Inspirational sports movies

1 of 25

"Raging Bull" (1980)

By the end of Martin Scorsese’s masterful “Raging Bull,” you feel like you’ve gone a full fifteen rounds with its pugilist protagonist, Jake LaMotta.

Sports biopics 2024

The former middleweight champion is a brawler in and out of the ring; he beats his wife, his brother and anyone who triggers his violent temper. It’s a bruising portrait of a monster that’s all the more disturbing because Robert De Niro, in the performance of a lifetime, resists caricature.

This beast exists (still, in 2017, at the age of ninety-six).

2 of 25

"Hoosiers" (1986)

No list like this one would be complete without "Hoosiers." Prior to 1986, you’d have to be an Indiana native to know the story of Milan High School’s David-vs-Goliath upset of Muncie Central in the 1954 state basketball championship.

Now every