Chariots of Fire (1981)
Ben Cross: Harold Abrahams
Photos
Quotes
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Harold M. Abrahams : If I can't win, I won't run!
Sybil Gordon : If you don't run, you can't win.
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Harold M. Abrahams : You, Aubrey, are my most complete man.
Harold M. Abrahams : You're brave, compassionate, kind: a content man. That is your secret, contentment; I am 24 and I've never known it.
Harold M. Abrahams : I'm forever in pursuit and I don't even know what I am chasing.
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Harold M. Abrahams : And now in one hour's time I will be out there again.
Harold M. Abrahams : I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But WILL I?
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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.
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Harold M. Abrahams : Aubrey, I've known the fear of losing but now I am almost too frightened to win.
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Harold M. Abrahams : That was the miscalculation of my life.
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Sybil Gordon : [about running] Do you love it?
Harold M. Abrahams : I'm more of an addict. It's a compulsion with me, a weapon I can use.
Sybil Gordon : Against what?
Harold M. Abrahams : Being Jewish I suppose.
Sybil Gordon : [laughs incredulously] You're not serious! People aren't like that, people don't care. Can it be as bad as all that?
Harold M. Abrahams : You're not Jewish, or you wouldn't have had to ask.
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Henry Stallard : [the athletes are playing cricket in the ballroom of their hotel. Henry Stallard is the umpire; Aubrey Montague bowls a delivery to Eric Liddell, batting] No ball!
Harold M. Abrahams : [desperate to get into bat] Come on, Aubrey, the old leg-break!
Harold M. Abrahams : [Aubrey bowls another delivery, which deceivingly appears to have gotten Eric out] HowZAT!
Henry Stallard : Not out!
Harold M. Abrahams : What do you mean, not out? You could've heard it from bloody Bournemouth! Come on, Liddell, my innings.
Eric Liddell : I didn't touch it, I swear it, must've been the crack of my wrist!
Harold M. Abrahams : He's out I tell you, you're all deaf - deaf and bloody blind! Aubrey I ask you, for God's sake!
Harold M. Abrahams : [No response from Aubrey, dramatic pause]
[punching the air]
Harold M. Abrahams : It's not FAIR!
[the athletes break into laughter, Abrahams eventually joining them]
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Harold M. Abrahams : [making a toast] To Sam Mussabini, the greatest trainer in the world.
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Harold M. Abrahams : Aubrey, I've known the fear of losing but now I am almost too frightened to win.
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Sybil Gordon : The great Harold Abrahams. My brother will be insanely jealous.
Harold Abrahams : So will mine.
Sybil Gordon : You don't look very ruthless.
Harold Abrahams : Should I?
Sybil Gordon : According to my brother. Tim says that's why you always win. - Why running?
Harold Abrahams : Why singing?
Sybil Gordon : My job. No, that's silly. I do it because I love it.
Sybil Gordon : Do you love running?
Harold Abrahams : I'm more of an addict. It's a compulsion, a weapon.
Sybil Gordon : Against what?
Harold Abrahams : Being Jewish, I suppose.
Sybil Gordon : [LAUGHS] You're not serious?
Harold Abrahams : You're not Jewish, or you wouldn't ask.
Sybil Gordon : Fiddlesticks. People don't care. Anyway, being Jewish hasn't done you any harm.
Harold Abrahams : I'm what I call semi-deprived.
Sybil Gordon : That sounds clever... What does it mean?
Harold Abrahams : It means they lead me to water but they won't let me drink.
Sybil Gordon : You're a funny old stick, Mr. Harold Abrahams. Funny...... but fascinating.
Harold Abrahams : I'll settle for the fascinating.
Sybil Gordon : Life isn't that gloomy, is it?
Harold Abrahams : [SOFTLY] Not tonight... You're so beautiful.
Sybil Gordon : Like you.
