Football - a natural for movies

I love most all sports, but football is my favorite sport to watch.
There is not enough room to talk about every football movie but I will add a few that just missed the top five list:
Jerry McGuire (1996), Longest Yard (1974), Paper Lion (1968) and the Blind Side (2009), Knute Rockne All-American (1940), We Are Marshall (2006).

5. Everybody’s All-American (1988)

I was working in Baton Rouge when some of the filming of the football scenes took place during halftime of the 1987 LSU-Alabama game and the following week against Mississippi State.
The novel was written about the University of North Carolina, but when it was filmed at LSU, rumors started that it was based on the former LSU All-American Billy Cannon (Dennis Quiad), who won the 1959 Heisman Trophy and played 11 seasons for three professional teams, but served three years in federal prison in the mid-1980s for his role in a counterfeiting ring.

4. Any Given Sunday (1999)
The Miami Sharks is the team in this movie - Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, Charlton Heston and Ann-Margret.
The title comes from a line of dialogue D’Amato uses about how you can win or lose on “...any given Sunday.”
One of my friends - former Opelousas High and Southern University quarterback Sam George - was Jamie Foxx’s stunt double as quarterback Willie Beamon.

3. Remember the Titans (2000)

The film is based on the true story of African American coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel Washington, as he tries to introduce a racially divided team at the T.C. Williams High School in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Va. in 1971.

2. Brian’s Song (1971)

Brian’s Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan), a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams), who helps him through the difficult struggle.
It was a very moving and touching movie that I have never forgotten.

1. Rudy (1993)

Rudy is a 1993 American account of the life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who harbored dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite significant obstacles.
As the final game nears its end with Notre Dame up 17–3, with all the seniors onto the field but not Rudy, a “Rudy!” chant begins in the stadium.
Rudy gets to play on the final kickoff, to the joy of his family. Rudy stays in for the final play of the game, sacks the Georgia Tech quarterback, and to cheers from the stadium, is carried off the field on his teammates’ shoulders.
An epilogue text states that since 1975, no other player for Notre Dame has been carried off the field.

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