Tin Cup

Tin Cup is Ron Shelton's third great sports film — after Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump — and it might be his most philosophically interesting. Kevin Costner plays Roy McAvoy, a driving range pro in West Texas who has the talent to be a tour champion but whose stubborn refusal to play it safe has kept him in mediocrity. When his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend, tour star David Simms (Don Johnson), shows up to rub Roy's face in his failures, Roy qualifies for the U.S. Open to prove he belongs.

Costner is perfectly cast as a man whose greatest strength — his refusal to compromise — is also his fatal flaw. Rene Russo provides sharp romantic chemistry as the sports psychologist caught between the two men. Shelton understands golf's unique psychology: it is the only major sport where the enemy is yourself. Roy does not need to beat Simms. He needs to stop beating himself.

The climactic scene at the U.S. Open — where Roy repeatedly tries to reach the green on a par five instead of laying up, hitting ball after ball into the water — is one of the most agonizing and transcendent moments in sports cinema. He could play it safe and win. But playing it safe is not who he is. Tin Cup argues that there is a nobility in refusing to compromise your nature, even when it costs you everything.