SPORTS MOVIES - I'm going to have a review of 'Rabbit-Proof Fence' tomorrow along with some other random musings. But until then, Rico has provoked a bit of a debate in the Feedback Forum on the subject of sports movies...why I'm not entirely sure, but it's worth commenting on nevertheless. Everyone seems to agree that 'Field of Dreams' belongs at the top of the list or at least near it, and as a baseball fan first and foremost, and as someone who (rightly or wrongly) doesn't consider 'Raging Bull' to be a "sports movie", I'm inclined to agree. Sure Ray Liotta plays Shoeless Joe Jackson as a righty -- how did the casting agent/filmmakers overlook this? -- and they mispronounce White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte as 'Che-cotty' when it should be 'See-cot', as anyone who has seen Sayles' great 'Eight Men Out' is well aware, but it's truly an American classic. It's a movie that's as much about fathers and sons as it is baseball. 'Bull Durham' is a close second because, as LawDog admits, I can watch it three times a week and not get tired of it. Joeycotton stands out from the group by putting 'Slap Shot' at the top of his list and then slamming 'The Natural' as "the worst sports movie ever." Shamefully, I have never seen 'Slap Shot' despite the fact that I work for a professional hockey team! I come to work each day scared to death that I'll be found out, outed for all of my co-workers to humiliate and ridicule. As for 'The Natural', Joeyc and the Movie Club's own Sam Hallgren are on crack if they hate this movie. Much like 'Field of Dreams' and it's source material -- the book 'Shoeless Joe' -- 'The Natural' is actually a better movie than a book, even if Barry Levinson makes Roy Hobbs into the embodiment of perfection and Hollywood-izes the ending. Manipulative? Maybe, but if you don't get a chill down your spine when the ball hits the lights at the end and the sparks fly onto the field, then I say there's something wrong with you. I am absolutely unashamed about the fact that this moment provokes the same response from me today as it did when I was 12. For what it's worth, ESPN Page 2 produced this list awhile back of their top 20 sports movies of all-time. You can also read Bob Halloran's missive about how 'Bull Durham' is over-rated, self-indulgent crap. He argues his points well even if there is only one criticism that really holds up, which is the fact that Nuke (Tim Robbins) somehow gets called up straight from "A" ball to "The Show," skipping the usual "AA" and "AAA." My college roommates and I, who watched this movie about 100 times senior year, have always had a problem with this bit of fantasy too. And who knows, maybe Halloran is right about 'Durham.' After all, Ron Shelton did direct the dreadful 'Cobb' and the even more dreadful -- I mean despicably bad -- 'Play It To The Bone.' I also dislike Shelton's 'Tin Cup' about as much as Halloran does 'Durham' -- probably for the same primary reason, too, which is that everyone else seems to love it way too much. But don't you ever say an unkind word about 'White Men Can't Jump'. Forget Newman and Redford, Astaire and Rogers, has there ever been a better on-screen duo than Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes?

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