I get it. Just pitching something out there, as I can't list everything. Without Limits is a lock, and our guest chose it as their favorite, so it can't be changed.
Guess the better question here is this: what would make the best podcast, one you would want to actually watch, between Without Limits v (insert your running movie choice)?
McFarland USA Running Brave The Long Green Line Endurance
Seem to have some traction in the above. I'll post the podcast once we record, but you can check us out @sceneweekly on YT and other platforms. We're both former runners and we'll have a former professional runner on the pod giving their take on what they liked about Without Limits.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
I had Endurance and Chariots of Fire on VHS, and I would watch those or Prefontaine or Without Limits to psyche myself up for races. I’ve seen most of the others listed in this thread as well, but cinematically I think Chariots of Fire is the best running film.
I’m guessing many people here have seen Chariots and the Prefontaine movies, but if you haven’t seen Endurance it’s worth a watch.
Oh, and I want to mention "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner," "The Games" (a sentimental favorite of some of us who had the chance to see it over fifty years ago, when the marathon was very much a rare but highly revered event), and "The Jericho Mile." Also, for the very best sequence in a "running movie,"I would choose Bud Greenspan's brilliant coverage of Douglas Wakiihuri's last-place finish in the 1968 Olympic marathon (which Greenspan considered his single best film sequence ever, and which is my own favorite sequence in any any running movie ever). Conversely, as the worst movie sequence ever in a "running movie," it's hard to top Michael Douglas's performance in the closing scene of "Running," about a running bum who finds some kind of redemption by straggling into the stadium to complete the Olympic marathon. It's an obvious rip-off of Greenspan's great sequence about Wakiihuri's last-place finish in 1968.
Great picks. The Games has a great central plot (perfect for LRC audience) — the best marathoner’s coach doesn’t want him to just win the Olympic marathon — he’s pushing him to break 2 hours. Time for a rewatch.
"The Games" (a sentimental favorite of some of us who had the chance to see it over fifty years ago, when the marathon was very much a rare but highly revered event),
I second that, "The Games" remains my favorite after all these years.
I did enjoy the Larsen movie. A bit long but some great history.
McFarland was a great story line but they just didn't make it realistic enough. XC isn't a country club sport and the state championship race was poorly depicted (Disney could have afforded to make it more realistic.) Great story line though!!
Wanted to go ahead and contribute to this thread...
A 1979 TV movie called "A Shining Season" which was about former University of New Mexico champion distance runner John Baker coaching the Duke City Dashers girls track team while he was terminally ill.
A made for TV movie is a made for TV movie... but this movie was particularly touching.
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"Comfort must not be expected by folks that go a pleasuring."
Doing a movie podcast here in a couple weeks, and have a question for you fine folks.
Without Limits in my view is the best running movie ever. We need another to counter WO, so what have you? What's the next best running movie? Running Brave? Pre? McFarland USA? Chariots?
Bud Greenspan's brilliant coverage of Douglas Wakiihuri's last-place finish in the 1968 Olympic marathon
While I agree with the brilliance of Greenspan’s work, I had to downvote your post. The athlete you intended to reference is John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania who struggled in the 1968 Olympic marathon after an early fall. He is famous for saying "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race." Wakiihuri-san did not make an Olympic start until 1988.
"The Games" (a sentimental favorite of some of us who had the chance to see it over fifty years ago, when the marathon was very much a rare but highly revered event),
I second that, "The Games" remains my favorite after all these years.
I have often cited "The Games" to others as the worst possible example of a running movie. The idea that the American could just at a moment's notice switch from running 400 m to running the marathon is absolutely ludicrous. Storyline in general was ridiculous. "Chariot of Fire" is by far the best running movie I have ever seen and the only one I've wanted to watch multiple times.
I second that, "The Games" remains my favorite after all these years.
I have often cited "The Games" to others as the worst possible example of a running movie. The idea that the American could just at a moment's notice switch from running 400 m to running the marathon is absolutely ludicrous. Storyline in general was ridiculous. "Chariot of Fire" is by far the best running movie I have ever seen and the only one I've wanted to watch multiple times.
My two favorites are Chariots (won Oscar for Best Picture) and Without Limits. Loneliness is an interesting, melancholy movie. As someone posted, you got to be in the right mood to watch it. And yea, The Games is kinda cheesy, but I liked it. Interesting to watch a young Michael Crawford (Phantom of the Opera fame) running. He's the only one who looked like an actual runner. In fact, I recall reading (Sports Illustrated) that he trained with the British Olympian Gordon Pirie in preparation for the role and that he ran a 4:20 something mile in practice.
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