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“Invincible” (2006)
Walt Disney Pictures, which will celebrate its milestone 100-year anniversary in October of this year, has produced so many timeless classic films in genres of all sorts.
Everybody likes a feel-good, heartwarming and inspiring sports movie. No studio has produced them time and time again over the decades like Walt Disney Pictures, including Mark Wahlberg’s 2006 film, Invincible.
Wahlberg stars as real-life ex-Philadelphia Eagles special teams player Vince Papale. A star high school athlete, Papale landed a job on the Eagles’ roster as a 30-year-old in 1976 despite never even playing college football.
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A shoulder injury unfortunately prompted Papale to retire after just three NFL seasons, but he remains an all-time franchise fan favorite more than 40 years later. Wahlberg delivers a grade-A performance as Papale, and Greg Kinnear aced his performance as legendary head coach Dick Vermeil.This is simply a must-see movie for sports fans of all sorts.
“The Mighty Ducks” Movie Trilogy
Emilio Estevez took center stage in this classic ‘90s trilogy filled with moving underdog stories.
The first installment of the film, The Mighty Ducks, was released in 1992. The plot focuses on attorney Gordon Bombay (Estevez’s character), getting himself into legal trouble and being required to perform community service.
Bombay is assigned to coach a District 5 hockey team that plays in a Minnesota-based Pee-Wee league. Bombay immediately comes to dislike his coaching duties and struggles to connect with his players, who are lacking in hockey skills, fundamentals and proper equipment.
Eventually, Bombay rediscovers the passion for the game that he excelled in as a kid. He comes to embrace his role as a leader and mentor for the kids, and he succeeds in helping his players get the required equipment to maximize their talents.
Bombay renames District 5 “The Ducks”, and they quickly morph into a top team and find themselves playing for the state championship game against the rival Hawks.
In D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994), Bombay is assigned to coach the United States’ hockey team in the Junior Goodwill Games. The team is made up mostly of his players from the first Mighty Ducks film, with six other stars from around the nation also joining the team.
Estevez has a reduced role in D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996), as the players from the Junior Goodwill Games’ squad enter Eden Hall Academy high school program on hockey scholarships. The players struggle to adapt under the more demanding and new head coach in Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling.
A series of conflicts puts the Ducks’ scholarships in jeopardy. It’s now on Bombay to help the Ducks rally together under their new head coach, and to retain their hard-earned scholarships before the school board takes them away.
“Angels in the Outfield” (1994)
Canadian director William Dear captained the remake of the 1951 film which starred Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh and Keenan Wynn.
The 1994 remake featured a star-studded cast which included a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Roger Bomman), Danny Glover (George Knox), Tony Danza (Mel Clark), Brenda Fricker (Maggie Nelson) and Christopher Lloyd (Al the Angel). Future A-listers Adrien Brody (Danny Hemmerling) and Matthew McConaughey (Ben Williams) also have supporting roles in the film.
Angels in the Outfield centers around two fostered boys and best friends in Roger and J.P. (Milton Davis Jr.) They are passionate fans of the real-life California Angels MLB team, despite the club’s ongoing struggles and dysfunction.
Roger’s widowed father jokingly states that they’ll be reunited if the slumping Angels manage to come back and win the pennant. Roger then prays and asks God to help the ball club, and the boy’s wish is granted.
Led by Al (Lloyd) and a group of angels, the team receives assistance during their games. The catch is that only Roger can see the angels, so Knox (the Angels’ manager) simply thinks that the child is only a good luck charm.
The Angels go on a lengthy winning streak and find themselves in the running for the pennant. But Al gently warns Roger that the angels cannot assist in championship games, so the players will have to come together and win the pennant on their own.
It’s a heartwarming movie filled with future top Hollywood stars and actors who were well-established at the time. Nearly 30 years later, Angels in the Outfield remains a Disney sports movie classic that folks of all age groups can enjoy.
