Ho trovato una pagina in rete con un bell’elenco (in inglese) di Film sul Rugby.

E’ comunque una fonte preziosa e l’ho riportata in questa pagina, dopo aver eliminato i titoli già presenti nell’elenco in Italiano.

Se qualcuno sa l’inglese e ha voglia e tempo di farlo, anche per un solo film, può inserire in questa cartella una pagina con la traduzione.

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Alive II – Twenty Years Later (1993): This is
a “the making of” documentary based on the film reviewed above. You get
to meet Nando Parrado and company, and see them playing some Old Boys
rugby (which is always a frightening thing). Good viewing for rugby
completists, like me. It’s nice to see that the survivors pretty much
all carried on with life and still associate with one another.
P>Evelyn (2002): There’s a rugby match going on behind some of the dialogue at one point, and some characters refer to the match. That’s all!

The Four Feathers (2002): There’s a rugby match at the beginning of the movie, shown when the titles are run. Click here
for a photo. There’s also a shorter sequence showing some rugby being
played in the Sudan. According to the director’s commentary, this was
included to show that in society, British young men were being groomed
for war and violence (“Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.”
– Wellington) and onlookers were expected to watch it unemotionally.
It’s also supposed to show the the relationship of the men later on;
who’s the leader, etc. The action is pretty good, with numerous cheap
shots taking place, but, as usual in what’s really not a rugby movie,
the sequence is brief. I did enjoy the film!

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004): I’m told at the beginning of this film there’s a short sequence showing Che Guavara playing rugby.

The Omen (1976):
There’s one shot where Gregory Peck is watching a rugby match in
England; it lasts less than a minute, and is suspiciously fast-moving.
(They all seem to be way too energetic for the 80th minute.) A play is
made off a break from a scrum – somebody yells “Keep that scrum tight!”
so that American audiences will know it’s rugby – a guy scores a try,
the ref blows the whistle and the match ends. On the way to the beer,
one of the players looks back, says, “Good game,” and gets his face in
the shot. (“Look, Mum, I’m in a movie with Gregory Peck!”) Just then,
Doctor Who (Patrick Troughton), walks onto the pitch, gets his picture
taken, and is later impaled by a falling lightning rod. Lots of
snarling black dogs. The incidental music sounds like the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir singing in Latin. A pretty lame film, all in all.

New Zealand vs. England 1905 (1905):
From a New Zealand film archive site: “Filmmaker unknown, NZFA Stills
Collection. This image is from footage of the test match between New
Zealand and England at Crystal Palace, London, on 2 December, 1905.
This was New Zealand’s first tour as a national representative side. At
half time, the score was New Zealand 9, England 0 and at full-time the
score was New Zealand 15, England 0. Only three and a half minutes
long, this film is believed to be the earliest surviving footage of a
rugby test match.”

From Internet correspondant Bryce Krug of the St. Louis Hornets RFC: Chariots of Fire
“While not a rugby movie, per se, Chariots of Fire has a main character
named Eric Liddell (played by Ian Charleson), who is a rugby player.
He’s the Scottish missionary that won’t run on Sundays but who won the
Olympic 400 in Paris, 1924. In the movie he’s described as being a
rugby player and specifically as Scotland’s best winger. It’s even
cooler that it’s based on a true story. The Encyclopaedia Brittanica also mentions he was a rugger, and, apparently, he died in China during WWII in a Japanese POW camp.”

Le Placard (2001): An account from Planet Rugby’s “Fact of the Day”: Did
you know that French film star Gerard Depardieu is currently starring
as a homophobic rugby coach in a new film called ‘The Closet’ (Le
Placard)? The film – a huge box office hit in France – is a farce about
a character called Francois Pignon, a rugby-playing accountant at a
condom factory who, when he learns that he is about to lose his job,
pretends to be gay in order that his employers, fearing a potential
lawsuit, keep him on. But it is Depardieu, as Santini, the coach of
Pignon’s rugby team, who has garnered many rave reviews for his
over-the-top performance. At one point in the film, Depardieu watches
his team go through its scrum drills whilst holding forth about how
hard it is for France to defeat “les Springboks” and “les All Blacks”.
I have seen this film, and it is hilarious. It isn’t really a rugby
film,
but it’s a film depicting some rugby players. (Some scrum sled work is
shown.) One of them, the head coach of the company’s rugby club –
portrayed by Gerard Depardieu – has the best line. A normally
aggressive heterosexual who has a nervous breakdown when his attempts
to become friends with the false homosexual are rebuffed, is admitted
to a rest home, where he says “I started a team here but the
depressives are too weepy. Crying in a scrum, you can’t see the ball.”

This film features two fellows who are actual French props. My clubmate Frederic Bardot explains: “The shorter guy, Vincent Moscato,
used to play for Bordeaux (with the current french coach, Bernard
Laporte, as scrum half). They won one championship. He was capped four
times for France. They were famous because the forwards had a strategy
called the “tortoise,” where they would a series of rolling mauls and
the ball would be protected like soldiers behind shields. He is now
retired and is trying his hand as an actor. He is also in the movie out
on DVD called “Druids“:
Vercingétorix vs the Romans… Don’t bother renting it. The other guy
used to play a while ago but I do not remember his club.”

Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1950):
This one is notable because it was filmed on the grounds of Rugby
School, on the Close where the game (called “punt-about” in this film)
is said to have been created. Schoolboy East assures Tom, “This is the
only place where football is played properly.” The scenes with the
schoolboys playing rugby is pretty good: it looks more like a riot than
a game, with the sides numbering up to perhaps a hundred. (Big scrums!)
I didn’t see anyone running with ball in hand – which is curious, since
William Webb Ellis is said to have created the game in 1823, and this
story takes place in 1834. Anyway, it looks like the main defensive
scheme is for a boy to grab the (circular) ball and to lie on it,
killing it. At the end of the movie, “Big Brooke,” the captain (wearing
a schoolboy skull and crossbones) makes his conversion kick and
everyone cheers, Tom dashes off down the Close – fade to black, run end
titles. By the way, there’s an anachronism with boys in this film using
the term “punt.” My dictionary says that the word, meaning to kick a
football, didn’t come about until about 1845.

The Blood of Heroes (1988):
Not really a rugby film in that post Max Mad apocalypse Rutger Hauer
and friends play “jugger.” (Get it? Not rugger, jugger.) One fellow
wrote an intriguing synopsis: “Juggers play a sport which is kind of
like american football played on a tiny field (maybe 20 yards) except
instead of getting a ball in the endzone, you have to get a dog’s skull
jammed onto a stake. Oh, and everyone except the Skull Carrier (or
Qwik) has big mean looking mallets and poles to smack everyone around
with.” Okay, so it’s spiritually a rugby film.

This Sporting Life (1963): Starring Richard Harris, who played King Arthur in Camelot and
had a 1968 hit with “McArthur’s Park” (you know, the song about the
hazards of leaving cake out in the rain). The plot is as follows: “In
Northern England in the early 1960s, Frank Machin is mean, tough and
ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team
run by local
employer Weaver. Machin lodges with Mrs Hammond, whose husband was
killed in an accident at Weaver’s, but his impulsive and
angry nature stop him from being able to reach her as he would like. He
becomes increasingly frustrated with his situation, and this is
not helped by the more straightforward enticements of Mrs Weaver.”
[Some additional trivia from Richard Lowther of Wakefield RFC: “This
movie was filmed in Wakefield at the rugby league ground of Wakefield
Trinity, now known as the home of the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. The
trouble with being a Wakefield RFC (rugby union) supporter is that most
people have only heard of the rugby league club and therefore think
that we support them. This is sacrilegious.”]

This film is difficult to watch. It’s bleak, and Harris
portrays a violent, inarticulate brute. There are a lot of scenes of
Harris slugging rugby players, Mrs. Hammond, doors, tables, walls, etc.
Come to think of it, I know a couple of ruggers who are something like
this character… perhaps you do, too. The rugby footage is great, but
there’s only about fifteen minutes of it out of the 130 minutes or so
of the film. It’s not really a film about rugby – it’s a film about
pain, both emotional and physical. (Machin has six teeth knocked out of
his mouth in the first few minutes of the film – if you fear dentistry
you might fidget a little.) For some reason I found the scene where
Harris makes an ass out of himself at the posh restaurant especially
hard to watch. I must be well-trained by my wife, I guess.

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983):
I’m told that in a scene at the school where John Cleese teaches, a
match is held between staff and students that doesn’t come out very
well for the boys.

Exiles (1999):
Described as a Canadian “rock and roll rugby road trip comedy.” I have
no doubt some of you have been on one of these. The names of one of the
characters is “Pee-On,” another, “Ken Doll.” You can view the trailer here (4.8 MB in .mpg format).

Up ‘n’ Under (1998):
A British comedy, with a plot synopsis as follows: “The Cobblers Arms
have been the best and most feared
Amateur Rugby League team for the past ten years. Ex-pro Arthur bets
their boss that he could train a bunch of deadbeats to defeat
them in a local rugby sevens tournament. But to do so he must first get
them into shape with the help of the very attractive Hazel
Scott.” One reviewer wrote that this was “The blokes’ version of The Full Monty,”
so it sounds promising. [“I found ‘Up and Under’ very funny…
appreciating the rugby humour far more than my friend who finds sport
totally unwatchable and spent all the time totally bored. As a former
player (and soccer manager) I thought the training and organising
scenes were riotous… been there done that! There are some nice
one-liners in there… non of which I can now remember, but if you
haven’t seen it I recommend it.” – Richard Lowther]

William Webb Ellis Are You Mad? (1971):
This is a 27 minute documentary starring Arthur Lowe, who played the
priest in Bless Me, Father. Other than that, I know nothing of it.

Dalziel and Pascoe: A Clubbable Woman (1996):
This one sounds like it might be about spouse abuse, but it isn’t.
Here’s the plot:
“Two unorthodox police officers are called to investigate dodgy
dealings at Wetherton rugby club after the body of their star player’s
wife is found dead at home.” Wait a minute, maybe it is about spouse
abuse! [“‘Dalziel and Pascoe: A Clubbable Woman’ is part of a BBC
detective series. Dalziel is pronounced “Dee Hell,” not as it’s spelt.
Dalziel is a gruff Yorkshireman (aren’t we all?) and a policeman whilst
Pascoe is the university-educated assistant who despairs of his boss in
every imaginable way. The series is very enjoyable… this particular
episode really revolved around the social/political running of a rugby
club rather the playing side, and from memory (although it has been a
long time since I saw it), you don’t actually get to see any rugby
footage.” – Richard Lowther]

Ymadawiad Arthur (1994): This one’s a sci-fi comedy with a rather odd plot: “In
the year 2096, Welshmen lay a plan to kidnap
national hero King Arthur from the medieval era, and bring him to the
present. By mistake, however, they kidnap rugby hero Dai
Arthur (nicknamed “King Arthur”) from the 1960s instead.” Apparently
this one’s in Welsh! (I couldn’t begin to pronounce the title.)

Good try, though, but I think the Welsh are having more success with New Zealander Graham Henry than they would with the Once
and Future King…

Puddle Cruiser (1996): “A student falls in love with a fellow student who defends him in university court. He proves his love to her
by playing rugby with her ex-boyfriend.” What? One on one?

Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tale (1986):
Here’s the plot: “Featuring the characters from Murray Ball’s “Footrot
Flats”, (New Zealand’s
most beloved local cartoon strip). Questions to be answered include:
Will Wal Footrot win the affections of Cheeky Hobson over the
sleazy Spic Murphy? Will the Dog win the affections of the lovely Jess?
Will Wal make a good impression on the All Black selectors
at Saturday’s rugby match? Can Rangi and Pongo save Wal’s prize stag
from the depths of Blackwater station, home of the Murphy’s,
their vicious dogs and deadly croco-pigs? All this and more will be
answered as the small town of Raupo comes to life on the big
screen.”

Deadly “croco-pigs?”

The Departed (2006):
I’m told that there’s a pretty good rugby scene with Matt Damon as a
flanker, who uses good verbal sparring skills that all forwards possess
as he questions the sexuality of the NYFD.

Gallipoli (1981): There’s a brief sequence of some boys from Victoria playing the boys from Western Australia under the gaze of the Sphinx!

I Could Go On Singing (1963):
Judy Garland’s last film. In it her son is shown playing some muddy
U-14 schoolboy rugby. The sequence only lasts five minutes or so.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939):
Once again, a brief scene of some schoolboys playing rugby is all
that’s in here, but this movie is valuable to see because it describes
the English school environment in which rugby developed. (Besides being
an excellent and worthwhile film, generally.) What I appreciated most
were the memorial scenes about the grown schoolboys who became
casualties in World War I – a fate shared by many a promising British
rugby player. (There is more about this in my review of the book “Rugger, My Pleasure.”)
While the story of rugby is about athleticism, victory on the pitch,
teamwork, colorful personalities, camaderie and social drinking, there
is a strong element of sadness, as well.

The Commitments (1991)
– Okay, I admit: there isn’t a rugby ball or a rugby player in it, but
it’s still a rugby film. See it and see if you don’t agree. (That
drummer reminds me of ruggers I know.)

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Internet correspondent Felipe adds:

Cry Freedom (1987) – Denzel Washington plays an anti-apartheid activist and has a small scene playing rugby in a township, as 8 man of course!

A Dry White Season (1989)
Donald Sutherland plays a retired Springbok (fly-half, no less) who is
a school teacher that discovers the horrors of apartheid. Not much
rugby in this one, a small season with Donald Sutherland’s son playing
school boy rugby.

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John Bell writes: “I rented “The Deep” this week, and apart from the
requisite Jaqueline Bisset wet t-shirt scenes, Nick Nolte appears in a
stylish late 70s rugby shirt with a number 4 on the back, in a cool
‘spade’ shape (like the Gentlemen of Aspen, I believe).”

Guest film critic John “Montana” Thomas, the owner/operator of
PropTalk, has contributed the following (my comments in brackets):

Tommy Boy (1995)
– Beginning while at college, he is wearing a rugby jacket. [This film
stars Chris Farley and David Spade. Chris Farley did in fact play rugby
for Marquette. Check out my famous ruggers page for details.]

The Man Without a Face (1993) – When the boy leaves burnt face Mel Gibson and goes off to private school…he plays rugby.

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Guest film critic Pete Murray has this:

Circle of Friends (1995)
– From a Maeve Binchy book about three female Irish university students
who were reunited at university in the 1950s. The story line follows a
girl (Minnie Driver, who had to gain 30 or so pounds for the role) who
lives in a village and commutes to university (in Dublin) via public
transportation, and her trials and tribulations of dating the captain
and fly half (Chris O’Donnell) of the rugby club. There are two scenes
involving rugby, the first (which I missed because I was buying popcorn
and soda) was about a 30 second bit of action and the second was of a
social held by the club where in many pints of Guinness are consumed
and rugby songs are sung.

Pacific Heights
(1990) – There is a quick scene where Matthew Modine runs up the stairs
in the pouring rain to greet a couple who is looking at his apartment.
He is in his kit and carrying his boots. I believe he is wearing a
number 12 jersey which would indicate him being an inside center. Poor
choice, I would have him in a number 10.

Also, The Molly Maguires (1970) –
An excellent film about the group of the same name in Northeast
Pennsylvania. Although the storyline follows Richard Harris in his role
as a Pinkerton (successfully) attempting to infiltrate the Maguires who
were headed up by “Black Jack” Kehoe (played by Sean Connery.) Harris
is torn between what he comes to believe as a righteous cause and his
job. But getting to the point (rugby) there is a scene
where the guys from the coal mine in the town play the next town/coal
mine/company over in a hybrid game of rugby union, Gaelic football, and
gridiron. There are some awesome shots of a scrum down where Connery is
working his counterpart over with a little bit of the business. At the
end of the match there is an obligatory drink-up. [Based upon Pete’s
recommendation – and the fact that I like Sean Connery – I rented this
film. It may be worth noting that it takes place in 1876, and the
football game the miners play is with a round ball. But it’s passed by
hand like rugby, and there’s a shot of what looks like a hooker kicking
the ball backwards out of the scrum. The “business” Pete refers to is
punching with the fist. During the match a Welsh policeman looks on
disapprovingly. That doesn’t seem right, does it? – Wes]

The Sum of Us (1994)
– The movie is about a gay rugby (league) player, Russell Crowe, who is
looking for Mister Right. The movie opens with a scene from a training
session – rugby training that is. I can’t tell you how the movie
develops because I am not into love stories, especially ones that don’t
include the fairer sex.

The Departed (2006)
– SPOILER ALERT! Matt Damon plays a crooked state trooper that is
linked up with the Irish mob in South Boston. The rugby scene happens
in the first 15 minutes or so and it pits the police against the
firemen. Probably 10 seconds or so of rugby action in this film. I take
it the firemen win because Damon’s character flips them the bird and
makes a comment referring to the firemen’s success with women in recent
years. I suppose there is no drink up because Damon and one of his
mates are seen next drinking cans of beer in front of the state house.

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Tom Hamill adds:

Trouble Along the Way
(1953): Starring John Wayne and Donna Reed. The Duke, as a disgraced
football coach, is given a chance to revive his career at a small,
metro-New York college. At one point he gives a dissertation on the
history of Gridiron, starting with William Webb Ellis.

Murderball (2005): A
film about quadriplegics who play full-contact rugby in Mad Max-style
wheelchairs – overcoming unimaginable obstacles to compete in the
Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. Best Documentary of the 2005
Sundance Film Festival

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Another guest film critic, this time Paul Bothwell, from Wales, has this:

A Run for Your Money (1949)
– Twm and Dai Jones, two Welsh coal-mining brothers from South Wales,
win a coal-cutting competition and take a trip to London to see the
England-Wales Rugby match, They are supposed to meet a newspaper
reporter, Mr. Whimple of the Weekly Echo, played by Alec Guiness, who
will be their escort but end up missing connections with their
reception committee. In the big city, innocent Dai soon finds himself
accompanied by Jo, an attractive con-woman; while Twm meets a Welsh
harpist who leads him through many pubs, and Mr. Whimple is led a merry
chase, what a job it turns out to be! [According to the Britmovie
review, this is one of those Ealing comedies: “The theme was that of
innocents abroad, the victims of female confidence tricksters and
sponging drunks, with occasional bouts of Welsh male voice singing.” –
Wes]

Also,

Grand Slam (1976) – You can download it from here.
It’s worth seeing. It’s about some Welsh rugby fans (is this
redundant?) in France on the occasion of a France vs. Wales game. The
main ingredients of this one are drunkenness, sex, a brothel brawl,
incarceration, dialects that are occasionally difficult for Yanks to
understand, lots of smoking and Hugh Griffith’s enormous eyebrows.

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Some comments from Internet correspondent Colin Ip:

School Wars: Hero
– “I have just seen an excellent movie about rugby, in the same manner
as “Remember The Titans” was about high school footie, i.e. based on
true events, based on college sports, based on troubles at school,
except, the film is set in Japan. The film is called “School Wars:
Hero” and is set in 1974 about a retired all-Japan international player
who starts his second career as a PE teacher at a Japanese college. The
college is overrun by bullies and thugs who terrorise teachers and
smaller kids, as well as influence who can play rugby etc. The teacher
uses his skills as a rugby player to bring order and respect to the
school and to mould a winning rugby team from the school gangs. There
are some clichés, the rugby scenes are excellent and is not, shall we
say, played to 1974 rules, but given a more modern context, the
thumping tackles, great moves and the modern offside rules being
played. You do get a lot of free flowing rugby action from kids who
obviously have played for some time. His coaching methods are extreme
(perhaps not to the Japanese, though!) but the film is very good and
surprisingly moving in some parts as he nearly gives up, perseveres on
and, in one instance, convinces a local school thug to change his ways
by playing rugby. The ending is poignant and the fun is watching kids
do a Japanese Haka.” From the website: “A physical education teacher
assumes his new post at Fushimi first industrial high school in 1974
Kyoto. Devastated by campus violence, most of the teachers interact as
little as possible with the students, but the new guy believes he can
constructively channel the teens’ anger by forming a rugby team.
Despite internal conflicts and setbacks, the team begins to bond,
forming a type of family relationship most of them have never known and
a national championship may be within their grasp. Directed by Ikuo
Sekimoto with a cast that includes Shouei, Emi Wakui, Koutaro Satomi,
and singer/actress SAYAKA (of Dragon Head fame), this film is based on
real events.”

Also from Colin,

Twin Town
– “There is another film with rugby as one of the core themes, “Twin
Town,” with Llyr Ifans and his brother Rhys Ifans (who also starred in
“Notting Hill” as Hugh Grant’s eccentric flatmate and other films such
as “Once Upon A Time In The Midlands” with Robert Carlyle and “51st
State” with Samuel Jackson). The tag line is: Rugby. Tom Jones. Male
Voice Choirs. Shirley Bassey.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantisiliogogogch. Snowdonia.
Prince of Wales. Anthony Hopkins. Daffodils. Sheep. Sheep Lovers. Coal.
Slate Quarries. The Blaenau Ffestiniog Dinkey-Doo Miniature Railway.
Now If That’s Your Idea Of Thousands Of Years Of Welsh Culture, You
Can’t Blame Us For Trying To Liven The Place Up A Little Can You? The
film centres around the Lewis Twins (the Ifans brothers) who spend
their time stealing cars, joy riding, sniffing glue, smoking a bong in
a bath, naked(!) and terrorizing the cops in Swansea. Their father,
Fatty Lewis, breaks his leg working for a local bigwig property
developer Bryn Cartwright, who also runs the local rugby club and
regularly enthuses about the golden days of Welsh rugby. Cartwright
refuses to pay compensation which results in utter mayhem from the
twins, with some classic scenes at the rugby club and during training!
Worse than an All Blacks mauling!”