@Linkat,
I ceertainly agree that hollywood movie and media in general has a lopsidedness to how they skew and look at sports and gender participation.
Forgive me for the length of this (and some repetition), but here's a more comprehensive list based on the theme of girls team sports:
MOVIES
Annie O (1995, PG)
Ah, equality without lawsuits. There is no girls’ varsity basketball team at Washington High School, but Annie "Sure Shot" Rojas plays better than anyone in the school, boy or girl. So, the boys’ coach invites her to try out for his team. She’s ostracized at first by her teammates, who include her brother and boyfriend, but eventually they realize she’s not a threat but the reason the team keeps winning. By the next year, without one mention of Title IX, Washington has a girls’ varsity team!
Bend It Like Beckham (2003, PG-13)
Bend It Like Beckham is true girl power. This glorious comedy centers on Jess (Parminder Nagra), an Indian girl born in England whose only desire is to become a football--or, as we say on this side of the Atlantic, soccer--star like her idol, David Beckham; but her traditional family refuses to even consider it. With the help of her new friend Juliet (Keira Knightley), Jess secretly joins a girls' team under the guidance of a male coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). As the team starts to gain some attention, Jess's secret can't be kept forever. The story of Bend It Like Beckham is so genuine and detailed that it transcends all the sports-movie formulas that it also fulfills with cheeky exuberance. Wonderfully acted, and written and directed with loving care by Gurinder Chadha (Bhaji on the Beach, What's Cooking?), this movie is pure delight from start to finish. --Bret Fetzer
~Blue Crush (2002, PG-13)
With refreshing energy, Blue Crush is the kind of movie that girls and young women deserve to see more of…It rejuvenates the surf-movie tradition by showing real girls with real friendships, coping with absent parents, borderline poverty, rocky romance and the challenge of raising a kid sister. For young Hawaiian Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), those responsibilities are motivations to excel as a champion-class surfer...if she can overcome the fear of drowning, which she nearly did in a previous wipeout. Supportive friends (Girlfight's Michelle Rodriguez and Sanoe Lake) help her reach the climactic competition on Oahu's infamous Bonzai Pipeline, and like Saturday Night Fever, this engaging film uplifts the working class without condescension, riding high toward the joy of achievement. Himself an amateur surfer, director John Stockwell (Crazy/Beautiful) captures the extreme thrill of the sport while respecting the forces of nature and human behavior. --Jeff Shannon
~Bring It On (2000, PG-13)
Sunny, happy Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) is the new leader of the Toros, the cheerleading squad of Rancho Carne, an affluent San Diego high school that has lousy football players but one hell of a cheerleading team. National champions, they're the ones who bring in the bodies to the football games with their award-winning moves and sassy grace, and they're poised to take their sixth national cheer title. Torrance's new reign as cheer queen, though, is cut short when she discovers that her snotty, duplicitous forerunner was regularly stealing routines from the East Compton Clovers, the hip-hop influenced cheerleaders of a poor inner city school, and passing them off as the original work of the Toros. Scrambling to come up with a new routine for the Toros--and do the right thing by giving the Clovers their due--Torrance butts heads with the proud and understandably wary Isis (Gabrielle Union), the leader of the Clovers, who wants nothing to do with a rich blond white girl, but does want to get her squad to the championships. Problem is, only one team can take home the national title. Who's it gonna be?
~
Center Stage (2000, PG-13)
The primary appeal of dance movies is the dancing, with some added emphasis on the romance the art expresses. Center Stage wins on these counts, despite its reveling in overly familiar characters and formula plotting. Or maybe this reveling is responsible for what goofy fun this film is. The arduous task of becoming a professional ballet dancer is incarnated by many good-looking teens, all stock dance-film characters affectionately portrayed mostly by newcomers. But Center Stage holds Jody Sawyer (Amanda Schull), who may never be a great ballerina, but she's certainly one [great] jazz dancer. Then there's the arrogant genius (Ethan Stiefel), the dictatorial impresario (Peter Gallagher), the demanding instructor, the bulimic, the stage mother, etc. As we follow these characters, the message develops that one should let go and do what feels good. Jody may not be ballet material, but she scorches the stage when she's uninhibited…[the film] is all fun. --Jim Gay
~Cutting Edge (1992, PG)
As far as ice-skating movies go (or those that prominently feature the cold-bladed sport), this romantic movie is one of the best, thanks to utterly charming performances by underrated actors D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly. The couple play, respectively, a washed-up hockey player and a prima-donna skater who end up in doubles figure skating together at the Olympic Winter Games. Of course, the mismatched pair fall in love. In between, there's a lot of verbal sparring, talk of toe picks and surprisingly skillful directing by Paul Michael Glaser (Kazaam, The Air Up There). Direction here is critical--unlike in Flashdance, where the dancing was done in the shadows, face and feet obviously shot separately--and credibly highlights the actors and their professional stand-ins. This is such a fun, sweet story that the facts the film takes liberties with--including the alacrity with which a hockey player takes to Olympic-level figure skating--are easily forgivable. --N.F. Mendoza
A League of Their Own (1992, PG)
It’s 1943. The ranks of Major League Baseball have gone to war, yet America still wants to watch baseball. That summer, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was formed and took women out of the house to play ball and change their lives forever. The film is based on real events and will make you want to start a girls’ baseball league in your area. The star studded cast features: Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna and Tom Hanks.
*Love & Basketball (2000, PG-13)
An unusual romantic sports drama by Spike Lee, revolving around male and female basketball players. In l980s Los Angeles childhood friends Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps hang out together through school and college. As their relationship blossoms, they become a couple and share their mutual dream of, and striving towards, professional basketball careers.
*Nadia (1984, NR)
Biography of Romanian Nadia Comaneci, the first Olympic gymnast to achieve a perfect score of l0. After her astounding triumphs at the l976 Games, her personal life plummeted to tragic depths. This movie relates how she eventually managed to struggle back up again, enhancing her inspiring story with striking gymnastic footage.
~The Next Karate Kid (1994, PG)
Hilary Swank plays 17-year-old Julie Pierce, the recently orphaned and troubled granddaughter of an old war buddy of Miyagi Yakuga (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, the lone holdover from the previous Karate Kid films). Harassed at school by adolescent boys under the sway of an evil coach (Michael Ironside), Julie reluctantly finds refuge in the calm teachings of Mr. Yakuga. While the film's violence is as contrived and silly as that of the other KK features, the script provides exotic compensations via a subplot set in a peaceful Buddhist monastery. Still, it's Morita's crafty professionalism and Swank's emotional authenticity that makes this film more watchable than anyone might have expected. --Tom Keogh
*Personal Best (1982, R)
The performance of former Olympian Patrice Donnelly (as Tori) and the various shots of elite female athletes pushing themselves to be their best make this movie an authentic portrayal of the way Olympic athletes train and live. Although the movie may best be remembered for the relationship that develops between Tori and Chris (Mariel Hemingway), the movie’s real gift is the way it explores the psychological as well as the physical struggles associated with being an elite athlete.
Quarterback Princess (1983, NR)
This classic ‘80s film puts an average high school girl, Tami Maida (Helen Hunt) into the unlikely role of quarterback for her high school’s football team. When Tami’s dream of playing football actually comes true, it has the whole school and town talking. Her ability to handle the pressure from her family, opponents and her own teammates to come out on top makes this a must-see.
~Whale Rider (2003, PG-13)
One of the most charming and critically acclaimed films of 2003, the New Zealand hit Whale Rider effectively combines Maori tribal tradition with the timely "girl power" of a vibrant new millennium. Despite the discouragement of her gruff and disapproving grandfather (Rawiri Paratene), who nearly disowns her because she is female and therefore traditionally disqualified from tribal leadership, 12-year-old Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is convinced that she is a tribal leader and sets about to prove it. Rather than inflate this story (from a novel by Witi Ihimaera) with artificial sentiment, writer-director Niki Caro develops very real and turbulent family relationships, intimate and yet torn by a collision between stubborn tradition and changing attitudes. The mythic whale rider--the ultimate symbol of Maori connection to nature--is also the harbinger of Pai's destiny, and the appealing Castle-Hughes gives a luminous, astonishingly powerful performance that won't leave a dry eye in the house. With its fresh take on a familiar tale, Whale Rider is definitely one from the heart. --Jeff Shannon
When Billie Beat Bobby (ABC) (2001, NR)
The film recreates the 1973 male versus female tennis match that was watched around the globe when Bobby Riggs (Ron Silver), a 55-year-old male tennis hustler, challenged Billie Jean King (Holly Hunter), then a 29-year-old star, to a tennis "Battle of the Sexes." The match shook the foundations of American sports by dramatically demonstrating that female professional athletes were worthy of equal respect.
DOCUMENTARIES
Champions of the World: Highlights from the 1999 Women’s World Cup (1999)
Relive the excitement from the opening match to the final penalty shootout as team USA wins the Cup in front of the home crowd. This video captures all the great goals, saves, tackles and celebrations as these 20 players fulfilled their dream of becoming World Champions.
Dare to Compete: History of Women in Sports (HBO) (1999)
The documentary explores the history of women in sports through a collection of personal stories, challenges and achievements of female athletes. Dare to Compete includes key issues in women’s sports that are often overlooked, such as racism, sexism and homophobia.
FIFA Women's World Cup USA 2003: The Highlights (2003)
This video takes you through the tournament step-by-step with exciting game highlights, behind the scenes footage and crowd shots that capture the passion of the event.
In the Game (1994)
Before ESPN’s The Season, there was PBS’s In the Game. This documentary takes you inside the 1993-94 season of the Stanford women’s basketball team. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the intensity and determination it takes to be an NCAA Division I basketball player and lets us peek in on the coaching style of Tara VanDerveer, who transformed Stanford into one of the top women’s basketball teams in the country.
Rocks with Wings (PBS) (2001)
Rocks with Wings is the inspiring story of how coach Jerry Richardson and the Lady Chieftains learned to overcome the differences in race, gender and cultural heritage that divided them to achieve a sense of pride and accomplishment for themselves, their team and their community.
Welcome to Our World: USAPlayers'-Eye View of the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
A behind-the-scenes look at the US Women's Soccer Team at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup through the eyes of the players themselves. Available at
http://www.soccerrom.com/soccermall/mall_item_detail.cfm?item_rid=1020.
