25

He Got Game (1998)
Spike Lee’s drama follows a father, played by Denzel Washington, trying to reconnect with his son — the nation’s top high school basketball recruit, played by real-life NBA star Ray Allen.

24

Space Jam (1996)
Michael Jordan teams up with the Looney Tunes to save Bugs Bunny and friends from enslavement by alien Monstars in a one-of-a-kind basketball game.

23

The Blind Side (2009)
Sandra Bullock stars as Leigh Anne Tuohy, who takes in homeless teenager Michael Oher and helps him become an All-American offensive tackle. A story about family being the real team.

22

Hoosiers (1986)
Gene Hackman’s Coach Norman Dale leads tiny Hickory High to the 1954 Indiana state championship, the film at the center of this whole piece and still basketball’s gold standard for coaching stories.

21

Coach Carter (2005)
Samuel L. Jackson plays a high school basketball coach who benches his undefeated team over failing grades, insisting education comes before the win column.

20

Glory Road (2006)
Tells the true story of Don Haskins, who coached the Texas Western Miners to the 1966 NCAA basketball championship. Haskins made history by starting five Black players—the first time that had happened in a title game—at a time when college basketball, especially in the South, was still deeply segregated.

19

Hoop Dreams (1994)
This acclaimed documentary follows two Chicago teenagers, William Gates and Arthur Agee, chasing the dream of NBA stardom through the highs and lows of high school ball.

18

Major League (1989)
A ragtag Cleveland Indians roster, assembled to fail on purpose, instead comes together as a genuine team — sports-comedy underdog energy at its finest.

17

Friday Night Lights (2004)
Based on Buzz Bissinger’s book, this drama follows the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, where Friday night football is practically a religion.

16

White Men Can’t Jump (1992)
Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson hustle pickup basketball games on LA playgrounds in this sharp, funny look at streetball culture.

15

Invictus (2009)
Morgan Freeman’s Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon’s rugby captain use the 1995 World Cup to help unite a newly post-apartheid South Africa.

14

42 (2013)
Chadwick Boseman stars as Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier with Harrison Ford’s Branch Rickey backing him every step of the way.

13

A League of Their Own (1992)
A fictionalized look at the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II, with Geena Davis and Tom Hanks reminding everyone there’s no crying in baseball.

12

Eight Men Out (1988)
This drama dramatizes the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal, when members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the World Series.

11

Moneyball (2011)
Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane reinvents the Oakland A’s around data and analytics, proving there’s more than one way to build a winning team.

10

Love & Basketball (2000)
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s drama follows two childhood friends and basketball prodigies whose careers and romance grow up together on and off the court.

9

Remember the Titans (2000)
Denzel Washington plays Coach Herman Boone, tasked with leading a newly integrated Virginia high school football team in 1971 — proof that a locker room can change a community.

8

Jerry Maguire (1996)
Tom Cruise’s sports agent has a crisis of conscience and rebuilds his career around one client, Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Rod Tidwell — “show me the money,” indeed.

7

The Wrestler (2008)
Mickey Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, an aging professional wrestler chasing one last shot at glory long after his prime.

6

Any Given Sunday (1999)
sports drama film directed by Oliver Stone that explores the intense, high-pressure world of professional American football through the struggles of the fictional Miami Sharks. Led by veteran coach Tony D’Amato, played by Al Pacino, the team faces internal conflicts, injuries, and corporate pressure as they fight for a playoff spot. The film is best remembered for Pacino’s iconic “Game of Inches” motivational locker room speech, which frames football—and life itself—as a relentless battle where victory is won through small, hard-fought sacrifices and teamwork.

5

Rudy (1993)
The true story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, an undersized walk-on with more heart than talent who willed his way onto the Notre Dame football team. A blueprint for the underdog spirit Hoosiers also captured.

4

Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Clint Eastwood directs and stars alongside Hilary Swank as a determined boxer fighting for a shot most people think she’s too late for.

3

King Richard (2021)
Will Smith plays Richard Williams, the relentless father who coached daughters Venus and Serena into two of the greatest tennis players of all time.

2

Gladiator (2000)
Russell Crowe as Maximus, a Roman general betrayed by the corrupt emperor Commodus and sold into slavery, where he rises through the brutal ranks of gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum.

1

Rocky (1976)
Sylvester Stallone’s small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a shot at the heavyweight title against Apollo Creed, turning “going the distance” into a permanent part of underdog vocabulary.