Sports movies can serve as a backdrop for all kinds of storytelling about what it means to navigate through life. But mid-budget movies have all but disappeared from theaters, taking sports movies with them. When was the last time you saw a great sports comedy or drama that was new? Once a hardy genre, sports movies are something of an endangered species at the moment.
With that in mind, Tribune film critic Nina Metz and sports writer Shakeia Taylor look back at four titles from decades past: “Slap Shot,” “A League of Their Own,” “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Bend it Like Beckham.” All are rentable or available on a streaming platform.
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Note: Next month Taylor will take part in the panel discussion “Leveling the Playing Field: Women in Baseball,” hosted by the Jackie Robinson Museum in New York, to talk about how women of color are stepping up to the plate across baseball.
Michael Ontkean and Paul Newman in “Slap Shot.
Memorable sports movie of decades past
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