Thread: Best triumph over adversity movies?

What's your favourite triumph over adversity movie?

A movie you can't help but be uplifted by?

I'm looking for something to watch that's uplifting but not too sad....a feel good movie....so although My Left Foot and Pursuit of Happyness are great examples of everything being against a main character but them still succeeding, they make me cry too much.

What will have me punching the air when the geek gets the girl, or the kid from the poor background beats the rich kids, or the 'ugly' girl takes off her glasses and everyone is astounded by her beauty, the boxer/athlete/dancer finally find their feet after a montage of weeks and months hard training etc... You get my drift.

And if it has a good soundtrack to it, even better - watch should I watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon that will have me wanting to go out and grab life by the balls again?

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The Full Monty
Billy Elliot
Mrs Henderson Presents

That should keep you amused for a while.

I love Billy Elliot - one of my favouritist films ever

Oooh and I forgotten about Mrs Henderson Presents - might have to try that again

Does Wayne's World count? Haha!

Without a doubt.....WAY! It's probably at the extreme (closeup) end of the 'triumphing against adversity' genre...but it still has two good guys, a nasty bad guy and in the end they triumph and the anti-hero gets the girl (just like how it SHOULD have been in Pretty in Pink)

And any film that has a line about Led Zeppelin not writing songs that everyone liked, "they left that to the Bee Gees" is good in my books

Originally Posted by Broomstick Pilot

The Full Monty
Billy Elliot
Mrs Henderson Presents

That should keep you amused for a while.

There is a scene in Mrs Henderson Presents that cracked me up where Judy Dench is chatting with a chap outside, he is shocked that the girls "might" be showing pussy hair so Judy says something like "Oh, don't worry about that, I know an excellent barber" and calmly goes on drinking her tea while the guy sits and stutters a bit!

Legally Blonde (yes it's silly but still)
Miracle on 34th street
And now I have no claim to movie taste left I will go and hide while watching beauty and the beast...

Originally Posted by tempest devyne

but it still has two good guys, a nasty bad guy and in the end they triumph and the anti-hero gets the girl (just like how it SHOULD have been in Pretty in Pink)

You know it's funny... I was trying to think of films and Pretty In Pink was the first one that came to mind, until I remembered that I hated the ending (who in their right mind wouldn't choose Duckie??). I have no idea why I thought of it in the first place, though. I mean I love the film but it's not on my all-time faves list or anything...

Looking at my dvds though, it was quite tricky finding a movie with a feel good ending!! However, I will say Strictly Ballroom, Gypsy, Hairspray and umm... *cough*Xanadu*cough*

You know that in the original ending for Pretty in Pink, Andie does actually end up with Duckie (what a man, his slide into the record shop and miming to Tenderness has to be my fav all-time movie moment) but Hughes succumbed to pressure from the movie moguls who thought it would give out a message of people not being able to move across social divides. They had to get Andrew McCarthy back to reshoot the ending we know,and if you look carefully you can see he's wearing a wig, that doesn't quite look the right shape or colour because he'd already shaved his head for an army officer role.

And that's one of my favourite movie anecdotes....other than they had to paint the leaves on the trees green in the Dirty Dancing practising in the lake scene because it was actually filmed in autumn...

Here you find a woman who needs to get a life....but not just yet

Ah I knew originally she ended up with Duckie but I didn't realise there was that much behind the changing of the ending!

The Dirty Dancing one is quite interesting too, but I've never liked that film so I care less!