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 | biopic | grief | 

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Genres:

Biography | 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 Arabic

Release Date:

13 October 2011 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Gonitwa

Filming Locations:

The Curragh Racecourse, County Kildare, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Victoria,Horizon Films,Ingenious Broadcasting

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The owner of Media Puzzle, the champion horse portrayed in this film, Dr. Michael Smurfit, was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jefferson Smurfit Group from 1977, until his retirement in November 2002, the same month that the subject race in this film was held. However, by the time this film was completed in 2011, Smurfit had been created Sir Michael Smurfit, KBE (Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in The Queen's Birthday Honors List for June 2005.

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Goofs

During the 2002 AFL season, North Melbourne did not play West Coast in a match in Melbourne. During that season the two teams met twice with the matches being played in Perth and Canberra.

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Quotes

Dermot Weld: [being interviewed] As far as the Melbourne Cup, you know, as a horse race it has no equal, so it attracts the very best. Australia has more racehorses than Ireland and England and the United States and Canada combined, you know? That's a fact. Makes it pretty special, doesn't it?

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Connections

References Phar Lap (1983)

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Soundtracks

West Coast Eagles Theme Song - We're Flying High
Composers Ken Walther
Publishers 'Control'
(Ken Walther)
Courtesy of Australian Football League

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.