Five great films for USC fans to binge watch this spring

USC fans won’t be able to enjoy the NCAA Tournament or Spring Camp as usual, but they can fill the gap with binge-worthy movies.

Maybe you don’t know what to watch with sports shut down because of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Maybe you’re working from home and need something on in the background. Maybe you’re just looking for something pass the time.

If you’re a USC fan, you can still get your fix of the Trojans through the magic of the movies.

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Here are a few worth checking out:

Women of Troy

The new HBO documentary on USC’s 1983 women’s basketball team, which won the national championship and impacted the trajectory of women’s basketball forever, premieres on Friday night and is already available to stream online.

“These women were trailblazers whose talent and charisma created new possibilities for women in basketball and in countless other pursuits,” the film’s director Alison Ellwood said. “Cheryl Miller, Cynthia Cooper and their teammates left the game of the past behind and created the game we know and love today.”

Trojan War

Back in 2015, ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series took a crack at telling the story of Pete Carroll’s dynasty at USC.

The framing device—telling the story of those incredible nine years through the prism of the 2006 Rose Bowl against Texas—is a painful conceit at times for Trojan fans who know all too well how it ended. However, it’s also a romp through memory lane with some outstanding highs.

You can catch it streaming on ESPN+.

Against the Tide

The 1970 football game between USC and Alabama is now the stuff of legends, and rightfully so. When the Trojans integrated squad set foot in Birmingham to face off with an all-white Alabama team coached by Paul “Bear” Bryant there was a lot more at stake than just a win or loss.

The Trojan victory, specifically Sam “Bam” Cunningham’s 135-yard, two-touchdown performance, is credited with helping to integrate football in the south.

Showtime has the movie available for streaming on their website.

Love and Basketball

There’s a well-known, but unattributed, line about Sam “Bam” Cunningham: “[He] did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes that night than Martin Luther King had accomplished in 20 years.”

Maybe no one actually said that about the Trojan fullback, but there’s some certainty to this one: “Love & Basketball” did more to publicize USC basketball in 124 minutes than the Pac-12 Network has in seven years.

The film from 2000 tells the story of two gifted basketball players who navigate the game and their relationship. The two both happen to land at USC, where a large chunk of the film is set.

You can find “Love and Basketball” to rent or buy for streaming on Amazon, Itunes, Vudu, and YouTube.

Movies with the Spirit of Troy

The Spirit of Troy is the “greatest marching band in the history of the universe” in part because of its ties to the film industry. They have appeared in dozens of films and TV shows.

They played the Alabama band in “Forrest Gump” (which also features scenes shot on USC’s campus).

They’re in “The Little Rascals,” “The Music Man,” “The Naked Gun,” and “Sgt. Bilko,” just to name a few.

Or, if you’d rather simply enjoy your fill of the Trojan Marching Band, jump over to YouTube and take in the dozens of videos of performances or even a documentary from 1994 entitled “Building of a Tradition.”