The Top 10 Best Basketball Movies
10 Basketball Movies to Cure Those Basketball Jones.
While a lot of people might subscribe to football as the best sport in America, nothing beats a fast-paced game of basketball or good basketball movies. Futball (soccer for you philistines out there) might have the love of the world, and football might have its hard hits, even baseball has… beer, but basketball is a sport that takes the best part of all the others and blends them together. It’s a sport filled with hard work and hustle and has more than its fair share of colorful characters that dominate the sport. That’s why this week’s top 10 lists is going to focus on basketball movies. Of course, there are plenty of terrible basketball movies out there but don’t worry, you won’t see Air Bud on this list (it’s just an honorable mention I’m throwing out there). You will get plenty of movies that show the blood sweat and tears that every player puts into being the best they can at a game filled with other players who want it just as badly. So, turn in your bracket picks because this list is tipping off.
10. The Basketball Diaries
It turns out that not all basket movies are about the love of the game. Basketball Diaries is based on the memoir of Jim Carroll who used to play basketball back during his time at a private high school. Well, unlike a lot of these movies, a teen in private school has the scratch to spend on fancy drugs like cocaine and heroin, and with all that teenage angst, Carroll slowly slides into drug addiction. He goes from being a member of an unstoppable team to abandoning his dream of being a superstar to becoming nothing more than a criminal. It just goes to show that life of the court is hardly as easy and carefree as just playing a game with friends. It’s a dog eat dog world out there on the court and Carroll is just one of the many who fell from grace.
9. Coach Carter
One of the tried and true tropes of basketball movies is having a hardass coach show up out of nowhere and whip a team of rude and disrespectful kids who it means to be champions. Of course, none of this works unless you have a coach that will strike fear into the hearts of high scholars. Enter Samuel L. Jackson, who made a career in Hollywood yelling at people. This time around he turns his legendary pipes on a group of high scholars and sets about breaking their spirits. I’m sure there would be plenty of parents or even a school board or two who would be upset by some of his methods, but given that this is the inner city, these teens are forced to run suicides until they puke. Needless to say, this quickly turns them into a pretty decent squad.
8. Space Jam
One of the best players ever to play the game was Michael Jordan. You can’t watch basketball movies without hearing his name mentioned as something that every player should aspire to be. That’s why there was no way his cinematic opus wasn’t going to make this list. Of course, he doesn’t share much camera time with other human beings, since most of the film takes place in Looney Tunes Land. That’s ok though because watching Jordan team up with Bugs Bunny is almost as satisfying as watching him team up with Bill Murray. This is a film that was the staple of many a childhood and the soundtrack is still one of the best movie soundtracks of all time. There are rumors that a sequel might be in the works, but it will never be as good as this mind-blowing basketball film.
7. Glory Road
Just like the rest of America, basketball was once filled with racism (probably because white guys aren’t really “great” for the most part and tend to get pretty jealous pretty easily). Glory Road is the story of coach Don Haskins, a college basketball coach that ends up putting together a group of some of the best players Texas has seen. The only problem is that they’re all black. Glory Road is much more than just another one of those basketball movies about great players achieving great things. This is a movie about the racism that black players had to struggle with (and still struggle with) and the few men willing to give them a chance in the early days of the sport. Luckily, Haskins was the first coach to start a game with an all-black player lineup and the rest is history.
6. Above the Rim
So, why is basketball one of the most beloved American sports of all time? Well, because you can play it as long as you have a hoop and a ball. Streetball has become incredibly popular over the years and Above the Rim is one of the basketball movies to focus on just how difficult it is to devote yourself to the love of the game when the streets are trying to pull you away from it. Above the Rim has a pretty legit cast with the likes of Tupac Shakur, Bernie Mac, and Marlon Wayans backing up Duane Martin. It’s the story of what most kids end up facing when they have to make a choice between following their dreams or facing the reality of the life around them.