10 Most Gratuitous Movie Sports Scenes Ever

By Ben Bussey /

9. The Long Kiss Goodnight €“ Ice Skating

Not for the last time in this list, our hero€™s prowess in a particular sporting activity is highlighted for the primary reason of underlining just how badass they really are. Midway through the Shane Black-penned action fest from director Renny Harlin, Geena Davis€™ amnesiac suburban school teacher Samantha Caine has regained her memory of being crack CIA assassin Charly Baltimore, and is involved in a high speed chase in which the bad guys are on wheels and she€™s on foot. There€™s a frozen lake in the way €“ so what better than ice skates to help her catch up and take them out? Okay, so we really shouldn€™t be too anally retentive about real world logic when it comes to a crash-bang-wallop shoot €˜em up movie like The Long Kiss Goodnight; but really now, how fast can anyone get into a pair of ice skates? This may be my own lack of ice skating prowess talking, but the things are damned awkward to get into; I€™d need a minute or two at least to get both my feet properly laced in. And yet Davis pretty much looks at the ice, takes all of a millisecond to think about it, then she€™s off, both skates and guns blazing. Oh well, chalk another one up to the magic of movies. In any case the scene might have been a darn sight more implausible, as Davis was originally meant to shoot the bad guys upside down midway through an axel jump, until this proved impractical to film (can€™t think why).