The Best Sports Movies Based on True Stories
Highly rated sports movies based on and inspired by true stories. Films about real-life coaches, athletes, and sports teams. Inspirational sports biopics and sports dramas. Baseball, basketball, football, boxing, racing, swimming, sledding, and other sports films. Get the facts behind the films at truestorymovies.org.
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- DirectorBrian HelgelandStarsChadwick BosemanT.R. KnightHarrison FordIn 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and faces considerable racism in the process.
- DirectorSimon Cellan JonesStarsMark WahlbergSimu LiuJuliet RylanceAn adventure racer adopts a stray dog named Arthur to join him in an epic endurance race.
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsTom HanksGeena DavisLori PettyDuring World War II, sisters Dottie and Kit join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amid their own growing rivalry.
- DirectorsAndrew ErwinJon ErwinStarsZachary LeviAnna PaquinHayden ZallerThe story of NFL MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, who went from stocking shelves at a supermarket to becoming an American Football star.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweRenée ZellwegerCraig BierkoThe true story of James J. Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer, who returned to the spotlight to win the heavyweight championship of the world.
- DirectorThomas CarterStarsSamuel L. JacksonRick GonzalezRobert Ri'chardControversy surrounds high school basketball coach Ken Carter after he benches his entire team for breaking their academic contract with him.
- DirectorJon TurteltaubStarsJohn CandyLeonDoug E. DougWhen a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican Bobsled Team.
- DirectorDexter FletcherStarsTaron EgertonHugh JackmanTom CostelloThe story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
- DirectorChris EyreStarsJames McDanielIrene BedardDelanna StudiBased on a true story, a black educator takes a job teaching high-school English at the Three Nations Reservation, and is coaxed into coaching the girls basketball team.
- DirectorBaltasar KormákurStarsJason ClarkeAng Phula SherpaThomas M. WrightOn May 10, 1996, mountain guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer combine their expedition teams for a final ascent to the summit of Mount Everest. With little warning, a storm strikes the mountain and the climbers must now battle to survive.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsMatt DamonChristian BaleJon BernthalAmerican car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford in order to defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.
- DirectorPeter BergStarsBilly Bob ThorntonJay HernandezDerek LukeBased 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.
- DirectorJames GartnerStarsJosh LucasDerek LukeAustin NicholsIn 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
- DirectorNeill BlomkampStarsDavid HarbourOrlando BloomArchie MadekweBased on the unbelievable, inspiring true story of a team of underdogs - a struggling, working-class gamer, a failed former race car driver, and an idealistic motorsport exec - who risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.
- DirectorPhil JoanouStarsDwayne JohnsonXzibitL. Scott CaldwellTeenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together.
- DirectorDavid AnspaughStarsGene HackmanBarbara HersheyDennis HopperA coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small-town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the state championship in 1950s Indiana.
- DirectorTim StoryStarsForest WhitakerIsaiah WashingtonShad MossAl, a basketball coach at a New Orleans high school, finally has a winning team when Hurricane Katrina happens. He tries to build a winning team anew after the hurricane.
- DirectorCraig GillespieStarsMargot RobbieSebastian StanAllison JanneyCompetitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
- DirectorEricson CoreStarsMark WahlbergGreg KinnearElizabeth BanksBased 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.
- DirectorReinaldo Marcus GreenStarsWill SmithAunjanue Ellis-TaylorJon BernthalA look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after the coaching from their father Richard.
- DirectorNiki CaroStarsKevin CostnerMaria BelloRamiro RodriguezJim White moves his family after losing his last job as a football coach, and at his new school he turns seven disappointing students into one of the best cross-country teams in the region.
- DirectorGavin O'ConnorStarsKurt RussellPatricia ClarksonNathan WestThe true story of Herb Brooks, the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Soviet squad.
- DirectorBennett MillerStarsBrad PittRobin WrightJonah HillOakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
- DirectorMira NairStarsMadina NalwangaDavid OyelowoLupita Nyong'oLiving in the slum of Katwe in Kampala, Uganda, is a constant struggle for 10-year-old Phiona and her family. Her world changes one day when she meets Robert Katende, a missionary who teaches children how to play chess.
- DirectorBoaz YakinStarsDenzel WashingtonWill PattonWood HarrisIn 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 foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
