The Best Football Movies of All-Time

With the NFL preseason fully under way and opening kickoff in only two short weeks, I decided to dedicate my August 2013 List of the Month to the greatest football movies ever made. I'll preface by coming right out and saying that I am not a fan of the beloved football classic Rudy, so don't have an aneurysm when you see that it isn't on my list. Furthermore, many friends and individuals that I've talked to mentioned the film North Dallas Forty. Unfortunately I haven't seen the movie and that's why it's been omitted from my list. So here it is, my list of the best football movies of all-time.

*** View July's Movie List of the Month HERE

Honorable Mention: Friday Night Lights, The Longest Yard (1974), Any Given Sunday and Necessary Roughness.

#5. The Program (1993)

We can go as far back as 1993 to David S. Ward's The Program, starring James Caan and Halle Berry, to see Hollywood addressing the dirtiness and deceit going on around college football at the major institutions. Caan is memorable as the coach of a struggling fictional school called ESU. The Program delivers accurate insight into the sport itself and stands out as an enjoyable sports film. Just another fun little fact, David S. Ward also directed the baseball comedy Major League (which made my list of the best baseball movies).

#4. Little Giants (1994)

A little bit of a goofier guilty pleasure of mine is Duwayne Dunham's Little Giants. Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill star as feuding brothers who get a little too caught up in peewee football. There's The Icebox, her love interest Junior (played by a young Devon Sawa) and the unforgettable freak of nature Spike Hammersmith. Little Giants is a dose of some wholesome fun and the film even sports a cameo from the retired broadcaster, John Madden.

#3. Jerry Maguire (1996)

My #3 selection keeps us in the 1990s with Cameron Crowe's football drama Jerry Maguire. Tom Cruise is magnificent as a sports agent who verbalizes a late-night epiphany and ends up getting fired from work. With only one remaining client, a mediocre wide receiver talent named Rod Tidwell (played by Cuba Gooding Jr), Jerry tries to juggle his struggling career and a spontaneous relationship with a single mother. An Academy Award Best Picture Nominee and the film that won Cuba Gooding Jr an Oscar, Jerry Maguire is a wonderful drama that uses football as an effective backdrop.

#2. Remember the Titans (2000)

Deciding between my two finalists was an extremely difficult task. On one hand, Boaz Yakin's Remember the Titans is an emotional and often hilarious depiction of competitive high school football during the Civil Rights Movement. Denzel Washington stars as Herman Boone, the newly appointed football coach for a recently integrated school. With racial tensions dividing his team and an unjust set of circumstances immediately putting his job in jeopardy, Herman Boone unifies his players en route to an unforgettable season. Remember the Titans is a fantastic film that I love on so many different levels.

#1. Brian's Song (1971)

I'll never forget the first time a movie made my eyes tear up. It was Buzz Kulik's amazingly sincere football drama, Brian's Song. James Caan reappears on my list in the #1 spot as Brian Piccolo, a rookie running back who's forced to take the backseat to a promising young star named Gale Sayers (played by Billy Dee Williams). But after a leg injury to Sayers creates an opportunity for Piccolo to shine, the two teammates form a special bond and work together to speed up Sayers' rehab. Based on a touching true story of friendship and camaraderie, Brian's Song is a brilliant drama and an excellent football film.