Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan ... Read allJesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
36K
YOUR RATING
- Awards
- 6 wins & 8 nominations
Videos22
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
In the 1930s, Jesse Owens is a young man who is the first in his family to go to college. Going to Ohio State to train under its track and field coach, Larry Snyder, the young African American athlete quickly impresses with his tremendous potential that suggests Olympic material. However, as Owens struggles both with the obligations of his life and the virulent racism against him, the question of whether America would compete at all at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany is being debated vigorously. When the American envoy finds a compromise persuasive with the Third Reich to avert a boycott, Owens has his own moral struggle about going. Upon resolving that issue, Owens and his coach travel to Berlin to participate in a competition that would mark Owens as the greatest of America's Olympians even as the German film director, Leni Riefenstahl, locks horns with her country's Propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels, to film the politically embarrassing fact for posterity. —Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
- Taglines
- The incredible true story of gold medal legend, Jesse Owens.
- Genres
- Certificate
- PG
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaSnyder buys Owens new shoes from shoemaker Adi Dassler, who would later found Adidas.
- GoofsAt 6:53, the sign in the bus says "Colored sit at rear." Public transportation was segregated in 14 southern and border states, but not Ohio.
- Quotes
Jesse Owens: In those ten second, there's no black or white, only fast or slow.
- SoundtracksWon't You Come Home Bill Bailey
Written by Hughie Cannon
Arranged by Wycliffe Gordon
Published by Chesky Productions, ASCAP
Courtesy of Manhattan Production Music and Chesky Records
Top review
Covered Too Much For Its Own Good
The Jesse Owens story is extraordinary. It deserved a film for sure. But it deserved to be told with care. I have no doubt there was a ton of passion from everyone involved with the making of 'Race' but I also think there was just too much information for the filmmakers to give Owens the proper big screen adaptation. At times the film is special as Stephan James gives a really good performance as Owens, but other times I felt myself wondering why I was watching a film focusing on a handful of other characters when this was supposed to be a legit Jesse Owens biopic.
James' performance is probably the standout here but the entire cast rounds out the film well. Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, William Hurt, and even Jason Sudeikis bring plenty of credibility to one of the most important stories in Olympic history as Jesse Owens attempted to overshadow Hitler's regime by breaking records in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Although predictable and cliché at times, I found myself enjoying the relationship between Owens and his coach/trainer played by Sudeikis. I wasn't however that found of them including so much focus on the other aspects of the Berlin Olympics (though still interesting material).
I understand these Olympics had many moving vehicles that were important to the overall history of the event, but I just ended up wishing Jesse Owens got more of a focus. With that said, the times when he got his time to shine, the film was at its best. The last act of the film in Berlin felt very cinematic. The games, beginning with one long shot, felt like something made for an IMAX screen. The CGI for the Olympic Stadium also looked surprisingly well for a lower budget film (apparently 5 million). Overall, I don't think this film is as fascinating as the story it's based on is, but there's still redeemable qualities to make it a winning sports drama in my book.
+James' lead performance
+CGI
-Covered too much for its own good
6.3/10
James' performance is probably the standout here but the entire cast rounds out the film well. Jeremy Irons, Carice van Houten, William Hurt, and even Jason Sudeikis bring plenty of credibility to one of the most important stories in Olympic history as Jesse Owens attempted to overshadow Hitler's regime by breaking records in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Although predictable and cliché at times, I found myself enjoying the relationship between Owens and his coach/trainer played by Sudeikis. I wasn't however that found of them including so much focus on the other aspects of the Berlin Olympics (though still interesting material).
I understand these Olympics had many moving vehicles that were important to the overall history of the event, but I just ended up wishing Jesse Owens got more of a focus. With that said, the times when he got his time to shine, the film was at its best. The last act of the film in Berlin felt very cinematic. The games, beginning with one long shot, felt like something made for an IMAX screen. The CGI for the Olympic Stadium also looked surprisingly well for a lower budget film (apparently 5 million). Overall, I don't think this film is as fascinating as the story it's based on is, but there's still redeemable qualities to make it a winning sports drama in my book.
+James' lead performance
+CGI
-Covered too much for its own good
6.3/10
helpful•1413
- ThomasDrufke
- Feb 20, 2016
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- 10 secondes de liberté
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $19,206,207
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,353,922
- Feb 21, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $25,070,261
- Runtime
- 2h 14min
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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