Top 5 Basketball Movies of All Time: A Slam Dunk List

In the wake of Gene Hackman passing away, we must revisit his links to the crossover world of sports and entertainment. He played multiple roles in famed sports films — though one clearly does stand out above the rest. It got us thinking: Which basketball-based movies are the best ever made?

This list will comb through the top five in order to clear up the initial question.

5. Love & Basketball

Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps are very believable as basketball players in this film, which spans multiple periods of time. A large chunk exists in college at USC where both play on their respective teams. Seeing basketball depicted on the collegiate level is a nice change-up from the iterations of movies involving fictional and real-life professional squads.

The actual basketball being played here is rather good. The two protagonists have clear chemistry with one another. While more of a love story rather than an unabated basketball film, the sport acts as a strong microcosm for overcoming adversity to fight for what you really want.

4. He Got Game

We leave preppy USC for the gritty underbelly of Coney Island. A young Ray Allen plays basketball prodigy Jesus Shuttlesworth. Raising his younger sister by himself, he’s trying to decide between going to college or heading straight for the NBA. A wrinkle is suddenly introduced when his father Jake (Denzel Washington) is released from jail to try and convince Allen to attend the alma mater of the Warden. If successful, the elder Shuttlesworth’s jail time would be likely shortened.

There’s a bit of reality that has to be suspended with this film. Never would a murderer be released from jail for a week to try and get a favor done at the request of law enforcement. At the same time, the father-son dynamic is something many can relate to — especially if said relationship is strained. The actual game of basketball played between Allen and Washington is highly fascinating to watch.

3. White Men Can’t Jump

Another example of basketball is depicted here through the scintillating art of pickup. We’ve all played pickup basketball with strangers in our lifetimes. Rolling up to a park with your friends on an afternoon looking for some good run is an integral move in one’s development as a basketball player.

In this case, two guys (Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson) from very different backgrounds team up throughout Los Angeles to hustle unsuspecting people for money. This is more of a comedy than anything, and the cinematography does an excellent job depicting LA. Our aforementioned stars of the film crush it both with comedic timing and (specifically Harrelson) demonstrating some basketball chops.

2. Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams is a documentary that looks at kids from rougher parts of Chicago trying to rise up from impoverished backgrounds to make it as professional basketball players.

It follows two kids in particular over the course of four years as they go from the inner city to a public school powerhouse over an hour from home on the train. You see the trials and tribulations of the environments they’re from, as well as some family issues that cause real heartache. Basketball is the vessel for these kids to try and make a better life for themselves. It’s heartbreaking, enthralling, and is in all likelihood one of the best sports-based documentaries ever made.

1. Hoosiers

The late greats Hackman and Dennis Hopper star in this grassroots film where a down-and-out high school team from a school Indiana town rises up against the odds and wins the State Championship.

It has all the elements one wants in the true inspirational sports film. The character development is brilliant — as is the writing — and the story’s direction, while somewhat predictable, is validated by the fact this is based on a true story. Couple in the fact it’s set in what many consider to be the cradle of basketball civilization in the U.S., and it’s a slam dunk watch.