10. Senna (2010)
Ayrton Senna becomes a three-time Formula One racing champion and Brazil's national hero before his untimely death at age 34.
9. Once in a Lifetime (2006)
This documentary looks back on a time when soccer briefly captured America's attention. The film profiles the North American Soccer League franchise the New York Cosmos and the sensation it created back in the 1970s. Using archival footage, old photos and anecdotes from former players and businessmen, it tells the story -- or several conflicting stories -- of a team starring Brazilian soccer legend Pele, formed by non-sports people and ultimately submarined by the league's excessive expansion.
8. Murderball (2005)
This documentary introduces the U.S. quad rugby team -- a team composed entirely of young paraplegic men. Using special wheelchairs and very little protection, the players play full-contact competitive rugby, using rules only slightly altered to accommodate their limitations. The film follows the team as they discuss the sport, their lives, and how they ended up in their chairs to begin with, while they play their way to the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.
7. Beyond The Mat (1999)
"Beyond the Mat," Barry Blaustein's honest, intimate, revealing, highly entertaining, and critically acclaimed behind-the-scenes look at wrestling, takes viewers beyond the ring and into the lives of the men and women who inhabit this colorful, competitive, and surprisingly complex world.
6. Endless Summer (1966)
Documentary filmmaker Bruce Brown, himself a competition-level surfer, follows surfers Michael Hynson and Robert August on an around-the-world surfing adventure. With Brown's wry, sardonic narration and a twangy, guitar-driven instrumental soundtrack by The Sandals playing over the silent footage, Mike and Rob leave their California home to visit Hawaii, Australia, South Africa and other secluded surfing spots in a search for the surfer's holy grail that Brown dubs "The Perfect Wave."
5. Dogtown & Z-Boys (2001)
"Dogtown and Z-Boys," directed and co-written by skateboard legend-turned-filmmaker Stacy Peralta, is the story of a group of accidental revolutionaries, gifted kids who inadvertently changed the world by doing what came naturally. It is also a unique documentary event: a ground-level, eyewitness account of the birth of an organic American pop culture phenomenon.
4. The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters (2007)
Named "Video Game Player of the Century" in 1999, Billy Mitchell sets a record score in "Donkey Kong" that many felt would never be broken. In 2003 Steve Wiebe, who has recently lost his job, learns about the record, sets out to beat it and does. So both men embark on a cross-country battle for inclusion in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the supreme king of the electronic game.
3. Pumping Iron (1977)
This partly real and partly scripted film documents what many consider to be the golden age of bodybuilding that occurred in the 1970s. It depicts two major competitions: Mr. Universe, which is for amateur participants, and Mr. Olympia, which is for pros. In the former, Mike Katz and Ken Waller are profiled, while in the latter, the chief contenders are Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbu and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is hoping to take home a sixth win.
2. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.
1. When We Were Kings (1996)
On October 30, 1974, perhaps the most famous heavyweight championship boxing match of all time took place in Kinshasa, Zaire: the "Rumble in the Jungle" between champion George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali. In historical footage and new interviews, this documentary explores the relationship between African-Americans and the African continent during the Black Power era in terms of both popular culture and international politics, including the brutality of then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
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