The Cup (2011)

The 2002 Melbourne Cup horse race, brotherly love and the triumph of the human spirit. A true story.

Director:

Simon Wincer

Writers:

Eric O'Keefe (screenplay), Simon Wincer (screenplay)

Stars:

Bryan Martin, Stephen Curry, Jodi Gordon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bryan Martin	...	MC Jockey's Presentation
Stephen Curry	...	Damien Oliver
Jodi Gordon	...	Trish Oliver
Daniel MacPherson	...	Jason Oliver
Alice Parkinson	...	Jenny
Shaun Micallef	...	Lee Freedman (as Shaun Micaleff)
Martin Sacks	...	Neil Pinner
Colleen Hewett	...	Pat Oliver
Andrew Curry	...	Ray Oliver
Meredith Penman	...	Young Pat Oliver
Brendan Gleeson	...	Dermot Weld
Kate Bell	...	Claire
Tom Burlinson	...	Dave Phillips
Nick Simpson-Deeks	...	Pat Smullen
Lewis Fitz-Gerald	...	Sir Michael Smurfit

Storyline

Born into a legendary racing family, jockeys Damien Oliver and his brother, Jason, followed in their father's footsteps. Ray Oliver died tragically in a racing accident when the boys were young. But racing was in their blood, and Damien in particular inherited his father's gifts. His eye was on the greatest championship of them all, the prestigious Melbourne Cup. After years of training, he was ready. Damien would ride the powerful but temperamental Media Puzzle, under the watch of the great Irish trainer Dermot Weld. Some were not so sure about Media Puzzle's chances, but Weld was confident that the great jockey and spirited horse would make an unbeatable combination. As racing day approached, horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, fans and the media from around the globe descended on Melbourne. Weld's fiercest rival, Sheikh Mohammed, the Crown prince of Dubai, sent his best horses, anxious for a Melbourne Cup win. The news channels were filled with talk and speculation about Damien and ...

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Plot Keywords:

race | horse | horse race | melbourne cup | bare chested male | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2011 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Gonitwa

Filming Locations:

Flemington Racecourse, Flemington, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Victoria, Ingenious Broadcasting, Screen Australia

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film had one of the longest production schedules in Australian cinema. It received the green light in 2003. The final race scenes were filmed in 2006.

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Goofs

In an establishing shot of Melbourne, the finished eureka tower can be seen, when construction of the tower started in 2002 and the exterior of the building wasn't finished until June 2006.

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Connections

References Phar Lap - Legende einer Nation (1983)

User Reviews

what a boredom

where's the plot? where's the storyline? where's the directing? where's editing? well, i can easily tell you about this braindead movie, there's none whatsoever you could ever find in this bore-you-to-death movie. i've wasted about 35 minutes trying to figure out what the movie was about and failed, then i have to bail out. i saw there was a presentation of the jockey of the year, then sections of horse race training, then some clueless absolutely irrelevant taxi at the airports, airplanes taking off and landing, some hotel scenes, some absolutely irrelevant ball game attending, lot of meaningless, clueless dialog....blah, blah and blah. of course, there were horse racing segments again and again, but all of these scenes failed to get the audiences connected. i just felt helplessly clueless by watching those boring and aimless conversations between those characters. i was trying very hard to give some depth to this so-called 'the cup' a big deal, but just ended up with lot of ????!!!??? this is one of the worst movies i've ever seen and it's not even qualified for a B movie. i don't know what i'm writing here, because i really don't know what to say, just like the movie itself, absolutely nothing. there are horse movies, there are horse racing movies, but this one is the worst.