All time list of 40 highest rated boxing movies

[johnswan1]

I've hunted down a list of all boxing movies with a rating based on 1,000 users or more and have made a top 34 list as per the below. Anybody seen them all? Must admit I have only seen 5 of the top 10 and probably half or even less of those listed. Interesting to note that 3 of the top 5 have come in the last 7 years and only one Rocky movie appears in the top 15.

1 Raging Bull 8.4 (98,277 users) 1980
2 Million Dollar Baby 8.2 (158,095 users) 2004
3 Rocky 8.1 (110,481 users) 1976
4 The Fighter 8.1 (43,524 users) 2010
5 Cinderella Man 8.0 (67,336) 2005

6 The Set-Up 7.9 (3,291 users) 1949
7 Body And Soul 7.9 (1,761 users) 1947
8 When We Were Kings 7.8 (6,516 users) 1996
9 Requiem For A Heavyweight 7.8 (1,513 users) 1962
10 Gentleman Jim 7.7 (1298 users) 1942

11 Tyson 7.6 (5,268 users) 2008
12 The Harder They Fall 7.5 (2,532 users) 1956
13 Champion 7.5 (1,258 users) 1949
14 The Hurricane 7.4 (33,726 users) 1999
15 Somebody Up There Likes Me 7.4 (2,981 users) 1956

16 Fat City 7.4 (2,485 users) 1972
17 Beautiful Boxer 7.4 (1,717 users) 2004
18 Rocky Balboa 7.3 (67,485 users) 2006
19 The Hammer 7.2 (3,712 users) 2007
20 The Champ 7.2 (1,077 users) 1931

21 Kid Galahad 7.2 (1,064 users) 1937
22 The Boxer 7.0 (6,880 users) 1997
23 The Great White Hope 7.0 (1,112 users) 1970
24 Resurrecting The Champ 6.9 (8,285 users) 2007
25 Rocky II 6.8 (39,881 users) 1979

26 Girlfight 6.8 (5,376 users) 2000
27 Diggstown 6.7 (3,472 users) 1992
28 Ali 6.6 (33,700) 2001
29 Rocky III 6.2 (39,962 users) 1982
30 Rocky IV 6.0 (46,188 users) 1985

31 Shiner 6.0 (1,193 users) 2000
32 Snake Eyes 5.9 (30,644) 1998
33 Gladiator 5.9 (3,308 users) 1992
34 Undisputed 5.8 (7,437 users) 2002
35 The Calcium Kid 5.5 (2,722 users) 2004

36 Annapolis 5.2 (9,082 users) 2006
37 Play It To The Bone 5.2 (6,157 users) 1999
38 The Great White Hype 5.2 (4,344 users) 1996
39 Against The Ropes 5.1 (3,673 users) 2004
40 Rocky V 4.5 (33,026 users) 1990

Edited to include Against The Ropes

Edited again to include The Calcium Kid, Shiner & Champion

Edited again to include Tyson (as When We Were Kings was previously included)

[johnswan1]

Now edited to include Play It To The Bone in 33rd place. Let me know if there are any more to add.

[stujones]

Muhammad Ali's starring in the Greatest?

[Captain Hook]

Against the Ropes...?

[deadpan]

If Snake Eyes is in what about I Spy?

[johnswan1]

Muhammad Ali's starring in the Greatest?

This one has a rating of 5.2, but only based on 404 users.

[Tommy Gunn13]

The Champ made me cry as a kid,i watched it a year back with my ex&i still got a lump in my throat...

[G-man]

Now edited to include Play It To The Bone in 33rd place. Let me know if there are any more to add.

It was sh*te but The Calcium Kid.

I have an old DVD with Jimmy Smits in it called Price of Glory which was alright and also the truly awful Penitentiary.

Also Homeboy and Shiner which had real fighter Derrick Harmon as the Yank opponent.

[Londonirish]

The Champ made me cry as a kid,i watched it a year back with my ex&i still got a lump in my throat...

X2

[slapbangwhallop]

The Champ made me cry as a kid,i watched it a year back with my ex&i still got a lump in my throat...

X2

x3!

Also I've been trying to find a couple of Fat City for some time but havent been able to find it anywhere

[Flashing Blade]

I'm surprised that The Champion with Kirk Douglas isn't on the list. Also- The Prizefighter and the Lady, although that is a crappy film come to think of it- but the fact that is stars a world heavyweight champion and has four others in it makes it worth a watch.

[Flashing Blade]

On a pedantic note #15 Beautiful Boxer is about muay Thai, not boxing. Great film though.

[merseybox]

good to see robert ryan's the setup so high. great movie and very under-rated. filmed in real time. well worth hunting down.

[WOODDDDDDDYA]

The TV movie about Ray Mancini 'Heart Of A Champion' wasn't bad.

Sidenote: Why isn't 'Champion' (Kim Deuk-gu) on the list?

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

The Italian masterpiece 'Rocco and his brothers' that is such a good film

and

The Spanish film starting Natalia Verbeke 'Golpes'

[johnswan1]

Thanks lads, keep them coming!

Calcium Kid, Shiner & Champion will be added.

Price of Glory has only 490 ratings.

Penitentiary has only 242 ratings.

Homeboy has only 850 ratings.

Champion (Kyung-Taek Kwak) has only 263 ratings.

Heart of a Champion has no ratings, being a TV movie.

I’m not sure what to do about Rocco and His Brothers. It’s a controversial one because the boxing is a subplot (same with Snake Eyes). If I included it here it would come 2nd on the list with a rating of 8.3. I have not seen it but can somebody confirm whether it can be deemed a movie about boxing, or one with a major boxing theme to it?

Golpes has only 101 ratings.

The Prizefighter and the Lady has only 272 ratings.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

Rocco and his Brothers is definitely a boxing film - moreso than the Champ or Annapolis. Terry D will come along to confirm it

[freddydoesdallas]

So far, i think i've seen 18 of them. Some of them have very tenuous links to boxing. To make it onto the list, do they need to have actual ring action or just links to fighters etc?

[banjo]

Raging Bull is overrated.

Good film, good solid performances but deserves nowhere near the praise it gets.

[Scottrf]

Is 'On the Waterfront' considered too tenuous because it would be top?

Undisputed has a few sequels. I'd consider WWWK a documentary rather than a movie personally.

[Captain Hook]

For me it's one of the best films ever made.

..style and substance, quality performances, stunning cinematography and the montage where he's on the ropes with the flashing lights, thunderous sounds crashing and controlled pandemonium as punches rain down on LaMotta is one of the best I've seen

That said, if we all had the same opinion etc....

[sy86]

No Teen Wolf Too??

[Ketchel]

Can't believe I've watched 28 of those movies! Requiem For A Heavyweight is still my all time fave. The scene at the end were Anthony Quinn who is being forced to wrestle dressed as a Red Indian beats up the Mob Heavy always has me on my feet screaming "Knock his bollocks in!" Great movie moment.

[Boxingnut]

quote]

x3!

Also I've been trying to find a couple of Fat City for some time but havent been able to find it anywhere[/quote]

Yeah tough to find on region 2 at least.

[Andypittcov]

My Top 5

1 Raging Bull
2 The Rocky films
3 Gladiator
4 When we were kings
5 The Fighter