50 Best Sports Movies Ever

1. Raging Bull

Year: 1980
Sport: Boxing
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colesanto
Director: Martin Scorsese

The general consensus appears to be that Rocky is the greatest boxing film ever made. It’s hard to debate that belief given its impact, popularity, and ahead-of-its time in-ring scenes.

For all of the praise that Rocky deservedly receives, too many sleep on Raging Bull as the true masterpiece of incomparable standards that it is.

Raging Bull is something of a biopic about Jake LaMotta’s attempts to balance the war within himself with the battles he must endure in the ring. For those unfamiliar, LaMotta was a champion boxer who had six sensational fights with Sugar Ray Robinson.

LaMotta is the man who handed Robinson, then 40-0, his first loss.

Robert De Niro’s performance in this Martin Scorsese classic is one of the most heralded in cinematic history. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, while Thelma Schoonmaker took home the honors for Best Film Editing.

The latter award may not matter to most, but it was determined based on how seamlessly Schoonmaker pieced together the unforgettable fighting scenes—moments that translate very well from 1980 to the present day.

Many scenes were not sports-related, but that’s part of what makes Raging Bull so spectacular; the story and the boxing mirror each other in intrigue and excitement.