Inspirational sports/academic/life films
by valeri552 | created - 25 Nov 2015 | updated - 02 Apr 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. McFarland, USA (2015)
PG | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Jim White moves his family after losing his last job as a football coach, and at his new school he turns seven disappointing students into one of the best cross-country teams in the region.
Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Ramiro Rodriguez, Carlos Pratts
Votes: 42,218 | Gross: $44.47M
2. Glory Road (2006)
PG | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
Director: James Gartner | Stars: Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols, Jon Voight
Votes: 48,806 | Gross: $42.64M
3. We Are Marshall (2006)
PG | 131 min | Drama, Sport
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
Director: McG | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn
Votes: 64,808 | Gross: $43.55M
4. Friday Night Lights (2004)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Drama, Sport
Based on H.G. Bissinger's book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Jay Hernandez, Derek Luke, Lucas Black
Votes: 66,818 | Gross: $61.26M
5. Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two ambitious girls, despite their parents' wishes, have their hearts set on careers in professional football.
Director: Gurinder Chadha | Stars: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher
Votes: 116,443 | Gross: $32.54M
6. Invincible (2006)
PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Based on the story of Vince Papale, a 30-year-old bartender from South Philadelphia who overcame long odds to play for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1976.
Director: Ericson Core | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Conway
Votes: 75,300 | Gross: $57.81M
7. The Express (2008)
PG | 130 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A drama based on the life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
Director: Gary Fleder | Stars: Rob Brown, Dennis Quaid, Clancy Brown, Darrin Dewitt Henson
Votes: 22,862 | Gross: $9.59M
8. Gridiron Gang (2006)
PG-13 | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Teenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together.
Director: Phil Joanou | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, L. Scott Caldwell, Leon Rippy
Votes: 80,645 | Gross: $38.43M
9. Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
PG-13 | 117 min | Drama
A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Votes: 90,880 | Gross: $63.86M
10. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,066,988 | Gross: $138.43M
11. Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 104 min | Biography, Drama
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Director: Peter Levin | Stars: Thora Birch, Michael Riley, Robert Bockstael, Makyla Smith
Votes: 4,397
12. The Ron Clark Story (2006 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 90 min | Biography, Drama
A small-town teacher relocates to one of the country's toughest classrooms.
Director: Randa Haines | Stars: Matthew Perry, Judith Buchan, Griffin Cork, Jerry Callaghan
Votes: 12,364
13. Freedom Writers (2007)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves and pursue education beyond high school.
Director: Richard LaGravenese | Stars: Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn
Votes: 85,342 | Gross: $36.61M
14. Freeheld (2015)
PG-13 | 103 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
New Jersey police lieutenant Laurel Hester and her registered domestic partner Stacie Andree battle to secure Hester's pension benefits when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Director: Peter Sollett | Stars: Julianne Moore, Elliot Page, Steve Carell, Michael Shannon
Votes: 13,235 | Gross: $0.53M
15. Woodlawn (2015)
PG | 123 min | Biography, Drama, History
A gifted high-school football player must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field.
Directors: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin | Stars: Caleb Castille, Sean Astin, Jon Voight, C. Thomas Howell
Votes: 7,845 | Gross: $14.39M
16. Concussion (2015)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.
Director: Peter Landesman | Stars: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, David Morse
Votes: 100,559 | Gross: $34.54M
17. My All-American (2015)
PG | 118 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Freddie Steinmark, an underdog on the gridiron, faces the toughest challenge of his life after leading his team to a championship season.
Director: Angelo Pizzo | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Finn Wittrock, Robin Tunney, Sarah Bolger
Votes: 7,813 | Gross: $2.25M
18. Swimming Upstream (2003)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The inspirational life story of Australian swimmer Tony Fingleton.
Director: Russell Mulcahy | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis, Jesse Spencer, Tim Draxl
Votes: 3,480 | Gross: $0.05M
19. Boys Don't Cry (1999)
R | 118 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A young man named Brandon Teena navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska.
Director: Kimberly Peirce | Stars: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III
Votes: 103,260 | Gross: $11.53M
20. October Sky (1999)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen
Votes: 97,844 | Gross: $32.48M
21. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 545,368 | Gross: $95.86M
22. The Great Debaters (2007)
PG-13 | 126 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker
Votes: 62,837 | Gross: $30.23M
23. Stand and Deliver (1988)
PG | 103 min | Biography, Drama
The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout-prone students to learn calculus.
Director: Ramón Menéndez | Stars: Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan, Virginia Paris
Votes: 22,314 | Gross: $13.99M
24. Remember the Titans (2000)
PG | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 1971 Virginia high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white one, the very foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst
Votes: 231,802 | Gross: $115.65M
25. Hoop Dreams (1994)
PG-13 | 170 min | Documentary, Drama, Sport
A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
Director: Steve James | Stars: William Gates, Arthur Agee, Emma Gates, Curtis Gates
Votes: 28,006 | Gross: $7.83M
26. Hoop Reality (2007)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary
Hoop Reality is the sequel to the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams" and explores what happened during the last decade from where "Hoop Dreams" left off. It follows the original basketball hero... See full summary »
Director: Lee Davis | Stars: Arthur Agee, Patrick Beverley, Lamont Bryant
Votes: 156
27. Hardball (2001)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
A gambling addict and ticket scalper living an aimless life reluctantly agrees to coach a Little League team from the Chicago projects as part of a loan agreement.
Director: Brian Robbins | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, John Hawkes, Bryan Hearne
Votes: 33,362 | Gross: $40.22M
28. Music of the Heart (1999)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music
After Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Meryl Streep, Cloris Leachman, Henry Dinhofer, Michael Angarano
Votes: 13,326 | Gross: $14.86M
29. Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
PG | 143 min | Drama, Music
A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.
Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas, Olympia Dukakis
Votes: 41,682 | Gross: $82.57M
30. The Soloist (2009)
PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A newspaper journalist discovers a homeless musical genius and tries to improve his situation.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander
Votes: 55,390 | Gross: $31.67M
31. The Class (2008)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
Director: Laurent Cantet | Stars: François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, Angélica Sancio, Arthur Fogel
Votes: 36,396 | Gross: $3.77M
32. Small Wonders (1995)
G | 77 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
A dedicated music teacher in East Harlem instructs a gaggle of underprivileged children in the art of the violin. In the climax, they play Carnegie Hall with some of the world's foremost fiddlers.
Director: Allan Miller | Stars: Roberta Guaspari, Arnold Steinhardt, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman
Votes: 175
33. Fences (2016)
PG-13 | 139 min | Drama
A working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.
Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo
Votes: 117,949 | Gross: $57.68M
34. The Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
TV-MA | 91 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of Madelyn Murray O'Hair, the outspoken activist and founder of American Atheists.
Director: Tommy O'Haver | Stars: Melissa Leo, Brandon Mychal Smith, Juno Temple, Michael Chernus
Votes: 7,336
35. Just Mercy (2019)
PG-13 | 137 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Charlie Pye Jr.
Votes: 75,692
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