Anyone else think "Chariots of Fire" sucks?

Whoa-- you know what? You're absolutely right. Chariots is far and away the best film ever made. Thanks for setting us all straight!

Anyone who wants to bash Chariots should also post what their favorite movie is, just so we can see where they\'re coming from. Because personally, Chariots of Fire is one of my favorite movies of all time.

It's a tough choice, but I'd say Shawshank Redemption is right up there. Morgan Freeman is the man. And politics aside, I liked Tim Robbins in this one. Let the bashing begin.

SDU's post that we're boring if we find "Chariots of Fire" boring...is boring. Maybe some of us have seen enough better films to realize how ordinary "Chariots" was. As for his comments on the age of the posters here, I was in my 30s when I saw it and was less than thrilled, and when I saw a decade later, I was even less thrilled. "The Games," which someone discussed here on a thread a couple of weeks ago, is a far better Olympic running movie and, for whatever strange reason, is never shown anymore.

To the person who wants us to list our own faves as a reference point, I'd say my all-time favorites include "Dr. Strangelove," "Heavenly Creatures," "The Hustler," "Casablanca," and "Lone Star" (the John Sayles film starring Chris Cooper). I think two of the last three Best Picture Oscar winners, "Gladiator" and "Chicago," were not even good; "Gladiator" was far less than good. My own five Best Picture nominees for 2002 would have been, in order, "The Pianist," "The Hours" (those top two being genuine works of art), "Rabbitproof Fence" (an Australian film that has left several people I know literally stunned and shaken), "Spiderman" (yeah, I'm not kidding, not for the effects, which were unimpressive, but for the human story of Peter Parker), and the Mexican film "Y Tu Mama Tambien."

Although one might reasonably regard the movie as a competently made period piece (a genre that I have no particular affection for), it scarcely merits praise for "really dig[ging] deep into [the] psyches" of its protagonists. Running is an awfully selfish activity, and what really motivates us to do it is worth a hard and unflinching look. "Chariots of Fire" simply provides easy and psychologically unrevealing platitudes in place of serious psychological study. A movie about a guy who claims to run "to glorify God" can be interesting, but a movie that merely accepts that claim is either naive or fraudulent.

In my opinion, there have been no great movies "about" running, but there have been some pretty good ones. "Personal Best" may be my favorite. I think that "Endurance" is very good. Much of "On the Edge" is good, although its ending is too pat.

More generally, among movies in which sport is central, "Downhill Racer" (in my opinion, very much underrated) and "Breaking Away" are excellent.

Has anyone thought about the fact that a movie wins "Best Picture" on an annual basis rather than when the "Best Picture" actually comes out. Just becuase this movie is the best for it's year doesn't mean that it is even going to compete with the movies before or after it. For example, this is a pre-olympic year. Most world-class distance athletes are resting up this year, building the base to roll next year. The world best performance in the 10,000 will probably be slower this year rather than next year. All I am saying is you can only judge an oscar winner with movies created in it's year, even if all the other movies are crap. I wish this wasn't the case but it is. What the negative posters are doing previous to my post are comparing it to alternate year's movies, movies suited for the shorter attention span. It's like saying "Bob Kennedy is the 8th best american ever," based upon his recent performances, you might be correct but he is the A.R. holder in the 5000.

Want to see some classic film noir and b&w movies:

Touch of Evil (Orson Wells)

The Third Man (Joseph Cotton and Wells)

Kiss of Death ( Richard Widmark as Udo classic maniac)

Anatomy of a Murder (Jimmy Stewart)

and the afore mentioned "Dr Strangelove...or how I stopped worring and loved the bomb"

Great info site is IMDB.com largest database of actors/movies/tv shows/ Its awesome

[quote]SDU wrote:

This post is really about the maturity level of each poster. As the one poster said, he hated it at 15, but loved it at age 21. This was just maturity. quote]

I have to agree. "Chariots" is a great movie. I've run on the beach at St. Andrews, Scotland, where the scene was filmed, and I still get goosebumps just hearing the theme song or envisioning the group as the pick up the tempo, pick up the tempo, pick up the tempo running on the beach. And the scene where they race against the clock - literally - in the courtyard is great, too.

I'm betting a lot of the above Chariot bashers really, really liked American Pie.

I don't think "Chariots of Fire" sucks. It is pretty slow but it is well done and has a few memorable moments.

Its one of those movies that I thought was worth seeing at the time but not one I'd sit through 100 times to the point of memorizing all the dialougue, like "Goodfellas".

You want to know an example of movies that suck, I watched one today with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman as lawyers. I thought that one really sucked. What a waste of my time.

Another one I saw last week was some small-time movie with Christian Slater as some guy who walks into some hick town and all the towns people thinks he's going to kill himself.

That one sucked hard, probably the worst movie I've ever seen. I only watched half of it though.

I rented Red Dragon last week. I loved that movie. It was better than "The Cell" another one I rented.

But Chariots of Fire does not suck. Period.

These were the other nominees in 1981 for Best Picture:

http://us.imdb.com/Sections/Years/1981/academy-awards

Atlantic City (1980) - Denis Héroux

On Golden Pond (1981) - Bruce Gilbert (I)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Frank Marshall (I)

Reds (1981) - Warren Beatty

Absolutely hated "Chariots." Favorite movie of all time is "Requiem For A Dream." You want a very well-made movie that makes a strong social commentary? There it is.

Mike_McCready wrote:

Anyone who wants to bash Chariots should also post what their favorite movie is, just so we can see where they're coming from. Because personally, Chariots of Fire is one of my favorite movies of all time.

FOLK wrote:

These were the other nominees in 1981 for Best Picture:

http://us.imdb.com/Sections/Years/1981/academy-awards

Atlantic City (1980) - Denis Héroux

On Golden Pond (1981) - Bruce Gilbert (I)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Frank Marshall (I)

Reds (1981) - Warren Beatty

Gosh, looking back, that was one weak year. My guess is that "On Golden Pond" and "Reds" split and "Chariots" got in. "Raiders" is not "Best Picture" material--seems a Best Picture cannot be fun.

Atlantic City was awful then and now.

Reds was awful

On Golden Pond was average (Hepburn was great as always).

nhrnr wrote:

I'm betting a lot of the above Chariot bashers really, really liked American Pie.

One time, at band camp, we played spin the bottle...

Pulp Fiction Mikie...Chariots is heavily over-rated.

Beaches is my all-time favorite movie.

Did you guys know that in 1988 Seb Coe and Steve Cram raced each other in a revival of the "Certamen of Caius", the all out one lap race inside the court of Cambridge College as shown in the film. Coe dressed like a 1920s runner, though Cram stuck to his usual club attire I recall. Coe just pipped Cram over the 380m distance in 47seconds - just managing to beat the 12 chimes of the bell. It was pretty cool of them to do it and the race was shown live on BBC

As for the film - I think it's very good. It's not in my top 10 best movies ever, but neither is it rubbish. The plot is great, the acting is of a high standard and the race scenes are by and large put together with great thought and attention to detail. But it is not a movie about running per se. It is not called "How to be very good at sprinting". There are one or two exaggerations with the truth, but most of it reflects the period quite accurately, and having seen it a few times, I think it gets better each time. Stick with it.

Eton

Bazza, wasn't the scene in Chariots actually filed at Eton College? I was under the impression that the site at Cambridge was too small and too camera-unfriendly for filming, and they decided to move it.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure the Coe/Cram race was at Cambridge.

Incidently, did you know that Dodi Fayed was one of the executive producers on the film?

Martin - I agree with your thoughts on the film as well, by the way.

yeah right. a "feelgood" prison movie. sure. i bought the whole thisg too.

For any athlete who has put out the fire, Chariots Of Fire is an excellent movie. The movie was not about running. Running was and remains and means to an end. When an athlete has that burning desire to be the best, the competition is as big as life. When the track is filled with athletes that carry the fire that can only be extinguished by winning the Olympics, you have a race that brings tears to your eyes. I doubt that there are many on this list that have put their life on the (starting)line. For most, the "B" game of the NBA and NFL will suffice and the story of the Chariots of Fire will go misunderstood.