25 best sports movies, ranked by the dust in your eye

1. Brian’s Song (1971)

Directed by Buzz Kulik
Starring James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, and Shelley Fabares

One of the best TV movies ever made, Brian’s Song is a tragic love story that manages to be emotionally devastating and incredibly life-affirming at the same time.

Set in the 1960s, the film tells the story of Chicago Bears teammates Brian Piccolo (Caan) and Gale Sayers (Williams). Though the two men developed a mutual animosity upon their first meeting, they are placed together as the team’s first racially integrated pair of roommates. Though their antagonism continues for a while, the pair slowly develops a deep bond. And for a while, the two friends help each other excel and work through debilitating injuries. That is until Piccolo is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Because it is a sports movie about the doomed friendship between two teammates, Brian’s Song is often described as a male weepy or guy-cry movie. But those descriptors suggest the film is something that it is not: an emotionally manipulative TV movie. In reality, the film performances and writing allow it to transcend the circumstances of its initial release. And because of those qualities, it never feels like it’s trying to make you cry the way a horror tries to make you jump. The film’s bracing lack of sentiment and clear-eyed depiction of an unaccountable tragedy place it in a different category than the sorts of pictures shown on Lifetime.

Brian’s Song’s ability to effortlessly break your heart is summed up in its most iconic scene. Following Brian’s death, Gale accepts an award recognizing his uncommon courage. Sayers uses the speech instead to highlight his now absent friend’s bravery. And then he asks the audience to ask God to love Brian like he does. It’s the perfect capper to a film that can cause anyone, regardless of gender identity, to cry a puddle of tears.