The 79th Academy Awards will take place this weekend, and there won't be a sports movie in sight.  Of course, that hasn't always been the case.  Sports movies have had their place on Oscar night, but the history between sports on film and film critics has been an uneasy one.  The Academy Awards are all about Oscars and high-fashion.  Conversely, sports are decidedly more comfortable with Oscar Madison and high heat.

 

  

And speaking of odd couples, great sports movies often have to "win" over the film world in ways that other films do not in order to garner praise at the industry's highest level.  So, it seems sports movies and the rarified air of the Academy Awards do have something of an Oscar Madison-Felix Unger relationship, one looking suspiciously at the other as being at all worthy of such acceptance.

 

That said, there have been many, many sports movies and acting performances clearly worthy of the red carpet, and it seems a shame that any lines are drawn to lessen the value of a good sports film in relation to any other good film dealing with any other subject.

 

As such, if all other genres of film were to be eliminated from this weekend's festivities with only sports movies ruling the day, I would have no problem envisioning those shiny Oscar statues (ideally, with some sort of nod to Oscar Madison) being given to the following.

 

The envelopes, please.

 

Best Soundtrack

 

Music can immeasurably set the tone for a film.  The bluesy, smoky music from "The Color of Money" seems to perfectly embody the world of pool halls, hustlers, and dead money.  Likewise, the hip-hop beat and the intense lyrics of Public Enemy in "He Got Game" captures some degree of the fearless, aggressive nature of urban playground hoops.  The Dropkick Murphy's spirited version of "Tessie" single-handedly breathes life into Jimmy Fallon's self-loathing devotion to all things Red Sox in "Fever Pitch".

 

But, perhaps, the best of what music can offer to a sports movie resides here...

 

The Winner:

"The Natural" - Can you hear that theme song and think of anything else but Roy Hobbs hitting that mammoth pennant-winning home run?  The perfect music for the perfect act in sports.  The soundtrack for Roy Hobbs' victory lap will do quite nicely here.  

 

Best Documentary

 

For obvious reasons, documentaries bring the most honesty to the big screen.  After all, they are supposed to be, clever editing notwithstanding, simply a re-telling of events that have already happened.  And the true-life nature of the genre lends itself to the uncovering of truths that even the best of writers could only dream of telling. 

 

"One Day in September" revisits the terrifying events that led to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.  The film reinforces a particularly powerful and painful lesson that politics and sports will never be as far apart as we would for them to be and that combination can have lethal consequences.

 

"Hoop Dreams" breathed cinematic life into the compelling and continuing struggle of millions of inner city kids to realize the elusive but alluring promise of fame via greatness on the basketball court.

 

Jack Johnson was a black heavyweight boxing champ in a time when few wanted it.  However, to his everlasting credit, Johnson simply didn't care.  His reign as champ was something he wanted everyone, everywhere to know about.  His story, told decades later, in "Unforgivable Blackness" remains an important reminder that even today we may not have moved quite as far as we often fancy ourselves to have with regard to race.

 

And speaking of boxing...

 

The Winner:

"When We Were Kings" is a fascinating look at the famed Ali-Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire.  More importantly, it showcases Ali's ability to capture the imagination of millions around the world (i.e., If the chant of "Ali bomaye" doesn't still hold some resonance after watching it, you simply weren't paying enough attention).   

 

Best Supporting Actress

 

Though sports films rarely give actresses much else to do than be supportive wives or girlfriends to the main characters, a few roles have managed to showcase much more than that.  Barbara Barrie's quiet urging (via a story about her passport) for her son to follow his dreams in "Breaking Away" is one of the movie's best scenes.  "Yo, Adrian!" may be a laughable clich