Top 10 ski movies: The good, the bad, and Hot Dog ... The Movie

Every few years, Hollywood cranks out another fictional skiing movie. While the subgenre's never hatched a bona fide blockbuster, there have been a few good films sandwiched in between the myriad variations of "Animal House on the slopes." (Snowballing, anyone?) As with most sports movie subgenres, the catalog is a...

By Eric Peterson

November 18, 2009

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Every few years, Hollywood cranks out another fictional skiing movie. While the subgenre's never hatched a bona fide blockbuster, there have been a few good films sandwiched in between the myriad variations of "Animal House on the slopes." (Snowballing, anyone?)

As with most sports movie subgenres, the catalog is a bit thin: Some of the top ten are simply so bad they're actually good. Others are truly good. Others are somewhere in between: I know it's hard to believe, but Hot Dog...The Movie somehow enjoyed a middling review from Janet Maslin when it came out.

1. Downhill Racer (1969): Roger Ebert called this Robert Redford vehicle "the greatest sports movie ever made." Co-stars include Gene Hackman (with a head of hair) and Dabney Coleman (without mustache).

2. Hot Dog ... The Movie (1984): The Citizen Kane of ski sex comedies.

3. Ski Party (1965): Four words: James Brown on skis.

4. Copper Mountain (1983): This very early Jim Carrey flick falls into the so-bad-it's-good category, in no small part due to the work of Alan Thicke.

5. Ski School (1991): Some connoisseurs of the dumb ski sex comedy think this is technically superior to Hot Dog ... The Movie.

6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): The only thing that's cooler than James Bond on skis is James Brown on skis (see No. 3).

7. Ski-Wolf (2008): Combining the tropes of Teen Wolf and the ski sex comedy results in this unholy masterpiece of the so-bad-it's-good variety.

8. Better Off Dead ... (1985): This cult classic stars a young John Cusack but more importantly a young Curtis "Booger" Armstrong.

9. Out Cold (2001): This snowboarding sex comedy wouldn't make the list if it weren't for the comic genius of Zach Galifinakis.

10. The Art of Skiing (1941): Last but certainly not least, a Hollywood legend shows us how it's done.

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