For those too young to recall the events
chronicled in "I, Tonya," which is nominated for three Academy Awards
this year, raise your hand if you saw the movie and thought, "No way is
this based on a true story!"
There have been several sports movies
good enough for Oscar consideration over the years -- some based on true
stories and others pure fiction. So... here's a quiz to see if you know the
difference.
We’ll provide a brief description of 10 sports
movies that have been honored at the Academy Awards -- five that are based on
true stories and five that are total fiction. Can you guess which is which?
First, a few movies that we will not
include here:
Rocky: Sylvester
Stallone had always maintained that Rocky’s story was fiction – until recently
admitting that it was “loosely based” on the career of real-life New Jersey
boxer Chuck Wepner.
Heaven
Can Wait: Los Angeles Rams QB Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty) is killed in
a car accident, but when his guardian angel realizes that Pendleton was taken
too soon, he returns to Earth in a different body. (This story is almost as
unbelievable as a backup quarterback leading the Philadelphia Eagles to their
first NFL title in 78 years.)
Field
of Dreams: If the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson and other long-dead Hall
of Fame baseball players coming back to life in an Iowa cornfield isn’t true,
why do so many fans visit that field every summer?
So, yeah, it’s too easy to guess that
stories involving reincarnation and ghosts are not based on true stories. Let’s
see how you fare with these:
1)
Million Dollar Baby: The 2004 Best Picture also earned Hilary
Swank the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a tough female amateur boxer
being mentored by grizzled trainer Clint Eastwood.
2)
Chariots of Fire: The 1981 Best Picture honoree tells the story of two
runners competing in the 1924 Olympics. As the movie poster says, “This is the
story of two men who run … not to run … but to prove something to the world.”
3)
Raging Bull: Martin Scorsese’s 1980 masterpiece about the turbulent life of
a retired boxing champion. Many people think it was a crime that “Raging Bull”
lost out to “Kramer vs. Kramer” for Best Picture, but the movie did earn a Best
Actor Oscar for Robert DeNiro.
4)
The Hustler: The story of young pool star “Fast” Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)
taking on the champ, Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), was nominated for Best
Picture in 1961 – and it’s also credited with sparking a resurgence in the
sport.
5)
Jerry Maguire: Tom Cruise was nominated for Best Actor, playing the
super-agent. Cuba Gooding Jr., who won Best Supporting Actor for his role as
Cardinals receiver Rod Tidwell, had one of the best Oscaracceptance speeches of all-time.
6)
The Blind Side: Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for this 2009 film about
the white family in Tennessee that takes in an African-American high school
football star from a broken home.
7)
Hoosiers: In this 1986 classic, Gene Hackman plays coach Norman Dale, who
leads a tiny Indiana high school to the state basketball championship in 1954.
8) Breaking
Away: In this 1979 Best Picture nominee, a group of blue-collar teens from
Bloomington, Indiana, enter the Little 500 bicycle race.
9)
The Wrestler: Mickey Rourke was nominated for Best Actor for this 2008
portrayal of a down-and-out former professional wrestler battling health issues
and internal demons.
10)
The Hurricane: Denzel Washington was nominated for Best Actor in 1999,
playing Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a middleweight contender who is wrongly
convicted of murder.
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How’d you do? Like “I, Tonya,” here are
the five movies that were based on a true story: 2, 3, 6, 7, 10
Some
