You know how it ends, but your palms still get super sweaty watching. Director: Bernard Goldberg Length: 1h 40min. The Best Sports Documentaries of All Time (Now That You're Done With The Last Dance) Icarus (2017). Length: 1h 26min. In fact, it was this film that put ‘Arnie’ on the map and led to his career taking off and morphing him into the superstar he is today. As a Jew in America, he was demonized and faced a constant barrage of antisemitism — both on and off the field. A 300+ page chronicling the hip-hop group's rise to stardom. There are worse ways to mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest footballers than by watching Diego Maradona. Into Dock. And while he played for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, and New York Mets, the most fascinating part of his career was his tenure on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 2016 Oscar Winner for Best Documentary Feature, O.J. The stakes never felt so high. The doc includes interviews and candid footage of big-name wrestlers like Mick Foley, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Chyna, and even Jesse “The Body” Ventura (as well as clips of others ranging from The Undertaker to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, to Bret “The Hitman” Hart, and more). Its the site of our transformations and the rituals of passage. Length: 1h 46min. And he managed all of that before the age of 33. Its players are the characters, its seasons the storylines, its games the moments of conflict. 83 Metascore. For sports documentaries, this film is held near the top of the list on almost any “best sports documentary” list you find. Bosman. It’s not just a game; it’s an escape; it’s pure possibility. They enter the world of professional surfing and make their way to the horizon of the best surfers. 10. Possibly the greatest sports documentary ever made about possibly the most talented formula one racing driver in the history of the sport. The Dawn Wall isn’t Solo, which just won an Oscar for best documentary earlier in 2019. Say what you will about how “real” professional wrestling is; you can’t fake falling 20 feet from the top of a steel cage onto the ground below. Climbing to any peak is always very difficult and requires considerable effort. Length: 2h 50min. Of all the documentaries in ESPN's ever-popular 30 for 30 series, June 17, 1994 might just be the most ambitious. Documentary, Sport (Sorted by Popularity Ascending) 1. A guide to the best sports documentaries on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video – including Icarus, Sunderland 'Til I Die and The Last Dance If you want to know more, you’ll just have to sit down and watch this one. Many of the best sports documentaries detail the darkest, and sometimes unknown, sides of greatness. Maybe the best football documentary ever filmed. It’s about people and places, attitudes, ideas, and drives. The film tells the story … Sport: Professional Wrestling Death of a Gentleman (Amazon Prime) It’s a documentary that has all the makings of an incredible movie. Are you impressed with Kyler Murray? And, despite its age, it’s still probably the best cycling-focused film ever. In many ways, a good sports documentary is similar to a good film. BT Sport Films. That’s because, back on June 12th, 1970, Ellis threw a no-hitter. And, along with plenty of archival footage, it features appearances by some of skateboarding’s biggest names — including Tony Alva, Steve Caballero, Jay Adams, and so many more. It’s not a quick afternoon watch (the film clocks in at close to three hours), but boy is it one of the best ever. 1. His lifelong dream and one of the most exceptional feats of human athleticism, the entire experience was documented masterfully by filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Mike Tyson’s story is one worth being told, for better or worse. No less inspiring than Honnold’s El Capitan ascent is that made by climber Tommy Caldwell, the first to free climb El Cap. In 1990, he did it again. Sport: Bodybuilding By Brady Langmann. The George Best of the green baize, Alex Higgins is another subject whose tempestuous life gives plenty to the documentary-maker. That’s where this guide comes in; the following 20 films take a deep dive into some of the most exceptional stories in athletic history — not just the games and/or events, but every facet of the surrounding tale. However, one of his most remarkable achievements came when he was at the age of 32 and considered to be well past his prime. The 2016 Oscar Winner for Best Documentary Feature, O.J. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, Tom Brady Trolls Coach Bruce Arians With 'Tattoo', 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' Gives Hint in Trailer, Travis Barker's Daughter Covered His Face Tattoos, Aldis Hodge Is Looking Jacked for 'Black Adam', Avengers Theory Says Falcon Has Already Been Cap, Eric Andre's 'Bad Trip' Was Filmed a While Ago, Chris Evans Says Nobody Else Can Play Iron Man, The 11 Best Cooking Shows on Netflix Right Now, 15 Serial Killer Shows to Watch After Mindhunter, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks (2010), Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story (2018). It’s left to the discretion of the viewer to decide if this is a documentary in the truest sense of the word — a topic that is still widely discussed to this day. The 10 best sports documentaries 1 | When We Were Kings. That film was A Sunday in Hell. If you’re a detractor of the pro wrestling world, give this film a watch and it may very well change your opinion forever. It would have been easy to put The Endless Summer on our list — and it would have been fair, as that’s one of the best surfing flicks ever made. Sport: Quad Rugby There are a lot of stories about the greatest athletes to ever compete, but stories of underdogs are sometimes even more important and beloved — just ask anyone who has ever seen Rudy. This was Muhammad Ali’s recollection of being filmed by documentary-maker Leon Gast, while he... 2 | Senna. This documentary chronicles the origin of the heart-pounding extreme sport, base jumping. However, there is one problem with live sports: you’re never really getting the whole story. This particular film gives an unprecedented and unrivaled look at some of the most intimate, exasperating, and excruciating parts of this legendary race. Even if you don’t particularly care for basketball as a sport, it’s still 100% worth watching. Today, however, it’s never been easier to watch live sports from anywhere in the world — be that on TV, on the internet, or otherwise. Acclaimed feature-length sports documentaries from our award-winning team. Sport: Varying Director: Steve James Fun, beautiful, and unlike any documentary before it. Sport: Skateboarding Into baseball. But rather than sticking with the limited footage available and interviews, the production team decided instead to create a series of dramatizations — aided by the input of the real-life climbers themselves. Icarus is a documentary that plays like a top-shelf legal thriller with life-or-death stakes. While the accolades are absolutely deserved, the real attention is owed to Honnold himself, as the only alternative to finishing the climb was certain death. Sport. Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. Hilarious, intoxicating, wince-inducing and intense, it's a doc you can't miss. Based on the 1988 book by Joe Simpson about his and Simon Yates’ near-disastrous climb of Siula Grande, Touching the Void dramatizes one of the most intense climbing accounts anyone has ever lived to tell. Yacht racing sounds, at least on the surface, like a casual jaunt, embarked upon by bored rich people on the weekends. What happens when an uber-popular director/die-hard basketball fan (Spike Lee) begins a rivalry with an NBA superstar (Reggie Miller)? A fascinating Oulipo -like exercise in constrained art, the director Asif Kapadia chose to construct his... 3 | … The most competitive cheer team in the country isn’t a D1 NCAA college. Sport: Boxing Watch now Read more. The best sports documentaries and series available on Netflix right now. For thousands of years, humans have found enjoyment and entertainment both in watching and participating in tests of skill and athleticism we’ve come to call sports. Votes: 15,274 | Gross: $2.67M. Sport: Motorcycle Racing It was a real David and Goliath story, as the Americans weren’t ever expected to make it as far as they did, let alone take the #1 spot atop the podium. The 15 Best Sports Documentaries to Watch on Netflix in 2021. Cricket ain’t an American sport, but Amazon Prime managed to cater to every aspect in their documentary, which holds drama, thrill, intensity, competitiveness that surely makes it the best sports documentary on the list. Of course, that’s not the real story here. 2. In a way, no subject lends itself better to the documentarian’s touch than sports. And it’s an honor that’s rightly deserved, as he was the first person ever to climb the sheer 3,000-foot face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park completely without any ropes, anchors, or any other support safety gear. As everyone likely already knows, even the highest levels of achievement come with dark sides. Length: 1h 32min. And it was the day that OJ Simpson took off in his white Ford Bronco. Without a doubt one of the most famous sports documentaries of all time, Icarus does a deep dive into the Russian Olympic doping program. And perhaps no event in its history is more indicative of this than in the faceoff between Arnold “The Terminator” Schwarzenegger and Lou “The Incredible Hulk” Ferrigno for the title of Mr. Olympia in the 1970s. Length: 1h. Length: 1h 31min. These 25 best sports documentaries will make you laugh, cry, and cheer for the athletes. The documentary offers incredible footage as well as an insight into a legend of the game whose records are comparable to modern stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. 25. It’s also one of the more accessible sports around, requiring just three elements: a ball, a basket, and people who want to play it. This relatively short documentary tells that very story via archival footage, interviews with the players (on both sides) and coaching staff, and commentary from ABC’s Al Michaels — the man who famously shouted “Do you believe in miracles?” as time expired on the clock. And that’s what the 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams captures brilliantly. Basketball is celebrated around the world as one of the greatest sports of all time. This Performance Coach Is Lowering the Bar. That was the eternal 2016 question for this 5-part, 10 hour documentary that first aired on ESPN and ABC (it ended up winning the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature). Of course, that remarkable and perhaps wacky event is only one part of his story. Told through the eyes of the director and cyclist Bryan Fogel, this fantastic documentary delves deep into the seedy underworld of doping and illuminates a scandal that involves performance-enhancing drugs, a Russian whistleblower scientist, and Vladimir Putin himself. Did we add that it's watchable? The result: one hell of a character study. Like all great documentaries, Icarus isn’t about what it was supposed to be about. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Of course, that didn’t happen without a tremendous amount of hard work, focus, and a hefty portion of luck. Gay Men Could Help Solve the Blood Shortage Crisis, A Look at Every Upcoming MCU Movie and TV Series, Get Zac Efron’s Comfy New Balance Running Shoes, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. So you can still get your fix And these aren't just about one individual or one moment in time. Director: Leon Gast You might think you know the O.J. This posthumous portrait … Bryan Fogel’s Icarus is a documentary film that explores the vast abyss of … Crank up your favorite tunes, talk shows, podcasts, and more. ESPN's 10-part phenomenon has come to an end. Centered around “Dogtown” — a colloquial name for the surrounding areas of Santa Monica and Venice, California — the doc follows the rise of skateboarding from a casual surfer pastime to an acrobatic sport in its own right. From one of the wildest events in baseball history to his charitable work, this is a fascinating and surprisingly moving tale. 2011’s Undefeated is one such story, circling an inner-city football team in Memphis, Tennessee, and their volunteer coach dedicated to helping the team beat the odds both on and off the field. In fact, it has been nominated for a whopping 32 awards (and won 6) since it first aired in 2009. But at the same time they mean everything — the difference between a college scholarship and forgoing higher education; the economic security of a town; literal life and death on a racetrack. Chapter One Regarded as the best kiteboarding documentary made so far, Chapter One, the 1st theatrical kiteboarding movie shot in 4k, shows both the thrill of the sport and the personal side of the athletes leading the sport. Not every sport-focused story worth telling has been turned into a good documentary. Yet, somehow, they did it and they won. Nominated by FrustratedCentre Half, this is “a documentary about ordinary people, their passion for sport and it’s inexplicable hold over them – and the sound quality is truly astonishing”. Sport documentaries have also had an … For many, that's why The Last Dance, which centered on NBA great Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, was such a perfect watch. On the 25 November 2020, news broke that Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona – often... Athlete A (2020). It was a tragedy that shook the racing and sports worlds alike, as — to this day — Ayrton Senna is still considered to be one of the greatest drivers to ever hit the pavement. Murderball—wheelchair rugby—follows the U.S. and Canadian national teams in the lead up to the 2004 Paralympic Games. The series is the essence of Victory in Defeat. This Academy Award winner for Best Documentary is a great example of how sports can be the best way into otherwise cloistered or untellable stories. Length: 2h 1min. This documentary is a musical festival, featuring the America’s top black sportsmen like James Brown and B.B King and so on. Focusing on a pair of inner-city boys from Chicago as they go from playing street ball to college hoops and make their way toward professional basketball, this film transcends basketball and functions as a signal beacon for anyone who wanted to achieve more than they were given. Men's Health participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. A brilliant documentary can turn audiences into activists; it can awaken, alarm and amuse. Offering unique glimpses into a variety of criminal underworlds & unsavory subcultures. Following his baseball career, Ellis went into recovery and even began helping others in their recovery from addiction. Centered around “Dogtown” — a colloquial name for the surrounding areas of Santa Monica and Venice, California — the doc follows the rise of skateboarding from a casual surfer pastime to an acrobatic sport in its own right. These will be the fastest 10 hours of your life. These are the best sports documentaries of all time. Or is it a show? The 15 Best Sports Documentaries on Netflix, Scottie Pippen Is Unhappy With 'The Last Dance', ESPN Will Start Airing 'The Last Dance' in April, The 'Last Dance' Soundtrack Is Absolutely Perfect, A Reminder of Michael Jordan's Unbelievable Stats. Narrated by Sean Penn and directed by Stacy Peralta, one of the actual members of the ’70s team, this is widely considered the best skateboarding documentary of all time. Length: 1h 46min. Why: Probably the most anticipated sports documentary of recent years, the Last Dance" focuses on the life and career of Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the history of the NBA, and arguably the most iconic sporting figure in history. So it was almost compulsory to add his aptly-named Tyson documentary to this list. Though not a “sport” in the more traditional sense of the world, bodybuilding still requires absurd amounts of physicality, focus, skill, and raw talent. 2003’s Touching the Void is undoubtedly the most questionable and controversial “documentary” on our list, as it actually concerns an event that wasn’t filmed, for it would have been impossible for climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates to bring cameras on their perilous trek up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. However, it would never be what it is today without the pioneering athletes on the Zephyr skating team from the 1970s. Type keyword (s) to search. If you’re interested in learning a whole lot more about it — including the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking — you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better flick on the subject than Beyond the Mat. Backed by the site's complimentary air-tight Authenticity Guarantee. From the same documentarian as Touching the Void, Deep Water reconstructs the 1968 yachting race known as the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Sport: Formula One Racing Composed of archival footage and interviews with some of the people closest to the story, this documentary is one for anyone who finds hope in beating the odds and pushing back on hatred to achieve greatness. Director: Aviva Kempner Though in the post-Lance Armstrong world, cycling is recognized and celebrated around the globe as a legitimate sport, it wasn’t always this way. Last Updated: August 6th. Is it a movie? He also happens to be one of the most dominant boxers of all time — a fact bolstered by his 50 wins (44 by KO), just six losses, and the fact that he holds the record as the youngest boxer to win a heavyweight title at the age of 20. Compiled from 250+ hours of footage, it is quite simply the best sports documentary ever made, and arguably the greatest sports movie period. You see, in 1974, Muhammed Ali took on and beat George Foreman, the standing heavyweight champion of the world who also happened to be a decade younger than the aging Ali, in the fabled bout known as “The Rumble in the Jungle.” Of course, the match is only a small part of the story, as illustrated in When We Were Kings. Inside the real life and death stakes of going for Olympic gold. Sport: Baseball Best sports documentaries of all time In the current, precarious film industry, in which the only safe bet is a superhero, Marvel films have become a shell in which to sneak in other stories. 25 Can’t-Miss Sports Documentaries. Director: Varying Sure, the main event is the game, match, or whatever else you want to call it. Sport: American Football Director: Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin Besides the fight itself, this is a story of legendary promoter Don King, dictator of Zaire (the African country in which the match took place), and a massive music festival featuring some of the top black performers in the world at the time. Director: Bruce Brown Each episode takes on a different sport, a different athlete, and a different failure. Technically speaking, ESPN’s 30 for 30 is a series and not a single documentary. In the film, director Bryan Fogel, an amateur biker, decides to try to dose himself with performance enhancing drugs to compete at the highest level. What you might not know, however, is that this documentary is the work of legendary director Bruce Brown — the same fellow that directed fabled surf doc The Endless Summer along with a slew of other flicks. The documentary—about his return from injury—is more about pride than victory. In a way, the games mean nothing; they are only games after all. However, it’s such an exceptional series with so many amazing entries that we couldn’t pick just one “episode” for our list. Ours. Director: Jørgen Leth The Paris-Bourbaix race is famous for it’s dangerous, cobbled track, and in 1976, one film crew chronicled the race from its start to its exciting finish. Using only archival footage, … When college players flunk out or face legal trouble, they’re sent to Mississippi and a junior college program in which they can either succeed and continue their shot at college athletics and the NFL or else fail once more and disappear into obscurity. Subscribe. Director: Asif Kapadia However, the disaster-fraught adventure, to director Kevin McDonald, was one still worth telling. Bosman is the story of the eponymous hero behind the infamous ruling that redefined the sport. And in this way, the sports story isn’t really a story about sports at all. It’s a bit dated, to be sure, but there is still no other weightlifting-focused documentary that comes close — aside from, perhaps, the whistleblowing Bigger, Faster, Stronger, which looks at bodybuilding from a darker, steroid-fueled angle. The following is a quarter-century’s worth of the best sports documentaries of all time. Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet went as far as to suggest it "may be the best … People like Murray and Deion Sanders, though, had their paths blazed by the one and only Bo Jackson, an incredible physical specimen who dominated the NFL and MLB simultaneously at one point in his career. Sports are certainly no different; and that’s what the Academy Award-winning Netflix documentary, Icarus, focuses upon. Some are classics, some are new streaming entries. In no particular order, here are the best sports documentaries of all time. I don’t want to divulge too much about this one because it has to be watched to be understood. But sometimes, the story in the background is much deeper and, arguably, even more interesting than the event itself. The following is a quarter-century’s worth of the best sports documentaries of all time. Expectations are high for ESPN's upcoming 30 for 30 documentary, O.J. Director: Jeffrey Radice Centered around a sport now known as quad rugby (or wheelchair rugby), this intense film spins a tale about the brutal, intense, full-contact gladiatorial past time and the athletes who participate in it as they strive for a spot competing in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. Length: 1h 30min. Still to this day, Jackson's athleticism is rarely touched; in his prime, he was a literal superhero. And isn’t that the heart of all sports stories? Director: James Toback Just a year or so ago, Alex Honnold became a household name. Length: 1h 30min. It’s our hope for redemption and recognition. From The Last Dance to Cheer and Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez. HiConsumption is reader-supported. Compiled from 250+ hours of footage, it is quite simply the best sports documentary ever made, and arguably the greatest sports movie period. For reference, though the name is a bit misleading and originally referred to 30 films from 30 different storytellers, this show (and its offshoots) have accounted for a whopping 157 entries and counting. The route is so rough, in fact, that (apart from cycling races) it’s not even used for vehicular traffic — rather, it serves to transport cattle by-foot when not closed for this race. Sport. We may earn a commission through links on our site. Director: Bryan Fogel Designed for versatility and built to last. Though he is most famous for his ocean-focused films, this one actually focuses on and captures the world of motorcycle racing in a way that no other documentary before or since has managed to replicate. Then, in 1991, he did it a third time. Bad news for Knicks fans, that's what. Or maybe it’s because this Stacy Peralta-directed flick (yes, that Stacy Peralta) more accurately illustrates that surfing isn’t just a casual sport for hippy burnouts, but rather a delicate dance between man and nature that is all-too-often violent and perilous.