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

18. Cool Runnings (1993)

Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Starring John Candy, Leon Robinson, and Doug E. Fresh

Cool Runnings may seem like an odd title to include on this list. The film is, after all, a rather goofy low stakes family comedy. Still, despite the film’s subject matter and tone, it is the kind of movie that can elicit tears from even the most stoic viewers. In fact, its ability to trigger the waterworks comes from the fact that you never see it big heartstrings-tugging climax coming.

The film, which is very loosely based on actual events, chronicles the attempts of a group of Jamaican track runners to win gold in bobsled at the 1988 Winter Olympics. For obvious reasons, the team finds it incredibly difficult to be taken seriously. Given their homeland’s tropical climate, the group has no experience with winter sports of any kind. However, under the tutelage of a disgraced gold medalist named Irving Blitzer (Candy), the team manages to become a competent bobsled unit. However, for all of their determination and newly acquired skills, they lose out in the end due to a tragic mechanical failure.

But in one of the most unexpectedly affecting scenes in sports movie history, the Jamaican bobsled team accepts their crushing failure with dignity. The four-man team pick up their shattered sled and carry it to the finish line. In response, the previously incredulous audience gives the team a rousing ovation. Though only bearing a passing resemblance to the actual events of the 1998 Winter Olympics, the scene packs enough of an emotional wallop that the facts temporarily don’t matter. Not when compared to the emotionally overwhelming sight of a group of likable screw ups finding grace in a tragic moment.