Sports History
Lights, Camera… Action!
By Anne Madarasz

During the 1970s, Pittsburgh became nationally known as the City of Champions. Four Super Bowl victories, two World Series wins, and a national collegiate football championship won by the Pitt Panthers established this reputation of excellence. These achievements on the field garnered coverage in the press and a national television audience for Pittsburgh teams and generated an interest that resonated with Hollywood filmmakers. This interest led to the heyday of regionally based sports films. In the late 1970s and early 80s a half dozen films, such as The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh, either featured the city as the setting for the action or portrayed the particular character and ethos associated with sport in the region.

But Pittsburgh sports have been featured on the silver screen since at least the 1940s with one of the earliest films to focus on the story of sport, The Pittsburgh Kid. Released in 1941, the movie starred boxer Billy Conn as the "Kid." Conn, fresh off his near win in the heavyweight title bout with Joe Louis, signed with Republic Pictures to make this boxing flick. Conn, who plays himself, is managed by actress Jean Parker in the film. As Billy battles in the ring, she battles outside with socialite Barbara Ellison for his affections. To promote the movie at the box office, Republic signed other fighters to guest roles including Henry Armstrong, Freddie Steele, Jack Roper and referee Arthur Donovan.

Hollywood had great luck in the 1940s with sports based stories or films starring acclaimed athletes - swimmer Esther Williams made her debut in 1942 and hit it big with Bathing Beauty in 1944. She capitalized on the success of Western Pa.'s Olympic champion swimmer, Johnny Weissmuller who won three gold medals in swimming in 1924, then added more gold in 1928. With his good looks and swimmer's body Weissmuller found success on the silver screen. Beginning in 1932, until his final feature appearance in 1948, he portrayed Tarzan the Ape Man to great acclaim. These two regional athletes, Weissmuller and Conn established new identities in film.

A decade after Conn's debut, the bright lights shone again on Pittsburgh with the release of Angels in the Outfield. Set at Forbes Field, the film features the travails of foul mouthed, abusive manager Guffy McGovern and his losing team, the Pirates. It took the intervention of angels to turn the team's fortunes around. In addition to Bucco players, the film features cameo appearances by Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, and Pirates part-owner, Bing Crosby. Remade in 1994, the film moved its locale to California.

Pittsburgh came into its own as a movie locale with the release in 1977 of Slap Shot. Filmed in the city and in Johnstown the movie stars Paul Newman as hockey player- coach Reggie Dunlop, who struggles to keep his team, the Charlestown Chiefs, going after the local mill closes. He enlists the help of the Hanson brothers and hockey history is made.

In 1979 The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh again featured the region in a sports comedy - in this movie the Pythons basketball team relies on astrology to break their losing streak. With basketball greats such as Dr. J, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Meadowlark Lemon, the hoops is great, even when the plot suffers.

The release of two movies in the early 1980s moved away from the genre of sports comedy and focused on the hard working character of the region. Rocky Bleier's story of battling back from the injuries incurred in the Vietnam War was made into a feature film starring Robert Ulrich. Fighting Back portrays the drama of Bleier's real life struggles to rebuild his career on the football field. As Bleier and the Steelers provided the good news for the region in the 1970s, racking up wins on field, steelworkers saw the steady erosion of their jobs and lifestyle. All the Right Moves, released in 1983 dealt with this economic tragedy, exploring the life of a high school football star, played by Tom Cruise, as he dreams about the college scholarship that will help him escape his hometown of "Ampipe."

Pittsburgh again became a sports Hollywood on the Mon in the 1990s when both Sudden Death and Kingpin were filmed here. Anchored by major stars of the big screen, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Woody Harrelson these movies once again proved that Pittsburgh was the place for action - on the field and in the theater.

Anne Madarasz is the Director of the Western PA Sports Museum, which features the story of Pittsburgh professional and amateur wrestling.