FishDuck Guide to Film Excellence

Kim Hastings FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

It looks like the weather is going to be nice this weekend…if you don’t count Sunday as part of the weekend.  The spring brings so many different weather patterns to the Pacific Northwest that it’s always a good idea to have a backup plan.

A movie sounds good.  And something tells me that you would like to see something with a sports and leisure theme.  You’ve seen Field of Dreams so many times that you’re starting to pronounce The Great American Pastime with a distinctively James Earl Jones accent (“Beesbul”), and you’ve already planned your summer vacation to Dyersville, Ohio.  Now you want to see something you haven’t seen before.

We at FishDuck.com have just what you need; seven movies with a sports and leisure theme, and a distinct Oregon connection.  That way, on the off-chance that you don’t like the movie, you can at least look for local sights.


Drive, He Said:  Filmed On Campus, Including Extensive footage in and around Mac Court.  Sports and Leisure Theme: Basketball

Jack Nicholson’s debut as a director, this stars William Tepper as Hector, a star athlete who gets lucky overandoverandoverandover…

5 Milk Duds out of 10.


The Great Race,  filmed in part in Gearhart. Sports and leisure theme: Auto Racing

Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood (at her most fetching) and Jack Lemmon set out to race cars from New York to…Paris?

6 Milk Duds


The Legend of Tillamook’s Gold,  filmed in Tillamook, Manzanita, and Vernonia.  Sports and Leisure theme: Treasure Hunting.

Suzanne Marie Doyen plays Julie Kimbell, who encounters a wise Native, and a helpful Roosevelt Elk (and really, aren’t they all just awfully helpful) and obstacles real and imagined as she does what so many young teens do, hunt for buried treasure in the Tillamook Burn.

5.75 Milk Duds


Bongwater, filmed in Portland.  Sports and leisure theme:  Getting High

Luke Wilson plays David, who falls for Serena, who falls for her weed 538 times a day.  Andy Dick co-stars, so it has that going for it too.

2 Milk Duds


Point Break, Filmed at Ecola State Park in Seaside.  Sports and Leisure Theme: Surfing

Keanu Reaves hangs at least 10 (maybe as many as 16) to catch surfing bank robbers.

6.5 Milk Duds


Personal Best, Filmed at Hayward Field and various sites in Eugene.  Sports and Leisure Theme:  Track

Mariel Hemingway plays Chris Cahill, star track athlete and candidate for the Olympic Team.  Her life and passion, on and off the track, makes this one of the best on the list.

7 Milk Duds


Kansas City Bomber, Filmed in Portland.  Sports and Leisure Theme: Roller Derby.

Raquel Welch skates.  ‘Nuff said.

6.25 Milk Duds


Without Limits,  filmed in Coos Bay, Cottage Grove, Heceta Head, and Springfield.  Sports and leisure theme: Track, Olympic Games.

Billy Crudup plays Steve Prefontaine, the legendary miler who competed in the 1972 Olympics and was favored in 1976 before dying in a car accident in May of 1975.  The film does a good job capturing the passion that “Pre” brought to the track, as well as to life off the track.

8 Milk Duds.

 

 

The blue skies and warm days are right around the corner…or maybe the corner after that.  Until then, dim the lights.  “Sssshhh, the movie’s starting.”

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

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