More recently the sport movie has been as popular as ever however, it is the comedy sport movie that has done well at the box office.Movies like Blades of Glory, Semi Pro and Dodgeball, starring Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn have all been very success with cinema goers.But there have been the odd movie that has also struck a cord with the critics in particular Million Dollar Baby and Cinderella Man, once again highlighting the popularity of the boxing movie.In the second part of our countdown of the top sports movies we look at the top five.
5. Any Given Sunday
When legendary Miami Sharks quarterback Cap Rooney (Dennis Quaid) is badly injured in a game, coach Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) is forced to reach deep into his bench for Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx). The third-stringer's injury-plagued career and difficulty with maintaining focus make him a dubious commodity at best.
But Beamen, aware of what this opportunity could mean, starts playing at a much higher level than ever before, planting championship hopes in the minds of Miami fans.
The extraordinary success of Beamen, an athlete whose flamboyance contradicts everything the Lombardi-like D'Amato believes about the game, makes the coach wonder whether his time is passing.
To add to his problems, Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), a young woman who has inherited ownership of the team from her late father, is pressuring him to win now, and at any cost.
Will D'Amato be able to pull the team together for a final run at the championship?
Any Given Sunday was directed by Oliver Stone and boasted an impressive cast of Pacino, Diaz and Foxx as the film highlights the love-hate relationships that exist within pro-football as well as showing it as a male dominated arena.
4. Cool Runnings
When a fellow competitor trips Derice at an Olympic qualifying track meet, Derice fails to acquire the final points necessary to get to the summer games.
To make matters worse, the local board refuses to reinstate Derice. But there's still way for him to make it to the Olympics. After learning about a wacky American bobsledder living in Jamaica, who had years earlier attempted to recruit Derice's father for a Jamaican bobsled team, Derice's competitive spirit is renewed.
Realizing that bobsledding may be his golden opportunity, he drafts his go-cart driving buddy Sanka, and talks Winter Olympian Irv Blitzer into coaching this offbeat team.
Blitzer whips the dedicated athletes into bobsledding shape despite the total absence of snow. Together they're the weirdest outfit at Calgary, but no one's more fun at the winter games.
The comedy, which was directed by Jon Turteltaub, was loosely based on the exploits of the Jamaican Bobsled Team at Calgary, Alberta in the 1988 Winter Olympics, however the film's characters were completely fictional.
The film was successful both critically and commercially grossing $154,856,263 at the global box office.
3. Raging Bull
Shooting in a crisp black and white, Scorsese tells the story of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, played with incredible intensity by Oscar winner Robert De Niro.
As La Motta rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown, he falls in love with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), a gorgeous girl from his Bronx neighbourhood.
Jake's inability to express his feelings pours out in the ring and eventually takes over his life in his dealings with his brother, Joey (Joe Pesci).
Irrational jealousy over Vickie, as well as an insatiable appetite, sends him into a downward spiral that costs him his title, his wife, and his relationship with Joey.
Raging Bull is perhaps one of Scorsese's best movies and one of Robert De Niro's unforgettable performances.
Despite this when it was released some of the critics troubled by the amounts of violence, however by the end of the eighties it was deemed to be a modern classic.
Robert De Niro won his second Oscar for his performance as Jake La Motta and the film was recognised for it's editing.
It received six other nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci and Best Supporting Actress (Cathy Moriarty).
2. Chariots of Fire
Based on a true story Chariots of Fire deals with the personal struggles faced by two very different long-distance runners competing for Britain in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.
Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) is a devout Christian who sees victory as a testament to the glory of God, while the other, Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), is a Jewish Cambridge student who sees victory as a challenge to anti-Semitism and his ongoing struggle for acceptance by Britain's elite.
Eric, a hometown Scottish hero to the people, gives rousing sermons after victory and works at a local missionary.
Harold runs with a zealous commitment, upsetting Cambridge's educational upper crust (played by Sir John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson) while enjoying social life with his university friends and his beautiful showgirl girlfriend (Alice Krige).
But when faced with such a competent challenger, Harold hires trainer Sam Mussabini (Ian Holm) to further his dreams of winning the gold.
Ultimately, the two runners meet in Paris to run for British victory in a rousing finale.
'The British are coming...' Colin Welland famously announced when he collected his Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. However Chariots of Fire has been beaten into number two.
The film is one of very few movies that depict athletics and is now considered a cinematic classic.
It was nominated for seven Academy Awards winning four including Best Picture.
1. Rocky
Rocky is a down-on-his-luck Philadelphia southpaw who works at a meat-packing factory while fighting at a local club.
He's given the chance of a lifetime when the world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), chooses him as an unlikely opponent in his championship bicentennial fight.
What was originally planned as a publicity stunt becomes a chance for Rocky to prove himself as a prizefighter while training with his cantankerous manager, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), to rise to the challenge.
Thrilling scenes of Rocky's arduous training, including his unforgettable run up the Philadelphia Art Museum steps, are interspersed with a sweet and touching love story between the fighter and his best friend's shy sister, Adrian (Talia Shire).
With the love of Adrian on his side, Rocky struggles to overcome the odds, fighting with all his heart in the glorious and brutal finale.
Released in 1976 the film has become an unexpected franchise success and went on to spawn five sequels, the most recent earlier this year.
The film was met well critically and is now considered a cinematic classic. It received ten Academy Award nominations, winning three including Best Picture.
Leatherheads is the latest sport movie to be released that looks at American football in the 1920s and The Fighter which is in pre-production this trend of sports movies doesn't look to be subsiding.
Leatherheads is released 11th April
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw