Hall of fame Round 4

The first round of the Hall of Fame is now closed with both The Fighter and Cool Runnings going through to the quarter finals.

Remember that Rounds 2 and 3 are still open to vote in (Round 2 closes on Wednesday)

https://www.606v2.com/t52863-hall-of-fame-round-2

https://www.606v2.com/t52911-hall-of-fame-round-3

This round brings together one of the most iconic boxing matches of all time, against a sport from dystopian future, American football and a comedy classic.

Remember, you can vote for your favourite two.and the top 2 go through to the quarters. If you want to offer up a review of the film you are picking, I will be more than happy to include it here (and future rounds should it qualify).

Friday Night Lights
Rollerball
When we were kings
Dodgeball


For this round, we have one write up courtesy of Rowley.

When We Were Kings

By 1974 most everyone agreed that Muhammad Ali’s best days were behind him. He had come back from his three year exile for his draft refusal but whilst he had won a good number of fights he had lost to both Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Whilst people doubted if Ali had anything left nobody was asking similar questions about current heavyweight champion George Foreman. Foreman had beaten both Frazier and Norton, in both instances with contemptuous ease.

Despite all this Ali had star power and so a fight against him and Foreman was one that was an inevitability. However, as tends to be the case in boxing making the fight was not easy and in a series of plot twists that would not look out of place in a John La Carre novel the fight found itself in Zaire, at the time led by corrupt dictator Joseph Mobutu who pillaged his country’s treasury to pay for the fight, basically to give him bragging rights over his Central African neighbours.

The real irony of When We Were Kings is it was never a film that was meant to be made. As part of the fight weekend there was to be a music festival featuring the likes of BB King and James Brown and filmmaker Leon Gast was going solely to film that festival (it was later released as Soul Power, which is also excellent) However in the run up to the fight Ali got injured and him, Foreman and Gast found themselves stuck in Zaire for a further six weeks.

During this time whether the fight would still go ahead was a genuine doubt. However one of the people involved in the promotion of the fight was a young former numbers runner and recently released convict by the name of Don King. Through a mixture of charm, BS and chutzpah King not only kept the fight together but also managed to muscle his way to the centre of the promotion and the sport.

Whilst the back story to how the fight got made is fascinating enough, in order for the film to have its impact the fight needed to have something special and in that respect Ali came through in spades. As alluded to earlier most were predicting a one sided beating for Ali but in one of the greatest shocks the sport has ever seen he not only beat Foreman but knocked him out, using the now famous rope-a-dope tactics.

The film contains contributions from the likes of George Plimpton, Norman Mailer and Spike Lee, but perhaps inevitably the star of the show is Ali. Whether clowning around with the children of Africa, holding court in a press conference or talking with James Brown Ali exudes a charisma and charm that most film stars can only dream of possessing.  When We Were Kings is quite simply the Greatest at his greatest.


Remember - everyone can vote!!

Has to be When We Were Kings. Fascinating from start to finish.

Backing your own write up, eh, Jeff? I'm going with Dodgeball and Friday Night Lights

Backing the best film on there Raf, the excellent write up just adds to its brilliance.

easily when we were kings for me, only voting for one

Clearly from this rabble, it's When We Were Kings.

Jeff's having a good tournament but he's only been up against featherweights so far!

guildfordbat wrote:
Jeff's having a good tournament but he's only been up against featherweights so far!

Not going to count my chickens just yet guildford. I fully expect all my write ups to be eliminated by some witless Adam Sandler comedy (like there are any other kind) in due course. Tends to be the way of these things unfortunately.

Friday Night Lights was excellent, from memory.

Need to watch When We Were Kings.

When we were kings was excellent. As 2nd choice would prob go with Friday N L. I always seem to like american football films, seems to produce lots of good ones. Hoping any given Sunday makes a shortlist soon

I love how there seems to be an "us and them" feeling on this. Because people with a sense of humour also get to vote and are voting for the comedy sports films instead of the serious ones. Such is the wide variety of posters on this forum. Enjoyable to read but seems to be a little snobbery at times.

Not fair. Three rounds in which it's been a chore to pick a second film, and then this one, where I'd be happy to see any of the 4 in the final. Went for Kings and Lights, but Dodgeball should go through on a repechage, because there are a lot of films out there that are nowhere near it.

Marky wrote: Enjoyable to read but seems to be a little snobbery at times.

How dare you accuse me of a little snobbery. When it comes to films I am extremely snobby and am guilty of massive displays of it.

Dodgeball doesn't need the repechage, its bossing this...

No surprise that a big budget comedy and a boxing movie are winning this. Friday Night Lights is a classic and deserves to be in a category it stands a chance of progressing through.

"When we were kings" was an excellant movie, the other three were garbage.

Friday Night Lights is the best American Football movie.

When We Were Kings is brilliant and the 2nd best sports documentary of all time (Hoop Dreams being the best).

Dodgeball is a bit of a guilty pleasure so have voted for that.

Which verison of Rollerball has been put forward? The original with James Caan is really good and I was tempted to vote for it ahead of Dodgeball. The remake has Chris Klien and is rubbish.

Haven't seen Friday Night Lights but have been meaning to.

CFCNick wrote:Friday Night Lights is the best American Football movie.

  

Remember the Titans!!

Nah, Remember The Titans is too Disney feel good and is totally stretched from the truth of the real TC Williams team.

I'd even put Invincible ahead of Remember The Titans.

Have never looked into the back story too heavily, what's so stretched?

Personally I love the soundtrack too, which is part of what gets me!

TopHat24/7 wrote:

CFCNick wrote:Friday Night Lights is the best American Football movie.

  

Remember the Titans!!

have to say i do like remember the titans, any given sunday and blind side are also worth a shout

TopHat24/7 wrote:Have never looked into the back story too heavily, what's so stretched?

Personally I love the soundtrack too, which is part of what gets me!

The people involved say Disney took liberties with the truth. The over the top heated nature between blacks and whites in Arlington wasn't anywhere like it is in the film. The school was integrated in 1965 not 1971 and the town mostly liked each other and got along. All the schools they played were integrated too. The guy who misses tackles so black teammates get hit never existed. In the championship game they didn't win dramatically, they won 27-0 and restricted the other team to -5 yards total offense. Also the 1971 TC Williams team was made up of the merger of three schools. The players had no issue with race just about their own individual positions.

Haven't researched in a while by any means, but if I recall - TC Williams only had de-segregated seniors from 1971. While the Final game was a 27-0 blow out, the match which was depicted as the final did happen, just not in the final.

compelling and rich wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:

CFCNick wrote:Friday Night Lights is the best American Football movie.

  

Remember the Titans!!

have to say i do like remember the titans, any given sunday and blind side are also worth a shout

I think you're all forgetting Ace Ventura - Pet Detective.