Rent or Buy These Basketball Classics Tonight
We might be missing out on in-theatre releases and major professional basketball events for the time being, but we know how to make the best of the situation: with classic sports movies, available on AMC Theatres On Demand right now. Check out just four basketball movies you can cue up for the whole family to enjoy. Which one is your favorite?
Hoosiers
Arguably the best basketball movie ever made. A stone-cold classic, and the template that every “underdog sports team” movie tends to follow. The great Gene Hackman excels as an Indiana coach hired to restore a struggling high school program. The teamwork is exceptional, and Dennis Hopper earns tears as an alcoholic father who finds redemption in the team’s efforts.
Space Jam
While you wait to see what Lebron James does with the SPACE JAM property, rent the original and watch the NBA’s GOAT, Michael Jordan, take it to a team of terrifying aliens alongside the Looney Tunes all-stars. OK, so, they’re not that terrifying. But it’s fun to see NBA legends like Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Muggsy Bogues playing along in Jordan’s animated adventure.
Uncle Drew
You forget just how good Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets is at basketball, until you watch him play as the titular character in UNCLE DREW. Irving and a few of his NBA colleagues (from Reggie Miller to Shaquille O’Neal) don old-person makeup to play legends of the blacktop, who get together, despite their differences, to compete in a big-time tournament.
Coach Carter
The best coaches are also teachers. And when sports movies come off the court and go into the classroom, they find new ways to inspire. Who better to whip surly teenage athletes into shape than Samuel L. Jackson? His role in COACH CARTER is based on the true story of a high school instructor who suspended his undefeated team because their academics were not up to par.