Ultimate Guy Movie - Sports Bracket
by mtalken on Mar 10, 2009 1:57 PM EDT
56 comments
Hey everyone. I'm undertaking a project with some of my friends to pick what is the Ultimate Guy Movie. I actually kinda ripped the idea off from the Chicago ESPN station, which is doing this, but I thought it was fun and decided doing it myself. I considering posting it here to get votes as well, but I figured it was off topic. However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought: "Well, one of the 4 16 movie brackets is a sports movie bracket, so even if it isn't Cardinals baseball relevant, it's still kinda fun."
Anyway, I'm in the 2nd round now, so I'll post the full Sports bracket and then list the choices for the vote now, and if you feel so inclined, you can vote on them. I'm going to tally up votes for this round sometime in the next couple days.
Furthermore, I'm taking the VEB vote as a community vote, so this is a collective vote, so a landslide or one movie edging the other out still gets the VEB vote.
1st round matchups: (This voting is already done)
1 Rocky vs. 16 Friday Night Lights
8 Rudy vs. 9 Field of Dreams
5 Rounders vs. 12 Major League
4 Caddyshack vs. 13 The Hustler
3 Bull Durham vs. 14 White Men Can't Jump
6 The Natural vs. 11 Remember the Titans
7 Raging Bull vs. 10 Slapshot
2 Hoosiers vs. 15 The Longest Yard (original one)
The 2nd round matchups (which obviously tells you who won each of the above rounds) are listed below. These are all open for voting:
1 Rocky vs. 8 Rudy
4 Caddyshack vs. 12 Major League
3 Bull Durham vs. 6 The Natural
2 Hoosiers vs. 10 Slapshot
Three baseball movies left in the fold, with only Field of Dreams losing as far as baseball movies (and that was a very close vote)
Feel free to vote on any or all matchups. You don't need to vote on all 4 matchups if you don't feel you know enough about one of the films or matchups to vote on it. I'll announce sports bracket winners later.
Lastly, this will conclude the 2nd round for all brackets, bringing it down to the Sweet 16. The other brackets are War/Action movies, Comedies, and Gangster/Drama movies. One last thing you can vote on is if this is too off-topic for VEB or if I should vote all the Sweet 16 Matchups for you guys to vote on. I don't want to load up the fanposts with stuff that's completely off topic, but if this seems fun to everyone involved here, I'd be happy to post this for you guys to vote on as well.
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Hmm...
Rocky
Major League
Bull Durham
Slapshot
by spants on Mar 10, 2009 2:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I was going to vote the exact same way
So… what spants said!
by mattybobo on Mar 10, 2009 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
My vote.
Rocky
Caddyshack
The Natural
Hoosiers
Btw, how does Bull Durham get entered into a contest for ultimate “guy” movie? I’d rather watch A League of Their Own or For Love of the Game (and I realize the borderline-ness of FLotG).
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 10, 2009 2:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Kevin Costner's speech
at Annie’s house on the first night they meet. That’s ultimate guy movie fodder right there.
Character’s named Crash, Annie, and Nuke.
It’s a Ron Shelton movie, which is interesting because it’s pitted against another Ron Shelton movie in the first round.
My biggest problem is that, SOMEHOW, Slapshot is seeded #10. Really? That’s a great guy movie. It’s got one the best leading men in Hollywood history in it (Newman) and the Hanson brothers are like every set of crazy brothers I’ve even met (including my own). Not only that, it has a bunch of dialogue in it that only guys really find funny, which is part of the definition of a “guy’s movie”: A movie that you’d watch with a woman and she wouldn’t understand half of what is going on because she’s never been in a guy’s locker room.
"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller
by fourstick on Mar 10, 2009 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Your description of Slap Shot
is exactly why I don’t consider Bull Durham a “Guys Movie”. To me, it’s a chick flick that just happens to be centered around a minor league baseball team.
And I agree about Slap Shot getting the shaft in that ranking. I just couldn’t vote for it over Hoosiers. I also have a hard time with White Men Can’t Jump being on the list. I can probably think of a dozen sports movies that are better. Bad New Bears, Varsity Blues, and Victory are 3 that jump out at me immediately.
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 10, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Varsity Blues
Now that’s a guy movie.
I have discovered in twenty years of moving around a ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats. ~Bill Veeck
by bukowski on Mar 10, 2009 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thought of another.
*61.
and another.
Eight Men Out
and another.
The Rookie
And another
The Sandlot
More…
Summer Catch (tell me the Jessica Biel’s presence doesn’t qualify it)
Blue Chips
Brewster’s Millions
Kingpin
Breaking Away
Gymkata
Seabiscut
The Wrestler
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 10, 2009 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I knew you'd like that one.
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 10, 2009 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Bad News Bears
The original still gets me. Kelly Leak and his .871 BA with 0 SO’s has got to be one of the best fictional ballplayers of all time!
by pcgd on Mar 10, 2009 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
c'mon
who didn’t hit .900 in little league at the age of 16?
"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller
by fourstick on Mar 11, 2009 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He also figured out
how to bat 3 times in a 4 inning game in the Astrodome.
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 11, 2009 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think they should have used the same person
to play Kelly Leak in the re-make with Billy Bob a couple of years ago. It would have been hilarious to see a 40 year old kid playing a 12 year old…at least the movie would have been a self parody other than a giant steaming pile of crap.
"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller
by fourstick on Mar 11, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
He could have pulled it off.
I can’t imagine he looks any different and I don’t think he’s any taller than about 4’10".
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 11, 2009 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Actually...
Isn’t he in the new watchmen movie, looking like an angry Danny Bonaduce?
by kyle3776 on Mar 11, 2009 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Holy Shit you're right!!!
He’s plays that dude with the bandages or whatever it is on his face that changes colors or something.
This guy….
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 11, 2009 11:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Kingpin....
Didn’t think of that one.
The others, I’m sticking with my picks, but Kingpin should have made it.
by mtalken on Mar 15, 2009 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
This is fun!
Rudy
Major League (this is the most difficult matchup, as I would pick Caddyshack over any other)
Bill Durham
Hoosiers
by WyoCardsFan on Mar 10, 2009 3:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I have to vote the Natural. Not only is Redford's character so iconic that he gave
Ankiel one of his aliases, but that last scene with the lights exploding, the sparks dripping onto the field, and the crowd of players at home disappearing into the dark? If you don’t like that movie, you just hate america.
Rocky
Major League
The Natural
Slapshot
by tom s. on Mar 10, 2009 3:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Hmm...
Major League
The Natural
Slapshot
Rudy
vivaelbeñsheets
by vivaelpujols on Mar 10, 2009 4:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Couple of tough matchups here
1 Rocky vs. 8 Rudy
I vote Rocky simply because “guy” movies shouldn’t make you cry, and Rudy makes me cry every f***ing time.
4 Caddyshack vs. 12 Major League
Interesting — two movies about essentially the same thing: The Slobs vs. The Snobs. I have to pick Caddyshack because without it we don’t get Major League. That and the fact that I used to work at a country club that had a member that looked and acted exactly like Judge Smails moves it over the top for me. That, and the fact that it has nudity in it, like all guy movies should.
3 Bull Durham vs. 6 The Natural
Easy for me. Bull Durham, hands down. BTW, memo to “The Natural” screenwriters: Don’t change the ending of the book to make it more “Hollywood” — there was nothing wrong with the original ending and it makes for a much better story.
2 Hoosiers vs. 10 Slapshot
Hoosiers is probably the better movie, the Slapshot is definitely the better “guy” movie. See my quote above. Plus, Slapshot doesn’t have any racial undertones to it like Hoosiers does.
"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller
by fourstick on Mar 10, 2009 5:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
here's mine
1. Rocky.
2. Caddyshack. Close, but too many good lines that at age 32 I find myself quoting.
3. Bull Durham
4. Hoosiers.
Hoosiers of the 4 for me.
I have discovered in twenty years of moving around a ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats. ~Bill Veeck
by bukowski on Mar 10, 2009 5:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Answers
1. Rocky
12. Major League
6. The Natural
2. Hoosiers
Some guy movie suggestions for other categories, if you need them:
Fight Club
The Departed
Pulp Fiction
The Matrix
Boondock Saints
The artist formerly known as...
Mr Redbird @ Viva El Birdos
PowerOfDixieland @ Track Em Tigers, other SEC blogs
by jd is legend on Mar 10, 2009 6:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Ugh, Boondock Saints...I think we need to expand the timeframe beyond the last 10 years or so
If we are including Gangster movies as guy movies. Departed cannot touch Goodfellas, Godfather, etc. I can think of others but those are the most iconic that everyone has seen.
Guy Movies that MUST be on the list!
The Great Escape (movie is a total sausage fest, I’m not sure there is a female with lines)
The Good the Bad and The Ugly
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
Dark Knight
Enter the Dragon
The Godfather
by TheBirds on Mar 10, 2009 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
+ Awesome for The Great Escape
Just checked imdb.com, I’m pretty sure there isn’t a female name in the entire cast. But it does of course star Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, Charles Bronson…
Charles Bronson makes claustrophobia manly in that movie, and Steve McQueen gets chased around by Nazis on a motorcycle for crap’s sake. Oh, and this for baseball relevance:
by mattybobo on Mar 11, 2009 9:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
+1
The Great Escape is a fabulous film, my first introduction to Steve McQueen and he quickly became one of my all time favorites. Total guy flick.
by Recon on Mar 11, 2009 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I love it too and if you liked it there is a movie called Stalag 17 that you might enjoy.
It’s a Billy Wilder movie about a German POW camp where they are trying to find which of the prisoners is actually a German spy. It’s pretty funny, and while it might not match the awesomeness that is The Great Escape it’s a classic in it’s own right.
Although it is black and white, which bothers a lot of people.
by TheBirds on Mar 11, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Stalag 17 is one of my favorite movies of all time
I liked it more than The Great Escape. Best WW2 movie ever. Of course I will pretty much love anything with William Holden in it.
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
and....BEN SHEETS!!! **
**not that BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment, just BEN SHEETS!!!
(BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment)
by mattyfrommo on Mar 11, 2009 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Another Wilder movie with Holden in it that I liked more was Sunset Blvd.
One of my favorite movies of all time, but not a guy movie by any stretch of the imagination.
Stalag 17 is probably the better than Great Escape, but Great Escape was a childhood favorite of mine so I’m biased.
by TheBirds on Mar 11, 2009 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
All pretty easy for me.
Rocky
Major League
Bull Durham
Hoosiers
by TheBirds on Mar 10, 2009 8:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Ugh with the one and eight seeds
but
Rocky
Caddyshack
The Natural
Hoosiers
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
and....BEN SHEETS!!! **
**not that BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment, just BEN SHEETS!!!
(BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment)
by mattyfrommo on Mar 10, 2009 8:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Better than half the list...
Pride of the Yankees
Cinderella Man
Bull Durham sucks.
by JComp11 on Mar 10, 2009 9:24 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I'm not gonna lie
those two movies can ALMOST make me cry. I’m not ashamed to admit it either.
by JComp11 on Mar 11, 2009 12:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Are guy movies supposed to make you cry?
by TheBirds on Mar 11, 2009 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Maybe
Brian’s Song.
"Do what you want to the women and children but leave me alone"- George Carlin
by That's a Winner on Mar 11, 2009 7:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I have a little issue with a movie that is called Cinderella Man being on the guy movie list.
by TheBirds on Mar 11, 2009 2:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Have you seen it?
Better fight scenes than nearly all other boxing movies.
by JComp11 on Mar 11, 2009 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Cinderella Man was considered
It’s one of my favorite boxing movies, behind probably only Rocky. I was talked out of putting it on by a few friends who thought the others were more fitting.
by mtalken on Mar 15, 2009 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Final Four
Rudy – my personal favorite sports movie ever
Caddyshack – This is the closest decision for me. Caddyshack came first.
The Natural – I have to have at least one baseball film make it
Hoosiers – favorite basketball movie
Patiently awaiting the day Colby Rasmus does this: .275/.381/.551/.932, 29HR, in St. Louis...
by RunninRedbird on Mar 10, 2009 11:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Slapshot is the greatest ever
Rocky
Major League
Bull Durham
Slapshot
by bornin82 on Mar 10, 2009 11:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Rudy v. Rocky is a horribly difficult decision
…Just throwing that out there.
Anyway, here it goes:
Rocky
Major League
Bull Durham
Hoosiers
"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.
by redbirdnation8206 on Mar 11, 2009 12:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Rudy v. Rocky is a difficult decision
I wish we would have had to make it at all. Am I the only person here who isn’t a fan of Rocky?
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
and....BEN SHEETS!!! **
**not that BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment, just BEN SHEETS!!!
(BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment)
by mattyfrommo on Mar 11, 2009 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think Rocky gets a bad rap
because there have been 5 sequels to the original, and none of them were as good as the first one. I enjoyed the other ones as a popcorn fest, but they all pale in comparison to the grittiness and storytelling in the original Rocky.
You could also make the argument that the “Rocky” formula spawned an entire list of copycat movies about underdog athletes rising up to a great challenge and coming out of nowhere. There really weren’t any great sports movies like that prior to Rocky, but there have been a ton of them since then, including some of the movies on this list: Rudy, Hoosiers, Raging Bull, etc.
"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller
by fourstick on Mar 12, 2009 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think I would like Rocky
if it were not for Stallone.
* sarcasm might be involved in this comment
and....BEN SHEETS!!! **
**not that BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment, just BEN SHEETS!!!
(BEN SHEETS might be involved in this comment)
by mattyfrommo on Mar 12, 2009 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Hmmm
Rudy — he got ripped off by the selection committee. An 8th seed? Sheesh.
Caddyshack
The Natural
Hoosiers
On with the (good) youth movement!
by aet15 on Mar 11, 2009 3:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Can girls play too?
spants did, so here goes:
Rudy
Major League
The Natural
Hoosiers
by cardsgirl95 on Mar 11, 2009 8:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
ummmm...
Field of Dreams
Caddyshack
The Natural
Slapshot
"There are only two seasons—winter and baseball."
by MUGATU on Mar 11, 2009 10:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The lack of Breaking Away
Makes me cry
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die.
by lunchboxbomb on Mar 11, 2009 9:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Two words:
The Burbs.
hecanthithecanthithecanthithecanthit
by Alxfritz on Mar 11, 2009 11:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
One of my all-time favorite movies.
I think I could recite every line from the entire movie from memory.
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 11, 2009 11:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Just throwing this out there...
The Natural is one of the most overrated sports movies of all time, especially when you consider its source material. The book is a tough and gritty examination of flesh and blood characters, with the title almost becoming a sarcastic and sorrowful one. The movie, on the other hand, is about a baseball-playing Jesus, a man who is damn near infallible. The girlfriend, Memo, is basically there to go to his games and bask in ethereal glow, which I guess makes him play better through sheer shit-knows-what. The other characters are pretty much one-note figures with no depth to speak of.
Perhaps most galling of all is the fact that the team’s turnaround is simply astonishing. I mean, in Major League and Bull Durham the teams were inept…but those are comedies. Ineptitude was there for humor’s sake. The Natural is a drama, meaning the events are supposed to be taken more-or-less at face value. Before Roy shows up, the team literally cannot do the most simple baseball things. I suspect the members of the New York Knights couldn’t fall on a ball if they had to. However, Roy shows up and, holy shit, they are all of a sudden major league players b/c of his presence. That’s not exactly how it plays out in the book, where Roy’s presence is sort of uplifting and it, well, helps to have guys who flat mash the way he does. In the movie it makes it seem as if Roy’s mere presence turns chicken YouKnowWhat into chicken salad. It’s just strange and makes no real sense and takes all the interest out of it for me.
I’ll readily admit that my five-minute review is colored by the book, but I suspect that my feelings would be the same. I saw the movie before reading the book and didn’t like it, but really didn’t think about why. I read the book and everything became clearer.
"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.
by redbirdnation8206 on Mar 12, 2009 7:15 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
jk
Getting two tickets to an execution is like getting two tickets to NASCAR, except you KNOW Jeff Gordon's gonna die.
by Tackle Box on Mar 12, 2009 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I completely agree with everything that you just said
Rec’d sir.
Why couldn’t they have called the movie “Baseball Jesus”, or “Hobbs” (like they did with “Cobb”? Everyone who’d never read the book but seen the movie will never read the book, because they assume the movie is an accurate depiction of the book, when it’s anything but. I hate this movie, which is a strong statement considering that I like pretty much every movie that Redford’s ever made.
"I just wish that the late Harry Caray were still around so I could hear him mispronounce 'Kosuke Fukudome' every fukun' night" -- Dennis Miller
by fourstick on Mar 13, 2009 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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