Figure Skating Flicks: A Perfect 10!

ICE CASTLES (1978)
You’ll need several hankies for this tear-jerker about a fictional skating great Lexie Winston (Lynn-Holly Johnson) who loses her sight after suffering a blood clot in her brain during training. Thank goodness her high-school sweetheart (Robby Benson) is there to help her recuperate.

THE CUTTING EDGE (1992)
Toe pick! In what’s now a cult classic that has spawned three TV-movie sequels, a world-class figure skater (Moira Kelly) teams up with a washed-up hockey great (D.B. Sweeney) for Olympic glory. And, natch, a little lovin’, too.

BLADES OF GLORY (2007)
Is the world ready for man-on-man figure-skating action? That’s the question posed by this comedy starring Will Ferrell and Napoleon Dynamite funnyman Jon Heder as a same-sex skating pair. But it’s real-life couple Amy Poehler and Will Arnett who earn perfect 10s for their bitingly hilarious roles as their on-ice nemeses, Stranz and Fairchild van Waldenberg.

THE ICE FOLLIES OF 1939 (1939)
Ice skating plus Jimmy Stewart plus Joan Crawford: What could be better?

ON EDGE (2001)
This sharp mockumentary satirizes the wacky world of figure skating. (Think Bring It On — only colder.) Jason Alexander, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Wendie Malick star, with cameos from figure-skating greats Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi.

ON THIN ICE: THE TAI BABILONIA STORY (1990)
The made-for-TV movie chronicles the rise and fall — and yes, rise, again — of real-life Olympic skater Tai Babilonia (shown above at the 1979 World Championships with Randy Gardner), who struggled with drugs and depression after her dreams of gold were scuttled at the 1980 Winter Games.

ICE PRINCESS (2005)
Michelle Trachtenberg plays a geeky girl, Casey, who didn’t realize that she was an ice-skating prodigy until it was time to go off to college. Does she still have time to become an Ice Princess? Find out! Real-life pros Brian Boitano and Michelle Kwan do duty as commentators in the flick, which also stars a pre-Heroes Hayden Panettiere.

SUN VALLEY SERENADE (1941)
The jaunty musical features tunes by the famous Glenn Miller Orchestra (”Chattanooga Choo Choo!”), dancing by Dorothy Dandridge, and one rather memorable on-ice extravaganza.

THE ICE PRINCESS (1998)
Cinderella gets a frosty makeover when German ice skater Katarina Witt stars as Ella, a servant who Salchows off with the prince’s heart after an ice-skating ball.

ICE ANGEL (2000)
Starring both Tara Lipinski and Nancy Kerrigan, Ice Angel is the story of a hockey player who dies during a game and — pay attention here — comes back to life as a figure skater who had been suffering from a coma. Got that?

Want more figure skating in pop culture? Check out EW’s PopWatch on Ice!