What's the best soccer movie

[AllWhitebeliever]

I was just about to get up on my high horse again and quote from Fever Pitch when I remembered that there are 'rave' reviews of ......
'Once in a Lifetime'.......[New York Cosmos]...

Anyone seen that yet?...

(woz that the one you referred to as 'Game of their Lives' AWb?)

:confused:


Nah

"Game of their lives" - US version is a recent DVD release. It is a true story drama about the USA team that caused the upset of beating England during the World Cup finals in Brazil on 29th June 1950. Those Italian immirgants were hardcases.

The other "Game of their lives" - original version is about North Korea game in 66. I have not seen that one.

Now is "once in the lifetime" is that the one about Pele training this kid to that includes a bicycle kick?

Anyway, I just saw "the Mean Machine" starring Vinnie Jones who plays a fallen England Captain that ends up in prison. There is a build up to the ins and outs of prison pressure and money dealing riding on a Cons versus the Guards game. It was very good. Highly recommended for anyone to see. There was funny bits with the players and commentors and game was reasonable long and good enough piece of the movie. The character "Monk" was just hardcase in the game.

:cool:

Hang loose guys

[AllWhitebeliever]

Sorry for the repeat but the edit button was gone for some stupid reason.

[goonermaui]

Sorry for the repeat but the edit button was gone for some stupid reason.

Not to worry mate...I'll just rent them all (TWICE!):)

Ehm? Vinnie Jones in prison. :rolleyes:

Gotta admit....love him in Lock, Stock and all that.:D

[AfrcnHrbMan]

Monk and the announcers during the game made Mean Machine for me. If anyone hasn't seen it they should. Interesting is difference between the longest yard and MM. I guess the black guy doesnt always die in England.

[KHowe]

Nobody else liked the movie "Goal!" about the American kid who gets to play for Newcastle?

[AllWhitebeliever]

Yup I mention "Goal" before but not much people have caught hold of it. I'll be waiting for the next two movies sequels too. A rags to riches soccer movie.

Hang loose guys.

[Amerikaki]

The Big Green

Thats what I was thinking.

[metro fan]

Victory has to be the best movie ever

[Voice of Thunder]

Big Green or Goal!

[edlova]

Because Americans are not as long-winded as Brits.

Example:

Brits: A brilliant strike from 16 yards off the left foot results in the fortitude of the back netting threads being tested.
Americans: GOAL!!!
hahaha


England: Green Street
US: Green Street Hooligans


Green Street was decent...Mean Machine was a laugh a minute and I thought Football Factory was pretty good *awaits someone pointing out that they dont show any football in the whole film*

[edlova]

Goal!
forgot that one too...not bad but terribly predictable/cheesy with bad acting and a completely unrealistic ending :p

[jalantingle]

Green Street Hooligans. Made me want to move to jolly ol' England and be a meathead.

[Dills]

it's a tie for me ... Mean Machine for the entertainment factor relating to the sport itself (and the fact that it's a remake of TLY), but i also thoroughly enjoyed Football Factory because it highlighted the passionate fan-side of the game.

[cockney]

I like Goal! with Kuno Becker and Game of Their Lives (about the US soccer team)
there are also loads of fantastic British films about fans, love for the game, etc

[BigKahuna]

Not so much about football itself, but I really like "The Football Factory." I've heard the "I.D." is really good too.

[DrStrangehose]

Well this thread has me baffled...

First off, I do not understand all the bashing of movies like Bend It Like Beckham, Big Green, and Ladybugs. Obviously they are not the greatest films. However, they are not meant to be. What they are meant to be are inspirational films which get kids into soccer the way movies like the Bad News Bears and others have gotten kids into other sports. For that purpose I think they were outstanding. I know many kids who got into soccer, girls especially, as a result of watching that movie.

There are many others as well catered to different kids of different age groups. 10 Things I Hate About You and any movie with the Tool Time kid were catered towards High School age kids. Also bend it like Beckham was less about the soccer, than the inspiration for womens rights in a culture which doesn't often respect them.

So please, if you didn't like these films, don't bash them, just keep quiet about them, because they obviously meant a lot to some people.

With that said, I think a lot of people voting those films have just not seen a wide variety of soccer films, namely the person who started the thread.


The best one I have not seen mentioned here is actually a very very good movie, aside from any soccer. My left foot. For those who don't know it, it's the story of a kid in Ireland with cerebral palsy, who can only move his left foot. He overcomes his impediment to lead a successful life. Daniel Day Lewis got the oscar for Best Male Actor in a Lead Role for the film. However, one of the better parts of the movie has Hugh O'Connor as a young Christy Brown watching his fellow mates playing soccer in the streets. He is driven to want to play so much, that he becomes a decent goaltender.


There are a multitude of movies which have references to soccer in them, but aren't necessarily about soccer. These I don't think qualify for "best soccer movie" status so I will skip over them.

There are a few I have not seen which came out recently, which many have suggested to me as being great. "Green Street Hooligans", "Goal!", "Yellow-card", etc.

I have spent more of my time watching the American centered soccer films, like Game of Their Lives, and Once In A Lifetime. OK films, but nothing special. I also would not consider documentary films to be the best soccer "movies" since they aren't actually movies.


Still, the list of best soccer movies to me comes down to a clear top 3.

#3 The Miracle of Bern. This film is well done, if you can deal with subtitles. I know the American soccer audience is mostly Anglophiles, but if you can stop sweating crummy teeth, lipton tea with crumpets, and spice girls for a few moments, this is a very inspiring film for post-war Germany, and their revival of national pride through culture and not war. Pretty good soccer in it too.


#2 Fever Pitch. For those of you who thought this was a film about the Red Sox, done by a guy who was a NY Met fan, then a NY Yankee fan, and then in a movie as a Red Sox fan -- as oposed to say using a real Red Sox fan who already lived that life, like Matt Damon or, more specifically, Ben Afleck -- you are wrong. It is actually a fiilm based on an autobiographical account of an Arsenal FC supporter, about a boy who grew up following Arsenal FC and meets the woman of his dreams in the middle of the teams dream run to their first title in 18 years. Yes that story lends itself better to the coincidental Red Sox curse breaking season, in the same year the film was being made. However, it is not just that season which you watch the film for. It is the passion for the sport you come to identify with.

Yes everyone who read the book will try to put their two cents in to try and get recognition for it. However, how many of them read the book in 2 hours? Get some perspective people! To suggest the movie ruined the book is rediculous. The book is still there, and in tact. However, for those of us who don't have a lot of time to spend reading every book ever written, the film does a very good job portraying the life of a die-hard soccer supporter. Give it up for the film. For presenting what it did in two hours, needing to spice up the love story as well to get the people in the seats, it still pulls it off nicely.


#1 (and way out in front) Victory. This movie is a bit old, and cheesy. It is clearly the dream of someone who saw "The Great Escape", and "The Natural", and thought, "Hey, How can we combine those two movies" You know what, so did I. That movie has the prescription for success. It is based loosely off of the story of Dynamo Kiev's players, who were captured by the Nazi's, and forced to travel around playing matches against the soldiers, and won all of their games. Yet in the end of the real life story, most of the players were put into concentration camps, and killed off. Some lived to tell about it, and there is a memorial to the event at Kiev's facilities.

The story in the film goes different. A German soccer enthusiast encounters a few of Europes top players in a P.O.W. camp, and challenges them to a game. He then gets orders to round up a few other players, and a team of loosely connected "Allied" players will play an exhibition in France against the German national team. The Characters however, are not just actors, there are top notch actors, like Michael Caine and Sly Stalone, but add to that some of the greatest soccer players of all-time, and some of the best players of that day. They begin practicing, and the American P.O.W. who had no skill gets word of a possible escape during the match, and needs to get onto the squad. In one of the best scenes in any movie ever, the goolkeeper becomes "injured" (I will try not to spoil that one for anyone who has not seen it). They go to play the match, and the Germans take a commanding early lead, based off of some bad officiating and goalkeeping. At half-time the escape plan takes root, but the real players decide they want to stay and finish out the game -- for the ending you will have to see.

Obviously most of the scenes in the game were staged, but there were scenes during the movie, in which the players were just playing and being filmed doing what they were good at. To my knowledge, this is the only true movie with a plot and a flowing storyline based loosely off reality, which actually has in it the best players of the world at the time, like Pele, Bobby Moore, Mike Summerbee, Osvaldo Ardiles, Halvar Thoresnson, the original "Kaka" Deyna, Co Prins, Paul Van Himst, Kevin O'Calllahan, and even Werner Roth, among others.

If you have any heart in you at all, you can easily see through the numerous plot-holes in the movie, and the end will bring "Rudy" sized tears your eyes, as you begin to chant not "Rudy", but

The film is produced in part by Andrew G. Vajna, which when I saw this name initially I thought it was a phony, however, if you pay attention, many highly billed films will have his name at the end of it. Victory, First Blood (and the sequel Rambo movies), Deep Star Six, Total Recall, Air America, Jacobs Ladder, Medicine Man, Tombestone, Die Hard 3, Judge Dredd, The Scarlet Letter, Nixon, Evita, Shadow Conspiracy, Terminator 3, and Basinc Instinct 2.

All together there is everything to this film. Acting, Athletes, Storyline, Based on historical account. If you like soccer, and you have not seen this film, something is wrong with you.

Clearly the best soccer movie out there.

[dougcar99]

I rented both A Shot at Glory and Fever Pitch from Netflix due to the recommendations on this thread. Both were great movies.

[mschofield]

I rented both A Shot at Glory and Fever Pitch from Netflix due to the recommendations on this thread. Both were great movies.Any footie fan, however, who doesn't read Fever Pitch is missing something. OTOH, there is a footie version (the original) of Fever Pitch, with colin firth.
Das wunder von bern is a very decent small film.
Now, if a football movie doesn't have to actually have the game in it, Trainspotting works (quite a bit more footie, casual culture in the book).
BTW, the Ukrainian footballers killed by the Nazis played an SS team, and were shot and thrown into a ravine (the babi yar massacre, a very glum place, but then it's in kiev) with, what was it, 100K others? The german national team under hitler didn't play much (just for info purposes on nazi soccer: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/matt_schofield/14932726.htm).
and to me the problem with Glory is that it falls so short of history. And stallone, at 5'6" as a keeper:eek: Course, I loved him as a heavyweight.

[Thomas A Fina]

re : Strangehose - Fever Pitch the American version doesn't exist. Let's leave it at that.

As for "Victory" - I doubt very highly someone thought to combine "The Natural" with anything, since Victory came out three years before the adaptation of Malamud's novellete. - I personally liked the movie despite (or because) of Stallone's cheesiness and Michael Caine : Soccer Player.
I did think the soccer scenes were a bit choppy. It's very hard to do close-ups then pan to wide shots when filming a soccer game.


and to someon else : Once in a Lifetime is a documentary about the Cosmos. Not a movie, but extremely hilarious - unintentionally so I think. Watching Chinaglia alone was worth the price of admission.

The movie where Pele teaches some kid the bicycle kick on some deserted island (just a hilariously bad movie all around) - called "Hotshot". It used to run daily on HBO back in the day

[dougcar99]

Any footie fan, however, who doesn't read Fever Pitch is missing something. OTOH, there is a footie version (the original) of Fever Pitch, with colin firth.
Das wunder von bern is a very decent small film.
Now, if a football movie doesn't have to actually have the game in it, Trainspotting works (quite a bit more footie, casual culture in the book).
BTW, the Ukrainian footballers killed by the Nazis played an SS team, and were shot and thrown into a ravine (the babi yar massacre, a very glum place, but then it's in kiev) with, what was it, 100K others? The german national team under hitler didn't play much (just for info purposes on nazi soccer: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/matt_schofield/14932726.htm).
and to me the problem with Glory is that it falls so short of history. And stallone, at 5'6" as a keeper:eek: Course, I loved him as a heavyweight.


The original Fever Pitch is the one I rented. Haven't seen the baseball version.

Just out of curiousity how does Glory fall short of history? I know absolutely nothing about Scottish football.