Running Movie: Saint Ralph

I agree that the movie has serious issues. It's not just fiction; it requires heavy-duty suspension of belief. The 4:45 mile repeats (in the rain, over hills, and on about a half-year of training) are the worst example. Another serious goof at the end of the movie is that we're told on the screen that the year is 1954 and the main character talks about running in the Olympics "next year." Kind of clueless editing there. Fortunately, I've successfully repressed many other memories from that movie. Oh, wasn't there a outdoor swimming pool scene in March--in Hamilton, Ontario? I'd better stop, bad memories are coming back. AGGGGGHHHHH!

LOL!

You guys are such putz's.

You slobber over 'Once a Runner' and 60X400 but can't hack some artistic license with this movie. Yes, 2nd place for a 14/15 year old is beyond credulity, but I figured it like this, a talented kid starting out a 14 who worked real hard could run a 2:20 by the time they were mmm, maybe 17 or 18. So the they just squashed 3 years or so into 6 mo.

Otherwise, I found the movie entertaining.

I'm sure on LetsSpace.com, all the Astronauts sit around and talk about the disbelief in sending the worlds best drilling team onto an astroid and planting nuclear weapons into the middle of it, exploding it, thus saving the world.

Its a movie... if people want a real life accurate acount of running, they would watch a documentary on it, but instead we have a light hearted story about following your heart.

I think its fairly well written and amusing and the kid is pretty funny. Of course you have to dispell belief that a kid can get that good in a year, but on the same point, its that kind of imagination that makes the story worth watching. While many are disgusted by the authenticity of if he could do 20x 1 mile, I sat back and had fun.

Its a fun movie... not life altering, but a nice feel good flick.

I don't think the director was going for authenticity with the 20 times a mile workout you dorks.

It was supposed to be a little farfetched. Like a fantasy sequence.

I found Saint Ralph very entertaining and highly motivating from a running point of view. I recognized a lot of the extras as runners I know so that was a bonus. I give it two thumbs up for sure.

I'm not sure how many others he has done but "My Dog Vincent" is by him and very good also.

I thought it was a great movie. I felt that it really captured the essence of running (and the striving involved) better than any other movie I've seen.

Of course I wouldn't take it (or just about any other fictional movie) completely literally, but I don't think that it was beyond a simple suspension of disbelief.

The 20xmile session he did seems like it'd be a reasonable one for someone preping for a marathon, and it wasn't on a track so we don't know how accurate it was. So maybe his coach jogs off an approximate mile loop--maybe it's only 1450m long eh?

Also, shortly after this movie was supposed to have taken place was a time when several incredible teenage running prodigies DID compete with the best in the world (Lindgren, Ryun, Kidd).

I also felt that the second place finish was a wonderful touch. It left an ambiguous feeling--he'd done something incredible, but he hadn't reached his goal. Kind of captured a truth about running for most of us. No matter how wonderfully you perform, there's still someone else better, or maybe you felt like you still could have done better. Reminds me of Malmo's statement that failure is the norm in running, so (you don't have to like it, but) get used to it.

Chris Fox takes 3rd

I played Chris Fox.

On August 8th, 1960 Bruce Kidd and I ran 8 x 1 mile with an 880 jog between. I remember that one of the runners we talked about in that workout was Ralph. I don't think he had been designated a Saint yet.

I ran a 10 mile race in Hamilton in December of 1960 and in December of 1961 placing 2nd in 52:28 and third in 52:14. Was that the Harold Webster Ten Miler? Does anyone know if they still run that race on the last weekend of the year?

In the movie we are discussing, the 10 mile race and the Around the Bay race were run in the wrong order. In those days the Bay race was run in early October on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. The Bay race was switched to early March around 1963.

Harold Webster Memorial 10 mile Boxing Day Run

http://0070244.netsolhost.com/harriers/BOXING.html

Around the Bay 30K Road Race

http://www.aroundthebayroadrace.com/

I liked it. It's kind of light and cute. I think it has one great quote. Ralph says, "Ok then, let's run some hills."

there is much talk of masturbation in the movie.

It is pretty much a staight to video or movie of the week quality. I have no problem with the premise of the kid running Boston, it was just a weak movie in regards of filmmaking.

I saw it many times. I loved this movie. It was a real feel-good movie. The music was great. It was just plain fun. I give McGowan an A for making this film.

Of course, to enjoy it you need to be able to laugh at the things runners do.

I'd just "assume" not see?

If you don't focus on the inaccuracies of the mile repeats, then I thought it wasn't that bad actually. I would preferred the Boston Marathon scenes actually looking like the Boston Marathon, but I can't imagine how much more the movie would have cost to grease all of the towns along the real route for filming. I thought the character of the coach in the movie was pretty good.

Remember, in 1951 a 19-year-old from Japan won the whole thing in 2:27. At that time, given the depth of the field, it wasn't completely impossible for a teenage phenom to win.

i would have preferred that he had some real racing flats,

fluo green with our big ass logo in orange on them.Everybody knows that they can turn a 14 year old wimp into a world beater in 6 weeks.Stupid kid wouldn't have lost the sprint with our kick ass super go fasters.Then there would have been realism in that dumb movie.

worst movie EVER...all you runner fags probably ate it up....homos