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

19. Hoosiers (1986)

Directed by Richard Anspaugh
Starring Gene Hackman, Dennis Hooper, and Barbara Hershey

Set in 1954, Hoosiers tells a fictionalized story of a real-life understaffed and undersized Indiana high school basketball team that shocked the world to become state champions. However, in a broader sense, the film is about second chances, a theme that resonates with even viewers who don’t care about high school basketball.

The film is centered on Norman Dale (Hackman), an ex-college basketball coach who desperately needs a break. A decade after ending his college career in disgrace, Dale is eager to prove that he still has what it takes to create a championship team. Similarly, recently hired assistant coach Shooter Flatch (Hopper) needs to prove that he can control his alcoholism long enough to do his job. And the Hickory Huskies, devastated by the death of their former coach and the exit of their star player, need to regain the faith of the townspeople.

Over the course of the film, the team, the assistant coach and the coach all earn their second chances, through hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance. To the film’s credit, not all those chances are used wisely. If they had, the film’s conclusion could’ve felt pat. Instead, the sweetness of the team’s victory is tinged with the bitterness as one of its central characters proves to be unable to quell their demons. Consequently, Hoosiers doesn’t have what could be called a Hollywood ending. Instead, the movie resolves in a way that is messy and realistic. And as a result, watching the film does more than entertain, it evokes real emotion.