Film Studies Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Other library resource(s)
Sports and media from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Sports and media emerged as a significant object of scholarship and research in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, when it became abundantly clear that modern professional sports was deeply dependent on its consistent, widespread mediation, and that the institution of media was deeply reliant on sports for content and audience attraction. The relationship between these institutions, both the products of modernity and its rationalization of play and communication, has been analyzed in contrasting terms as “a marriage made in heaven” and as an entrenched battle for institutional power. ...- Sports in film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Since the start of the motion picture industry in the United States, sports have been a frequent subject for the movies. Hollywood has produced hundreds of films about sports for the same reason that synergistic ties have been established between American movies and other cultural forms, including theater, literature, fashion, television, advertising, and toys. From the documentary style “news films” of major prizefights and the World Series that were an important part of the early film industry to recent blockbusters such as The Blind Side (2009) and Moneyball (2011), collaboration with sports has helped sell the movies. ...
Keeping up with the journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's you can download and read the articles you want.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.
A quick definition
Sports Films are those that have a sports setting (football or baseball stadium, arena, or the Olympics, etc.), competitive event (the 'big game,' 'fight,' or 'competition'), and/or athlete (boxer, racer, surfer, etc.) that are central and predominant in the story.
[Sports movies from Filmsite, 08/07/2023]
Finding library resources for sports films
To find what we have in the Library's collection, you can do a subject search for "sports films" in the online catalog. That search will show you what film titles are considered sports films as well as books and other items about them. As you look at the list under sports films, the subject headings which include "history and criticism" talk about the genre itself. The headings which also include a country name are specifically talking about sports films in that country.
- sports filmsCall number range PN 1995.9 .S67 on Baker Level 4.
- baseball filmsCall number range PN 1995.9 .B28 on Baker Level 4.
- boxing filmsCall number range PN 1995.9 .B69 on Baker Level 4.
- hockey filmsCall number range PN 1995.9 .H63 on Baker Level 4.
Introductory reading(s)
Encyclopedia of sports films by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780810876521Whether chronicling an athlete's rise, fall, and redemption or following a team's improbable triumph on the field, sports have been a favorite theme of filmmakers almost since movies were first produced. And whether focusing on soccer (Bend It Like Beckham), boxing (Rocky and its sequels), hockey (Slap Shot), baseball (Bull Durham), football (The Longest Yard), basketball (Hoosiers), cycling (Breaking Away), or tennis (Wimbledon), such films capture the competition and thrill of sport. All major films with a primary focus on athletic endeavor are contained in Encyclopedia of Sports Films. ...
The sports film: games people play by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .S67 B33 2014ISBN: 9780231169653After covering the genre's early history and theorizing its general characteristics, this volume then focuses on specific instances of sports films, such as the biopic, the sports history film, the documentary, the fan film, the boxing film, and explores issues such as gender, race, spectacle and silent comedy. Four major films are then closely analysed - Chariots of Fire, Field of Dreams, the Indian cricket epic Lagaan, and Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. ...
Sports heroines on film: a critical study of cinematic women athletes, coaches and owners by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .S67 L53 2015ISBN: 9780786476619It's hard to find females in leading roles as athletes, coaches and owners in sports film story lines. With an abundance of male-focused stories, Hollywood continues to reinforce the association of athleticism with masculinity. Portrayals of women in prominent roles indicate social attitudes and values and-when looked at over time-also show what influence the women's movement has had on cinematic representation and social understandings.
Selected book title(s)
The baseball film in postwar America: a critical study, 1948-1962 by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .B28 B75 2011ISBN: 9780786461233This work focuses on the baseball movie genre in the years following World War II, beginning with the 1948 biopic The Babe Ruth Story and ending with the 1962 Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris vehicle Safe at Home!, when the consensus was that conflict should be limited in American society by emphasizing economic growth and a strong stand against Communism. ...
The cinema of hockey: four decades of the game on screen by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .H63 C47 2017ISBN: 9781476666259Ice hockey has featured in North American films since the early days. Hockey's sizable cinematic repertoire explores different views of the sport, including the role of aggression, the business of sports, race and gender, and the role of women in the game. This critical study focuses on hockey themes in more than 50 films and television movies from the U.S. and Canada spanning several decades. ...
Knockout: the boxer and boxing in American cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .B69 G75 2011ISBN: 9781604739886Knockout: The Boxer and Boxing in American Cinema is the first book-length study of the Hollywood boxing film, a popular movie entertainment since the 1930s, that includes such classics as 'Million Dollar Baby,' 'Rocky,' and 'Raging Bull.' The boxer stands alongside the cowboy, the gangster, and the detective as a character that shaped America's ideas of manhood. ...
Reel baseball: essays and interviews on the national pastime, Hollywood, and American culture by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .B28 R44 2003ISBN: 9780786413898Not only are movies and baseball two of America's favorite pastimes, they are integral parts of our culture. Small wonder that the two frequently merge in Hollywood's use of baseball themes, jargon, and icons. This work on baseball in the movies is organized into four sections examining different aspects of the cultural intersection between film and baseball. In the first three sections--"Baseball in Baseball Films," "Babe Ruth and the Silver Screen," and "Baseball in Non-Baseball Films"--essays by scholars in various disciplines cover such topics as symbols, the role of family, baseball as a facilitator of violence, and the American mythos. ...
Surfing in the movies: a critical history by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .S83 E75 2015ISBN: 9780786495214Surfing has fascinated filmmakers since Thomas Edison shot footage of Waikiki beachboys in 1906. Before the 1950s surf craze, surfing showed up in travelogues or as exotic background for studio features. The arrival of Gidget (1959) on the big screen swept the sport into popular culture, but surfer-filmmakers were already featuring the day's best surfers in self-narrated two-reelers. Hollywood and independent filmmakers have produced about three dozen surf films in the last half-century, including the frothy Beach Party movies Point Break (1991) and Chasing Mavericks (2012). ...
Finding scholarly articles & journal titles
Articles and other writings about movies can be found in many publications. Our collection does not include a journal or magazine which looks exclusively at sports films. Other film journals within our collection will cover this genre. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find relevant articles.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about sports films.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Selected movie titles
Find more sports films in the library's collections.
Creed by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #19601Adonis Johnson never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born. Still, there's no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed's legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.
Free solo by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #22246Despite attempts by his friends, loved ones, and his new girlfriend to dissuade him from this dangerous feat, Alex Honnold, the world's most accomplished free soloist climber, prepares mentally and physically for his most daring adventure to date: scaling the 3200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite without a rope or safety gear. If he succeeds, it will mark the largest wall he, or anyone else, for that matter, has ascended without any kind of equipment.
Glory road by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18168ISBN: 9780788860676Don Haskins, a future Hall of Fame coach of tiny Texas Western University, bucks convention by simply starting the best players he can find: history's first all-African American lineup.
Hard, fast, and beautiful by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #15562Gordon meets Florence, sharing an interest in tennis, but Florence has a supremely ambitious mother who intends to push her ahead. Florence's tennis career rapidly advances, thanks to mother's manipulation and a promotion-minded coach.
Heart like a wheel by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #17301Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney, is the young wife and mother who defied the sport of drag racing to become the first female top fuel champion in NHRA history. But before she could reach the record books, Shirley had to survive an abusive first marriage, her volatile love affair with fellow racer Connie Kalitta, a horrific accident, and a sexist world that tried to stand in the way of one remarkable woman who dared to put her heart on the line.
Invictus by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9964ISBN: 9781419879654Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
Lagaan = Lagāna: once upon a time in India by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #1650An arrogant British Army captain forces a bet on a group of farmers. If they can win a cricket match against the army team, they will not have to pay the tax called lagaan for three years.
Moneyball by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #13959The story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.
Redbelt by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18511ISBN: 9781435918405A jujitsu master becomes corrupted by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. When a respected jujitsu master eschews a lucrative prizefighting career in favor of opening a self-defense dojo, it appears that he has chosen a peaceful path in life. The dedicated master's fate takes an unanticipated turn, however, when he is manipulated into participating in ultimate fighting championships by a group of unscrupulous actors and fight promoters. Later, as the master is being relentlessly beaten in a dirty street fight, he connects with a high-profile action star with serious marital problems. Realizing that the only way to regain his honor is to step into the ring, he reluctantly prepares for the fight of his life.
Rudo y Cursi by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #17829ISBN: 9781435970250From the rural banana plantation where they play soccer for the village team to the big city stadiums, two brothers have become rivals and battle each other on opposing sides. When a talent scout gets stranded in their tiny town, brothers Beto and Tato are discovered. They are whisked away to Mexico City to play for the big leagues where they quickly achieve fame. Beto is nicknamed 'Rudo' for his hotheaded goalkeeper style and Tato is called 'Cursi' for his peculiar scoring technique. Success leads to excess. Rudo descends into a quagmire of gambling debt and drug abuse. Cursi is distracted by beautiful women and a second career as a pop singer. Having come so far, will the siblings remember their original goal to build a home for their mother?
