Chariots of Fire (1981)

Director:

Hugh Hudson

Writer:

Colin Welland (original screenplay)

Release Date:

9 October 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Sport

Tagline:

This is the story of two men who run...not to run...but to prove something to the world. They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals...Except their honor.

Plot:

The story of two British track athletes, one a determined Jew, and the other a devout Christian who compete in the 1924 Olympics.

Plot Keywords:

Cambridge England | Ethics | Famous Score | Olympics | Racing

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Nicholas Farrell	...	Aubrey Montague
Nigel Havers	...	Lord Andrew Lindsay
Ian Charleson	...	Eric Liddell
Ben Cross	...	Harold Abrahams
Daniel Gerroll	...	Henry Stallard
Ian Holm	...	Sam Mussabini
John Gielgud	...	Master of Trinity (as Sir John Gielgud)
Lindsay Anderson	...	Master of Caius
Nigel Davenport	...	Lord Birkenhead
Cheryl Campbell	...	Jennie Liddell
Alice Krige	...	Sybil Gordon
Dennis Christopher	...	Charles Paddock
Brad Davis	...	Jackson Scholz
Patrick Magee	...	Lord Cadogan
Peter Egan	...	Duke of Sutherland

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG (DVD rating) | South Korea:All | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:F (Ontario) | Brazil:Livre | UK:PG (DVD rating) (2005) | Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1986) | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Assembly Hall, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company:

Enigma Productions

Trivia:

The funeral service at the beginning of the film was deleted when the film was shown on the In Flight Entertainment.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the long shot of the departing boat that takes the athletes to France, there's a rather obvious radar antenna. Fortunately, it's not rotating.

Quotes:

Sam Mussabini: Eric Liddell? He's no real problem...
Harold M. Abrahams: [Eric has already beaten Harold once] You could have fooled me.
Sam Mussabini: Yeah, he's fast! But he won't go any faster. He's a gut runner, digs deep! But a short sprint is run on nerves. It's tailor-made for neurotics.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in View from the Overlook: Crafting 'The Shining' (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Jesus Shall Reign

Sheer Beauty

I was a student at Edinburgh University in 1981 and was actually lodging with one branch of Eric Liddell's family.

My friends and I all went to see this movie repeatedly -- and I mean five, six, or seven paid entrances. Why?

Personally, I don't think it had anything to do with the plot, character development, the music, or moral virtue. It was simply that the film was so utterly beautiful.

The men were beautiful in a clean, non-glamorous way that we had never seen before. Not in British films, and certainly not in Hollywood movies.

The social and educational expectations shared by all were beautiful. I know it is fashionable to decry the British class system, and in principle I agree with all the criticisms. But it also seems that erasing class-by-birth leaves little else but crass meritocracy and the sheer vulgarity of the uneducated masses. Abraham's fellow students at Cambridge and Liddell's at Edinburgh participated in a social and educational system not driven by concerns about jobs, and not pathetically challenged by students who saw themselves as consumers and professors as entertainers.

Britain was beautiful. Of course some parts still are, but Nazi bombs, post-war architecture, and modern cars have destroyed much. This was a Britain where people at the time might have decried "Victorian" architecture, but we in 1981 were just coming to realize how great it was. And this was a Britain where, for good or ill, middle class people kept their houses tasteful, and working-class door-steps were white-stoned each week.

In all this movie was a connection to the beautiful aspects of the British past. That past might never have existed in reality, but in 1981 we could just about touch it, above all in Edinburgh, spared by German bombs and still one of the most beautiful cities in the world.