The 20 best sports movies, according to GQ

Ridiculed for its extravagance, melodrama and exaggeration, wrestling is an art form in which its best representatives offer us incredible fight choreography and scripts rich in pathos, even if it is in sequined tights. In The fighter, Mickey Rourke’s character, Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a veteran fighter and battered as a pickup truck from the 80s. Despite everything, he is desperate to live his last great moment in the ring. Darren Aronofsky’s film is grounded in the ins and outs of the business, but he isn’t so much concerned with the inner workings of wrestling as he is with Robinson’s humanity. JK

2. Coach Carter (2005)

Rich what? RICHMOND! Inspired by series for teenagers like One Tree Hill y Melrose Place, Coach Carter is an energetic and fascinating drama aimed at a young audience. The basketball scenes are very striking, as is the film debut of Channing Tatum. It’s worth seeing just for Samuel L Jackson’s masterful performance. SM

1. Rocky (1976)

‘Rocky III’ (Sylvester Stallone, 1979)

Although the character has become the perfect example of the typical second-boy story, the film itself got off to an inauspicious start. A little known actor named Sylvester Stallone wrote the script in three daysbut I would only sell it if he played the lead. Considering that the only important role of him was in Happy Days, the film had a minuscule budget, although it would later become the highest-grossing film of 1976.

Rocky it also reminds us what a good actor Stallone was before he became Rambo in the decade that followed. Rockya melodrama from the 50s with the punch of the 70swill be the eternal role of Stallone. SM

This article was originally published on British GQ.