It’s Super Bowl Sunday! And what better movie genre to feature in our 14 Days of Romance Valentine’s Day list than football movies?
The game might be the focus of these films, but the characters like to play the game of love just as much, and in some cases, more.
These are our top picks for Most Romantic Football Movies. Which are your favorites?
Tom Cruise is in love with football and Lea Thompson in this 1983 film. Cruise plays a teen in a dying Pennsylvania steel town who knows his only way out is a football scholaship. But when he clashes with his coach, his chances of getting into college go south. Of course, there are other things going on his life at the time too, in particular his getting-serious relationship with Thompson, and like any good supportive girlfriend, she helps him to see the right way to deal with the situation. Ahh, young love.
Available on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Tom Cruise again!? Yes, Mr. Cruise proves that he’s got all the right moves once again in Cameron Crowe’s (Almost Famous) 1996 romance-by-way-of-sports-drama/comedy. Tom’s title character, a cocky, cutthroat sports agent dedicated to getting big money for his clients, goes through a moral re-evaluation of his life and career, prompting the loss of his job, fiancé and self-image. He pulls through the crisis, ultimately “showing the money” to Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Ticking Clock‘s Cuba Gooding Jr., who won a Best Supporting Oscar for his performance) and, more importantly, finding romance with Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger, Case 39), a single mother who believes in his moral reawakening, helps him financially and emotionally as he sets out to revive his livelihood and stays by his side during their tempestuous quickie marriage, which culminates in the real growth of their love for each other. They had us at “hello.”
Available on DVD and Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
All Los Angeles Rams quarterback Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty, Ishtar) wants is a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. His “unscheduled” accidental death cuts that dream short, but when he wangles another shot at life on Earth in a recently murdered millionaire’s body from Heaven’s amenable Mr. Jordan (James Mason, Bigger Than Life), Joe figures that it’s just a matter of getting back into shape and hitting the field. But what he doesn’t count on is falling hard for the charming Betty Logan (Julie Christie, Doctor Zhivago), which prompts him to question the value of a second chance at life — and a first one at love. Beatty and Buck Henry co-directed this lovely 1978 update of 1941’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan, substituting football for boxing and gently intimating that true love and destiny are intertwined. It’s definitely a classic in the romantic football movie arena.
Available on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment
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