SMT: Rudy vs. White Men Can't Jump (Tomorrow: The Natural vs. Seabiscuit)

UP TO DATE BRACKET

Welcome all, to the EDSBS Sports Movie Tournament, Sponsored by Academy Sports! Spencer has graciously allowed the use of fanposts for this tournament, which will greatly help the ability of myself to run this tournament. Anyways, above is a picture of the tournament, and below a run down of the rules and important information to know:

• Movies are seeded by Rotten Tomatoes Rating. It was the only independent way I could seed this thing.
• The format for voting, which will begin after the opening round: I will post the matchup a day before the match actually occurs. This will allow for chances to view the movies, debate about the merits in the comments, and lively debate. Voting will take place in the next post. So, for example, on Wednesday I would post the match up that will be voted on on Thursday, while Wednesday will have Tuesday's match up. For the opening round we will be voting night of.
• Movies are locked in and I am not adding anymore or removing any.
• While Bloodsport is awesome, artificially pumping a movie farther than it should go will be frowned upon, please take this seriously, this is meant to be fun for us during the lulls of the offseason.

So without further ado, our matchup for the night:

27. Rudy

Starring: Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Charles S. Dutton

Tagline: It's not the size of the dog in the fight, It's the size of the fight in the dog.

Plot Summary: Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were poor, and he was only half the size of the other players. But he had the drive and the spirit of 5 people and has set his sights upon joining the team.

Major Awards: None

Financial Success:

Gross:

$22,750,363 (USA)

Random Quote:

Coach Warren: [addressing players at the walk-on tryouts] Let me tell it to you as clean as I can. We have 95 players here so accomplished as athletes in high school, we gave them full scholarships to the best football program in the country. NCAA regulations allow us to dress just 60 for home games, which means at least 35 scholarship players are gonna be watching the game from the stands. So if any of you has any fantasies about running out of that stadium tunnel with your gold helmet shining in the sun, you best leave them right here. Of you 15 dreamers out there maybe we'll keep one or two. My job is to basically beat the shit out of you for the next 5 days, and whoever is still standing at the end, maybe we'll use for our scout teams. You'll be running the oppositions plays week in and week out. The greatest value to us is we don't care whether you get hurt. Our first teams are going to pound on you like you're their worst enemies. Like what you hear so far? Any of you wanna run home to momma? Now's your chance. Joe, they're all yours.

Definitive Proof that Rudy was Offsides:

1975 Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech - The Rudy Play (via tjnd88)

VS.

38. White Men Can't Jump

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez

Tagline: It ain't easy being this good.

Plot Summary: Billy and Sydney think they're the best basketball hustlers in town, so when they join forces, nothing can stop them, except each other. To add to their problems, Billy owes money and is being chased by a pair of gangster types.

Major Awards: None

Financial Success:

Opening Weekend:

$14,700,000 (USA)

Gross:

$76,253,806 (USA)

Random Quote:

Sidney Deane: Billy, I have four words for you: "Listen to the Woman".
Billy Hoyle: What the hell does that mean, "Listen to the woman"? I TRIED to listen to the woman and you're the one who talked me out of it.
Sidney Deane: Wait a minute. I didn't talk you out of anything. I presented you with an option and you took it.

Random Clip from the Movie:

White Men Can't Jump Billy vs Sidney Shootout Bet (via Kubbas24)

Tale of the Tape: I really don't have much to say today, both are constantly on cable and I'm sure a lot of people have seen both. Rudy is scrappy, white, and Irish, the kind of kid Notre Dame loves. White Men Can't Jump has some absolutely astounding trash talk in it, is a very decent move, and has a lot of basketball scenes in it. It's Sunday, I'm not feeling it, y'all are pretty aware of these movies.

THIS IS THE MATCHUP WE ARE VOTING ON TODAY. Below you will find a preview of the matchup that will be voted on tomorrow. The purpose of this is that it allows people to debate the movies for a full day ahead of time, as well as watch the movies if they want to form their opinion. As a reminder, YOU ARE VOTING ON THE MOVIES ABOVE TODAY, YOU WILL VOTE ON THE MOVIES BELOW TOMORROW!

27. The Natural

Starring: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley

Tagline: The best there was!

Plot Summary: An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league in this magical sports fantasy. With the aid of a bat cut from a lightning struck tree, Hobbs lives the fame he should have had earlier when, as a rising pitcher, he is inexplicably shot by a young woman.

Major Awards: Nominated for 4 Academy Awards (Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, Music)

Financial Success:

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$5,088,381 (USA) (13 May 1984) (989 Screens)

Gross:

$47,951,979 (USA) (16 September 1984)

Random Quote:

Roy Hobbs: I coulda been better. I coulda broke every record in the book.
Iris Gaines: And then?
Roy Hobbs: And then? And then when I walked down the street people would've looked and they would've said there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game.

Random Clip from the Movie:

The Natural - Home Run Scene (via MichaelSchwarze42)

VS.

37. Seabiscuit

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, William H. Macy, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens

Tagline: A long shot becomes a legend.

Plot Summary: In an era when Americans were in great need of heroic figures to help them forget their troubles, SEABISCUIT comes to the rescue. The picture relates a moving story of friendship and devotion in rehabilitating the main characters'fractured lives, as it interweaves the interactions between horse, jockey, trainer and owner and their adoring fans. The film accurately portrays the real people and events of those troubled times and how Seabiscuit "fixed us, every one of us."

Major Awards: Nominated for 7 Academy Awards. (Best Picture, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound)

Financial Success:

Budget:

$87,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$20,854,735 (USA) (27 July 2003) (1987 Screens)

Gross:

$148,336,445 (Worldwide)

Random Quote:

Narrator: The first time he saw Seabiscuit, the colt was walking through the fog at five in the morning. Smith would say later that the horse looked right through him. As if to say, "What the hell are you looking at? Who do you think you are?" He was a small horse, barely fifteen hands. He was hurting too. There was a limp in his walk, a wheezing when he breathed. Smith didn't pay attention to that. He was looking the horse in the eye.

Random Clip from the Movie:

Seabiscuit (10/10) Movie CLIP - He Fixed Us (2003) HD (via movieclips)

Tale of the Tape: These are two commonly seen movies, I'm running around today so no tale of the tape today.

VOTING WILL BE OPEN UNTIL 10:00AM TOMORROW. THE MATCHUP TODAY IS RUDY VS. WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP. TOMORROW'S VOTING IS THE NATURAL VS. SEABISCUIT. DEBATE BOTH MOVIES BELOW.