30+ Hard-Hitting Football Movies
by drcjsnider | created - 30 Dec 2014 | updated - 28 Jul 2018 | PublicThe best football movies.
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1. Rudy (1993)
PG | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.
Director: David Anspaugh | Stars: Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Greta Lind
Votes: 69,110 | Gross: $22.75M
2. The Blind Side (2009)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Jae Head
Votes: 360,688 | Gross: $255.96M
3. Friday Night Lights (2004)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Drama, Sport
Based on H.G. Bissinger's book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Jay Hernandez, Derek Luke, Lucas Black
Votes: 66,870 | Gross: $61.26M
4. Remember the Titans (2000)
PG | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 1971 Virginia high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white one, the very foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst
Votes: 232,022 | Gross: $115.65M
5. All the Right Moves (1983)
R | 91 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
An ambitious young football star is trapped in a dying mill town--unless his gridiron skills can win him a way out.
Director: Michael Chapman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Lea Thompson, Craig T. Nelson, Charles Cioffi
Votes: 20,405 | Gross: $17.23M
6. The Longshots (2008)
PG | 94 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The true story of Jasmine Plummer who, at the age of eleven, became the first female to play in Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history.
Director: Fred Durst | Stars: Ice Cube, Keke Palmer, Tasha Smith, Jill Marie Jones
Votes: 4,471 | Gross: $11.51M
7. The Express (2008)
PG | 130 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A drama based on the life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
Director: Gary Fleder | Stars: Rob Brown, Dennis Quaid, Clancy Brown, Darrin Dewitt Henson
Votes: 22,872 | Gross: $9.59M
8. The Waterboy (1998)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Sport
A waterboy for a college football team discovers he has a unique tackling ability and becomes a member of the team.
Director: Frank Coraci | Stars: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, Fairuza Balk
Votes: 178,458 | Gross: $161.49M
9. Lucas (1986)
PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A socially inept fourteen-year-old experiences heartbreak for the first time when his two best friends - Cappie, an older-brother figure, and Maggie, the new girl with whom he is in love - fall for each other.
Director: David Seltzer | Stars: Corey Haim, Kerri Green, Charlie Sheen, Courtney Thorne-Smith
Votes: 17,540 | Gross: $8.20M
10. We Are Marshall (2006)
PG | 131 min | Drama, Sport
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
Director: McG | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn
Votes: 64,838 | Gross: $43.55M
11. Any Given Sunday (1999)
R | 162 min | Drama, Sport
A behind-the-scenes look at the life-and-death struggles of modern-day gladiators and those who lead them.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz, James Woods
Votes: 125,918 | Gross: $75.53M
12. The Replacements (2000)
PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Sport
During a pro football strike, the owners hire substitute players.
Director: Howard Deutch | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Brooke Langton, Orlando Jones
Votes: 69,509 | Gross: $44.74M
13. Radio (2003)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of a high school coach and the developmentally challenged man who he took under his wing.
Director: Michael Tollin | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris, Debra Winger, S. Epatha Merkerson
Votes: 44,012 | Gross: $52.33M
14. North Dallas Forty (1979)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A satire of American professional football in which a veteran pass-catcher's individuality and refusal to become part of the team family are bitterly resented by his disciplinarian coaches.
Director: Ted Kotcheff | Stars: Nick Nolte, Charles Durning, Mac Davis, Dayle Haddon
Votes: 5,996 | Gross: $26.08M
15. Leatherheads (2008)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1925, an enterprising pro football player convinces America's too-good-to-be-true college football hero to play for his team and keep the league from going under.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski, David de Vries
Votes: 33,449 | Gross: $31.20M
16. Invincible (2006)
PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Based on the story of Vince Papale, a 30-year-old bartender from South Philadelphia who overcame long odds to play for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1976.
Director: Ericson Core | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Conway
Votes: 75,368 | Gross: $57.81M
17. Wildcats (1986)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Sport
A rookie high school football coach has a harder time than she expected trying to whip her tough inner city team into shape.
Director: Michael Ritchie | Stars: Goldie Hawn, Swoosie Kurtz, Robyn Lively, Brandy Gold
Votes: 14,615 | Gross: $26.29M
18. The Longest Yard (2005)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Sport
Prison inmates form a football team to challenge the prison guards.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, Nelly
Votes: 195,182 | Gross: $158.12M
19. Brian's Song (1971 TV Movie)
G | 73 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.
Director: Buzz Kulik | Stars: James Caan, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Warden, Bernie Casey
Votes: 8,871
20. Draft Day (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Sport
At the NFL Draft, General Manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must decide what he's willing to sacrifice on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with NFL dreams.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Kevin Costner, Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Garner, Frank Langella
Votes: 67,126 | Gross: $28.83M
21. Necessary Roughness (1991)
PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy, Sport
Due to NCAA sanctions, the Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos must form a football team from their actual student body, with no scholarships to help, to play their football schedule.
Director: Stan Dragoti | Stars: Scott Bakula, Hector Elizondo, Robert Loggia, Harley Jane Kozak
Votes: 13,120 | Gross: $26.26M
22. All Things Fall Apart (2011)
R | 110 min | Drama, Sport
A drama centered around a promising football running back during his senior year in college.
Director: Mario Van Peebles | Stars: 50 Cent, Ray Liotta, Lynn Whitfield, Cedric Sanders
Votes: 2,769
23. The Best of Times (1986)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A small-town loser determines to have one more shot at the big time by winning a football game.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Robin Williams, Kurt Russell, Pamela Reed, Holly Palance
Votes: 8,195 | Gross: $7.79M
24. Underdogs (2013)
PG | 102 min | Drama, Family, Sport
Set in rural Ohio, the birthplace of football, a small-town high school football team rises to play their cross-town rival, a perennial powerhouse, while standing up for an entire community.
Director: Doug Dearth | Stars: D.B. Sweeney, William Mapother, Richard Portnow, Logan Huffman
Votes: 1,148 | Gross: $0.03M
25. Little Giants (1994)
PG | 107 min | Comedy, Family, Sport
Misfits form their own opposing team to an elite peewee football team, coached by the elite team coach's brother.
Director: Duwayne Dunham | Stars: Rick Moranis, Ed O'Neill, Shawna Waldron, Devon Sawa
Votes: 30,859 | Gross: $19.29M
26. The Longest Yard (1974)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad
Votes: 21,435 | Gross: $7.13M
27. Everybody's All-American (1988)
R | 127 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
A Louisiana football legend struggles to deal with life's complexities after his college career is over.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Jessica Lange, Dennis Quaid, Timothy Hutton, John Goodman
Votes: 3,455 | Gross: $12.64M
28. Heaven Can Wait (1978)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
Directors: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry | Stars: Warren Beatty, James Mason, Julie Christie, Jack Warden
Votes: 23,531 | Gross: $81.64M
29. The Game Plan (2007)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Family, Sport
An NFL quarterback living the bachelor lifestyle discovers that he has an 8-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Director: Andy Fickman | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kyra Sedgwick, Madison Pettis, Roselyn Sanchez
Votes: 100,373 | Gross: $90.65M
30. Facing the Giants (2006)
PG | 111 min | Drama, Sport
A losing coach and his underdog football team face their giants of fear and failure on and off the field, with surprising results.
Director: Alex Kendrick | Stars: Alex Kendrick, Shannen Fields, Jason McLeod, Tracy Goode
Votes: 18,068 | Gross: $10.18M
31. Johnny Be Good (1988)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Sport
Johnny's the top high-school football player and many colleges want him. His girlfriend, coach and best friend want him in the college, serving themselves most.
Director: Bud S. Smith | Stars: Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., Paul Gleason, Uma Thurman
Votes: 7,381 | Gross: $17.55M
32. The 5th Quarter (2010)
PG-13 | 101 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Driven by the tragic and fatal car crash that took the life of his fifteen year old brother Luke, and wearing Luke's number 5 jersey, Jon Abbate helps to lead the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to the most successful season in school history.
Director: Rick Bieber | Stars: Ryan Merriman, Andie MacDowell, Aidan Quinn, Michael Harding
Votes: 1,691 | Gross: $0.40M
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