Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
PG | 25 September 1981 (USA)
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In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.

Reviews
Platicsco

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

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Stevecorp

Don't listen to the negative reviews

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Nayan Gough

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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Candida

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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merelyaninnuendo

Chariots Of Fire3 And A Half Out 5Chariots Of Fire is a plot driven feature about an Olympic Event and the catastrophe and inner politics that it breeds among its characters. There is a lot of concrete material than one's mere textbook sport feature, like a genuine love story, a political input, a dramatic angle on the minority-majority conflict and the good old jealousy factor just to spicen things up. It is short on technical aspects like editing, costume design and sound department, although scores utterly on its beautiful cinematography and up beating background score. The camera work could have been a lot better if kept a bit more grounded and practical especially when a running sequence or a competition is depicted in here. The screenplay by Colin Welland is smart if not gripping, with just the right amount of fuel on both the character and plot track that drives the feature frictionless with a perfect balance throughout the course of it. Hugh Hudson; the director, has done a decent work on executing the anticipated vision with, as mentioned before, amazing cinematography on its side. The performance by the cast like Nicholas Farrell, Ian Charleson and Ben Cross is convincing but not something that leaves the audience in awe of it. Chariots Of Fire runs swiftly with an even pace, familiar format and rigid structure that is at best motivating and at worst worth exploring.

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g-white723

The name of this film Chariots of Fire is also a line from a famous poem / hymn called Jerusalem. It is treated as a national anthem amongst many in England. This film taps into nationalistic pride of winning in sport while conveying a subtle message that the ethics of the Olympic Games are lost in the pursuit of success.Two sportsmen from a bygone era Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson)are rivals for the gold medal sprint at the Paris Olympic Games. Both are incredibly talented but very different personalities even though they are both outsiders in the society they live in. Abrahams is the son of a migrant Jew who is studying Law at Cambridge and feels out of place amongst the establishment he so detests, while Liddell is also a foreigner in his own land as he was born the son of a missionary in China and he is now back in Scotland but his religious views are seen as a bit odd.This film is based on real life people and an extraordinary situation which occurred in 1924. These guys ran in a different era when amateurism was the right way to compete, and Christian values were still relevant to a lot of people. Abrahams is unashamed ambitious and just wants to be the best and win for himself and his country and university. Liddell is also ambitious, but his religious activities with the missionary interferes with his goals, but he is convinced by his father that running in the name of God is honourable.There is an exploration of what motivates athletes, how to take defeat and how to run a straight race which is quite interesting. There also some other athletes in the group - Nigel Havers plays Lord Linsey who is competing in the hurdles. He brings another angle to the film as a true sportsman who just loves taking part. He plays a crucial role near the end of the film.There are good performances from the lead actors, and I thought the sporting action looked realistic while keeping the period details very well. The Vangelis music score is another major reason to like this film. There are some cheesy moments of athletes back slapping each other and pompous speeches about God King and Country, but on the whole this is an interesting movie - 8/10

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ma-cortes

This is the story of two men who run to prove something to the world . They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals , except their honor . Two young men fighting for their objectives , one a determined Jew Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and the other a devout Christian (Ian Charleson) . In a warmup 100 meter race, Scottish Eric defeats Harold, who hires a pro coacher (Ian Holm) to prepare him . After that , both compete in the 1924 Olympics where their courage and determination to be tested . Eric Liddell , whose qualifying heat is scheduled for a Sunday, denies to run despite pressure from the Olympic committee formed by high authorities (Nigel Davenport , Patrick Magee , David Yelland as Prince of Wales) . Eric and Harold win their respective races and go on to achieve fame as missionary and businessman/athletic advocate, respectively . In fact , during the Japanese occupation of China, Eric as a missionary was taken into the Japanese Weihsien internment Camp, where he was to die from a brain tumour just before the camp was liberated. This is is a sensitive as well as riveting story, being told in flashback , dealing with two young British sprinters , competing for fame in the 1924 Olympics , both of them compellingly performed by Ben Cross and the early deceased Ian Charleson . About six years after the film's release, Trinity College reenacted the quad dash with British Olympic athletes Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe taking part. This marvelous film has an all-star-cast such as Ben Cross ,Ian Charleson , Nigel Havers , Ian Holm , Cheryl Campbell and Alice Krige . Great secondary cast formed by prestigious British players and with a number of well known USA and UK performers for the tiny cameo roles such as John Gielgud ,Nigel Davenport , Lindsay Anderson , Patrick Magee , Peter Egan , Richard Griffiths and uncredited Kenneth Branagh as Cambridge student , Stephen Fry and first cinema film of Nicholas Farrell . Brad Davis and Dennis Christopher appeared as a favor to producer David Puttnam, waiving their fees, in order to attract finance from backers who wanted "marquee names" . Besides the lead actors, most of the white-clad runners training on West Sands in St. Andrews during the title sequence are St. Andrews golf caddies . Colorful and evocative cinematography by David Watkin filmed on location in Edinburgh, Scotland, Liverpool , Cambridge University , Eton College, Eton, Berkshire, England . When the athletes are running off the beach , in reality it results to be West Sands at St Andrews in Scotland , they run towards a large red building clearly marked as a hotel ; this is in fact Hamilton hall of residence, a student accommodation hall belonging to the University . Lavishly and luxuriously produced by great producer David Puttnam , he was looking for a story in the mold of A man for eternity (1966), regarding someone who follows their conscience ; he felt sports provided clear situations in this sense, and happened upon the story by accident while thumbing through an Olympic reference book in a rented house in Los Angeles , then the screenwriter Colin Welland took out advertisements in London newspapers seeking memories of the 1924 Olympics.Film debut by filmmaker Hugh Hudson , he originally wanted Vangelis' 1977 tune "L'Enfant", from his 1979 'Opera Sauvage' album, to be the title theme of the film, and the beach running sequence was actually filmed with "L'Enfant" playing in the background for the runners to listen and pace to. Vangelis, however, finally convinced Hudson he could create a new and better piece for the film's main theme - and when he played the new and now-familiar "Chariots of Fire" theme for Hudson, it was agreed the new tune was unquestionably better. But the "L'Enfant" tune still made it into the film : When the athletes reach Paris and enter the stadium, a brass band marches through the field, and first plays a modified, acoustic performance of "L'Enfant" . Vangelis's electronic "L'Enfant" track eventually was used prominently in the film The years of living dangerously (1982). The picture deservedly won Academy Awards for Colin Welland's screenplay , Vangelis' magnificent soundtrack , Mila Canonero's costumes and Best picture .

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ofpsmith

This is a great depiction of a true story of Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) two British track athletes competing in the 1924 Olympic games. Harold is Jewish and Eric is Christian. As the film goes on we see Harold and Eric win their respective races as they become closer friends. Win they are put into a race together we see that the have a sense of competition towards one another but they soon realize how close they are. The film focuses on these two people mostly and their lives behind them. Eric is a soon to be missionary who is running the race because he wants to please God, and Harold is running to overcome anti-Semitism. It's a very good depiction and the acting is also quite good. I like it a lot mostly because I run cross country for my high school. I recommend it and give it 8 stars out of 10.

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