I have always found that there’s something undeniably powerful about movies based on true stories. They can transport us to the lives of real people, showcasing their triumphs, struggles, and moments of profound inspiration.
Related: 10 Best Biopics of All Time, Ranked by Viewers
In this article, we will explore ten inspiring true-story movies that have received critical acclaim and have the power to tug at your heartstrings.
Get ready to be moved by the remarkable journeys of these real-life heroes and heroines!
1 ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ (2006)
Inspired by the life of Chris Gardner, “The Pursuit of Happyness” portrays the incredible story of a struggling salesman who faces homelessness while trying to provide a better life for his young son.
Related: Will Smith Movies List: Top 10 Best Ranked
This series had a special hold over me as the storyline touches on heavily emotional topics. I was drawn in by the intense relationships between the characters.
Related: 10 Best Biopics of All Time, Ranked by Viewers
In this article, we will explore ten inspiring true-story movies that have received critical acclaim and have the power to tug at your heartstrings.
Get ready to be moved by the remarkable journeys of these real-life heroes and heroines!
1 ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ (2006)
Inspired by the life of Chris Gardner, “The Pursuit of Happyness” portrays the incredible story of a struggling salesman who faces homelessness while trying to provide a better life for his young son.
Related: Will Smith Movies List: Top 10 Best Ranked
This series had a special hold over me as the storyline touches on heavily emotional topics. I was drawn in by the intense relationships between the characters.
- 8/1/2023
- by Pia Vermaak
- buddytv.com
Grab your beer, set your lineups and welcome the new football season! Yes, thats right! The 2017-2018 NFL season is here and to help kickoff this season I’ve decided to do a top five dedicated to films about the sport. I have always loved the sport since I was a kid. From playing “Tecmo Bowl”, “Madden” just about every year and NFL Blitz to playing the real thing for a number of years. I love the sport almost as much as I love movies. When you put the two together you can get some really memorable films. Here’s my picks for top five football films.
Little Giants
It seems like each sport has at least one film made for children. Baseball has Sandlot, hockey has Mighty Ducks, basketball has Space Jam and so on. Well when it comes to football that film is Little Giants. The Little Giants...
Little Giants
It seems like each sport has at least one film made for children. Baseball has Sandlot, hockey has Mighty Ducks, basketball has Space Jam and so on. Well when it comes to football that film is Little Giants. The Little Giants...
- 9/7/2017
- by Chris Salce
- Age of the Nerd
This week's 20th anniversary of the release of "Rudy" (which hit theaters on October 13, 1993) is a fitting excuse for an honest look at a genre we'd like to pretend doesn't exist: Movies That Make Men Cry.
Let's face it, if you're a guy who sheds a tear during the sequence where the team members leave their jerseys on the coach's desk one by one so that no-brawn-but-all-heart Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) can finally suit up and live his dream of playing Notre Dame football with his father watching in the stands, then you're in good company. No need to be ashamed if you start blubbering right then and continue for the rest of the movie.
In fact, movies about sports often make guys cry. So do movies about fathers and sons. "Rudy" hits both nerves and then some. If you want to make a movie that makes men cry, make it about athletics,...
Let's face it, if you're a guy who sheds a tear during the sequence where the team members leave their jerseys on the coach's desk one by one so that no-brawn-but-all-heart Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) can finally suit up and live his dream of playing Notre Dame football with his father watching in the stands, then you're in good company. No need to be ashamed if you start blubbering right then and continue for the rest of the movie.
In fact, movies about sports often make guys cry. So do movies about fathers and sons. "Rudy" hits both nerves and then some. If you want to make a movie that makes men cry, make it about athletics,...
- 10/18/2013
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
It looks like Rudy Ruettiger — the real-life sportsman whose life story inspired a 1993 film with Sean Astin tackling the part of the collegiate champ — has been hit in the head too many times with a football. David Anspaugh's movie tells the tale of a kid from a working-class family who struggles to play for the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame. Now the real-life Rudy faces a different set of challenges, since the Securities and Exchange Commission has uncovered an investment scam in which the footballer deceived people into buying stock in his sports drink. A report from the SEC detailed the scheme. "Ruettiger founded Rudy Nutrition to compete with Gatorade in the sports drink market. Rudy Nutrition produced and sold modest amounts of...
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- 12/19/2011
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
Dan Adler is a gentleman running for Congress in California. And, as we know, the quickest way to get elected in the country’s second most penile state is by having major celebrity friends. Which is probably why Dan Adler recruited maybe the Best Small Actor In History to help secure him some votes. That actor being Sean Astin, whom you might know as Samwise Gamgee, or the son of Patty Duke Irl, or most importantly, Rudy Ruettiger. And Mr. Adler didn’t just stop at getting Astin’s endorsement. Nope. He made him reenact an entire actual scene out of the movie Rudy. As seen here: Well. There really is only one thing to say, isn’t there Roc? (Via Richard Blakely)...
- 5/12/2011
- by Michelle Collins
- BestWeekEver
It’s Super Bowl weekend, which means two things: You better get some Tums ’cause there’s chili coming, and you better have a good football movie or two to hold you over until the Sunday evening gridiron action.
Why do doubt everyone else on the Interwebs (not to mention their mothers) has a very serious list of The Greatest Football Films Ever Made in All of History, we figured we’d best serve you with our personal favorites, as embarrassing as some of them may be.
Go Team!
Kevin Polowy, Executive Editor: ‘Rudy’ (1993)
When I was in high school, the real Rudy Ruettiger came and delivered a motivational speech to the student body. Afterwards, I had him autograph a Styrofoam plate in the cafeteria. None of this has any bearing on why I love “Rudy,” just Fyi.
The real reason I love “Rudy” is not that it’s the ultimate underdog tale,...
Why do doubt everyone else on the Interwebs (not to mention their mothers) has a very serious list of The Greatest Football Films Ever Made in All of History, we figured we’d best serve you with our personal favorites, as embarrassing as some of them may be.
Go Team!
Kevin Polowy, Executive Editor: ‘Rudy’ (1993)
When I was in high school, the real Rudy Ruettiger came and delivered a motivational speech to the student body. Afterwards, I had him autograph a Styrofoam plate in the cafeteria. None of this has any bearing on why I love “Rudy,” just Fyi.
The real reason I love “Rudy” is not that it’s the ultimate underdog tale,...
- 2/4/2011
- by NextMovie Staff
- NextMovie
Break out the chips, the dips and hot wings. Amass large quantities of beer. Gather your friends around a big-screen TV. It's football season! Counting down, here are the 12 best football movies.
Top 12 Football Movies12. 'All the Right Moves' (1983)
This football favorite sees a hotshot quarterback (Tom Cruise), desperate for a scholarship, clash with his headstrong coach (Craig T. Nelson)in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.
11. 'Jerry Maguire' (1996)
Movies about sports agents count,...
Top 12 Football Movies12. 'All the Right Moves' (1983)
This football favorite sees a hotshot quarterback (Tom Cruise), desperate for a scholarship, clash with his headstrong coach (Craig T. Nelson)in a dying Pennsylvania steel town.
11. 'Jerry Maguire' (1996)
Movies about sports agents count,...
- 9/19/2010
- Extra
You've wept over Rudy. You've cheered over Rudy. You've been had by Rudy?! Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana did not allege that last one on the radio this morning, but he did suggest that the beloved sports biopic was very much a movie. As in not real. In an interview on The Dan Patrick Show, Montana was asked about Rudy Ruettiger, the namesake of the 1993 football flick about an undersized kid whose big dreams of playing for Notre Dame come true one autumn afternoon when he gets in a game, gets a sack, gets carried off the field by admiring teammates, and gets the stadium rocking to "Ru-dy!…Ru-dy!…Ru-dy!" "It's a movie remember," said...
- 9/8/2010
- E! Online
Joe Montana has some issues with the way his former college team was portrayed in "Rudy" -- because the former Notre Dame superstar just insinuated Rudy Ruettiger was more of a joke than an inspiration. Montana -- who played on the 1975 Fighting Irish squad with Ruettiger -- appeared on DirecTV's Dan Patrick Show this morning and said of the flick, "It's a movie remember ... not all that's true." After a dismissive sigh, Montana undermined some...
- 9/8/2010
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
We know him as a member of the Goonies and someone who’s made grown men cry twice (playing Rudy Ruettiger and Samwise Gamgee). But if you have preschoolers in your life, chances are they know Sean Astin as the voice of Oso, the stuffed panda bear who works for U.N.I.Q.U.E (United Network for Investigating Quite Usual Events) – an international organization of stuffed animals charged with helping kids accomplish everyday tasks, showing them ways to stay active outdoors, and teaching them the importance of telling the truth and what to do if they get lost...
- 7/9/2010
- by Mandi Bierly
- EW.com - PopWatch
Chris Longo Nick Harley Sep 5, 2019
In honor of the NFL season starting anew, we pick out our favorite football movies...
Football is sort of like smoking cigarettes; we know it’s bad for us, but we just can’t quit it. Between the amazing physical feats of strength and finesse, the team camaraderie, the personal storylines that inject theatrics into every matchup, and the ability for an underdog to unseat a favored rival any given Sunday, there’s something primal and inherently dramatic about America’s most-watched sport.
Perhaps that’s why the game makes a great basis for feature films. All of the heart, pain, and glory that can be found in football are also the same ingredients for a memorable movie. The gridiron has been the setting for a ton of Hollywood productions, but we’ve singled out the true MVPs of the genre that will give you...
In honor of the NFL season starting anew, we pick out our favorite football movies...
Football is sort of like smoking cigarettes; we know it’s bad for us, but we just can’t quit it. Between the amazing physical feats of strength and finesse, the team camaraderie, the personal storylines that inject theatrics into every matchup, and the ability for an underdog to unseat a favored rival any given Sunday, there’s something primal and inherently dramatic about America’s most-watched sport.
Perhaps that’s why the game makes a great basis for feature films. All of the heart, pain, and glory that can be found in football are also the same ingredients for a memorable movie. The gridiron has been the setting for a ton of Hollywood productions, but we’ve singled out the true MVPs of the genre that will give you...
- 2/3/2010
- Den of Geek
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