Sport and Cinema.com

The SandC Interview

Glen Macnow has been a popular sports-radio talk-show host at Philadelphia’s 610-WIP for over 14 years, following an award-winning career as a sportswriter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Detroit Free Press. He is the author of three best-selling sports books, and is a frequent guest on local and national television sports shows. He lives outside Philadelphia.

What was the genesis of the project?

During the summer I did a radio show weekly segment called the “The Movie Club for Men”. It made for lots of passionate calls from fans who would compare and contrast different films like “Bull Durham” vs. “The Natural”. The book grew out of those discussions and about 18 months ago I went to Ray (Didinger- co-author) that we were always making lists about the best of in sports, we should do a book out on sports movies.

How do you explain this on-going century-old love affair between sports and movies?

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but the stories are so compelling, the characters are so good and you also have the opportunity to shoot real action that it is just a natural.

It translates so well.

What was the process and how long from concept to publishing and apx how many movies did you screen overall?

We started by writing the 50 we knew would be in for sure. Then we talked to people about suggestions and started watching movies together and separately. We tapped out Netflix accounts to the max.

In the end we considered about 170 movies. The entries changed right up until the end.

What was your ranking system based on, in other words what were the criteria for you and Ray and how did you arrive at the very best?
 
We had five criteria: a powerful story, three-dimensional characters, good sports action,

needs to create goose-bumps and also realistic but not too much so because the advantage of sports movies over real life is that it lets you stretch your imagination. That is what we used to judge every movie.

Did you have a favorite sports movie from your youth?

Great question, the problem was when I was a kid there were not was many great sports movies. I will say I was floored the first time I saw “Rocky” because I didn’t realize sports movies could be that good. I was in high school and I went and saw it in the theater six times.

Who have been the most believable actors as athletes?

Dennis Quaid is our Hall of Fame actor. (Paul) Newman was a terrific athlete. I was shocked when I saw “Slap Shot” and how Newman at his age performed well. Newman and Gleason were also great as pool players in “The Hustler” which I believe is the top-ranked film in your book. There were not lots of editing cuts, those actors were authentic.

I’d also add (Kevin) Costner to that list because he is terrific.

You and Ray were able to garner a lot of participants, who were the most interesting people you interviewed for the book?

That was a lot of fun. What we learned is that not alot of people who always great interviews really opened up on the subject of sports movies. For example, former NFL coach Bill Parcells, not the most media-friendly person, really enjoyed talking about “Cinderella Man”.

Actor James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”) said he chose “Bull Durham” based on one scene where Costner gets released at the end and you see in his face the realization this may be all over.

We also found that athletes tend to like films involving sports they don’t play. They tend to be less critical.

We also learned athletes tend to appreciate movies that show the dark side of sports. Players like Reggie Bush, Charles Barkley, Rudy Johnson liked “Any Given Sunday” and Brian Westbrook, CC Sabathia and Adrian Peterson liked “The Program” – two unflattering pictures about pro and college football. Athletes tend to appreciate the critical looks more than the average fan.   

You’re a veteran sportswriter, what sports story would you like to see as a movie?

I’d like to see a biography on Wilt Chamberlain. I have no idea who you could get to portray him, but he is a compelling story.