie Miles wrecks his knee. Now, with the sports-obsessed town breathing down his neck, he has to find a way to get the other players to work together and win. Loosely based on a true story of the Permian Panthers, this inspired a spin-off TV show. There’s less humour and more drama and we learn that winning isn’t everything.
The moral: The quiet kid on the team always turns out to be a game-winning hero.
Watch it on Netflix
7. COACH CARTER
Samuel L Jackson is the former high school basketball star who returns to his troubled old school to coach the kids. When some of them refuse to do their schoolwork, he forfeits games until they study, outraging parents and even the school. But everyone learns it’s all about changing the lives of troubled kids, not winning.
The moral: Wearing a tie, even one bought from a charity shop, is the key to success.
Watch it on Netflix
6. REMEMBER THE TITANS
A black school and a white school are forced together in segregation-era 1960s America. Luckily they get a charismatic black coach in Denzel Washington to bring this mob of misfits together to win the title, with the help of the white coach he replaced (Will Patton) and his football-mad daughter (Hayden Panettiere). Loosely based on a real story, this has inspiring messages about equality and hope.
The moral: If you need a vital play to win a game, always ask the advice of the plucky little girl, not your assistant coaches.
Watch it on Disney+
5. NATIONAL VELVET
This 1944 film can be considered the birth of the underdog sporting movie. Elizabeth Taylor finds a wild horse that she plans to race in the Grand National, the biggest race in England. Luckily a former jockey with a mysterious past (Mickey Rooney) is there to help her. With inspiring messages about following your dreams and breaking stereotypes, it is a classic of the genre, before there was a genre.
The moral: Always trust the shifty-looking drifter with a suspicious past.
Watch it on YouTube, Google Play
4. MIGHTY DUCKS
This kicked off spate of sport movies. Arrogant lawyer Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is forced to coach a team of no-hoper ice hockey players as punishment for drink driving. Naturally he teaches them to be champions, while learning valuable lessons himself. And getting revenge on the nasty coach who ruined his childhood!
The moral: Drunk drivers make wonderful role models for disadvantaged children.
Watch it on Disney+
3. BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
Jess (Parminder Nagra) comes from a traditional Indian family but loves soccer. Luckily she has a hot mate (Keira Knightley) who helps her overcome stereotypes and play sport instead of being forced into marriage. This has all sorts of great messages and turned Knightley into a superstar.
The moral: You should always spend more time working on a curving free kick than your chapatti recipe.
Watch it on Foxtel
2. BAD NEWS BEARS
The 1970s original set the tone for these movies. Walter Matthau is the foul-mouthed drunk who needs money so ends up coaching a mob of misfits. Initially they hate him as much as he hates them but he recruits a girl with a killer pitching arm and a motorbike-riding bad boy to turn them into winners. When they come up against the top team, whose coach mistreats his players, they have to decide whether winning is really that important.
The moral: Spiking the Gatorade with alcohol can only improve a child’s performance.
Watch it on YouTube, Google Play
1. THE KARATE KID
Still the gold standard for misfit sporting movies, which inspired a wave of sequels, spin-offs and reboots. Bullied Daniel (Ralph Macchio) teams up with his building’s caretaker Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) to first learn karate and then learn about life. And of course he must face the bully who has made his life hell in the final of the tournament.
The moral: Getting kids to paint fences and wash cars instantly turns them into martial arts superstars.
Watch it on Stan
