I'm watching the movie "4 Minute Mile" on Netflix and have one question

This movie is so bad lol also it was on YouTube for free for a while...if you watch it with the right approach it can actually be really funny. Would love to see a real runner commentary version

Things are clearing up. The old flats with BS on them belonged to Bobby Sickle! That was Kevin's buddy from the 4H school who gave him a joint and ran the 800. Kevin has been running in nothing but them since the bus crash. Injuries ensue so Kev but new inserts into the old shoes.

Kevin also texts his dead gf and Bobby periodically, which was also confusing at first.

Okay, Dickwad from Rival School hits Kevin with his car! Kevin appears unhurt and so Dickwad punches him in the jaw and accuses him of Blood Doping. Kevin gives a speech about how Dickwad's Dad has been training Dickwad and even held him back in school so that Dickwad would be the fastest HS runner senior year and it must suck to have some Hick from the Sticks beat him. The speech appears aimed at Overbearing Sports Parents in the audience.

Later, Kevin is running home when he sees a mysterious arrow on the ground. Tormented, he eventually follows it and arrives at a picnic set up by New Track Chick. I guess she is over Kevin's earlier Creepiness and is again moving in fast. They talk and make out a bit. Kevin Is Tormented!

Friction at home. Kevin doesn't want to talk to Mom and Dad. Why cant they just let him be???

Mom asks him why he doesn't bring his friends over anymore. I dunno Mom, MAYBE BECAUSE THEY ALL DIED IN A FIERY BUS CRASH?!

There is some insinuating that maybe Principal's Daughter's College is bending some recruiting rules. Grey area for sure.

Next up: State Championship Meet!

Only one word can describe the State Meet and it is Drama!

Rival Dickwad makes a Bus Crash joke on the starting line to rattle Kevin.

During the race Kevin is pushed to the ground! But recovers and catches back up to Dickwad and returns the favor in full view of many spectators including Southern Drawl Principal and his College Coach Daughter. To further show their nebulous ethics, both pass it off as No Big Deal since no race officials saw it.

Kevin wins! But wait! Dickwad's Coach Protests. Principal and Daughter try to cover for Kevin but he fesses up to his misdeeds. DQed! I guess Dickwad was also DQed. Unclear.

Kevin and Billy Crudup yell, Kevin takes off team jersey, flings it to the ground and says he will run home. In his defense, it is understandable why he might be hesitant to ride the team bus.

Coach Crudup follows Kevin in his car - 18 miles! back home. Long cooldown for him from the state meet.

Later, Principal yells at Kevin in his Southern Drawl. Tells Kevin that he will coach him now, instead of Coach K. Kevin fires back "I quit!" And he runs away. Runs to Coach K's cabin. It does look like somewhere an Old Pre might have lived, so that is nice. Kevin wants to get faster and i feel a Training Montage coming on.

Turns out, Coach K and Principal's Daughter were once engaged. More layers.

Kevin and New Track Chick have an ice cream date.

Coach K rattles off all American HS Sub 4 Milers up to Alan Webb to inspire Kevin. Seems the film takes place before the recent explosion.

Principal and his Daughter get heavy handed with Coach K concerning Kevin's training. He resists.

And in the Unnecessary Football Player Subplot - that kid gets a college scholarship. Not sure how any of the football player stuff serves the overall narrative.

In a scene straight out of 1994's "Blue Chips" - starring Nick Nolte - Coach K drops off a new pickup truck from State College for Kevin. Kevin's mom is wowed. Kevin questions the legality of such a gift and Coach K seems himself concerned though tries to wave it off as "must be within the rules or they wouldn't do it".

I'll wager a school has never spent that much money on a track recruit, illegal or no, but whatev.

Next up: party at New Track Chick's house. Is it just now her birthday? Kevin was invited what must have been months ago.

We shall see...

Plus the dudes loser older brother is played by non other than Nick Symonds.

I'm loving the review, enough that I've decided to watch the movie myself.

29 minutes in, when New Track Girl comes to visit Kevin in his room for 'school paper, Kevin has what looks like a map of Illinois on his wall so I'm gonna guess the 14:52 was 3 miles rather than 5k.

curious poster dudeguy wrote:

I'm loving the review, enough that I've decided to watch the movie myself.

29 minutes in, when New Track Girl comes to visit Kevin in his room for 'school paper, Kevin has what looks like a map of Illinois on his wall so I'm gonna guess the 14:52 was 3 miles rather than 5k.

Nice catch! Illinois it is.

Back from a dinner break.

Party scene, Dickwad rival guy states he has screwed two guys at Kevin's school. Kevin could not care less.

And some earlier questions are answered.

In that original 800 meter track race, Bobby ran as Kevin. Bobby didn't get DQed for the pushing, won that race and set some kind of record...UNDER KEVIN'S NAME.

So that's what Kevin was talking about to his dad, and by the way, that FRAUDULENT 800 meter record is what got Kevin his scholarship to the private school.

SO MANY LAYERS

Training Montage!

Revenge on the mailbox!

Things are heating up and I'm drinking!

Officially stated: Sub 4 Mile is the goal!

Great moment where Coach K jumps the fence to break into an old track and Kevin just pushes the gate open. Funny because it's true.

Coach K running barefoot. Could do without.

"You run with your heart". Literally. But also figuratively.

Call out to Once a Runner with a surprise "Even more Quarter Reps" Workout.

But now Kevin one ups Quentin Cassidy! He Demands even more quarters!

PUKE ON THE TRACK!

BLOOD IN THE URINE!

Cross off two more running movie tropes...

Kevin gives away his car to the football player. Still not sure why that guy is in the movie.

Sketchy Guy is BOBBY'S DAD! I had no idea.

He has grown a sh1tty beard. Takes Kevin to some crappy looking teepee. Oh, it was Bobby's old stuff. Sketchy Guy is weirding me out.

Pointless scene between Kevin and New Track Chick. No one in the audience cares about her.

Finally, a track meet! Kevin's parents with a pathetic little "Go Kevin" sign. Now that is true to life. Principal tells Kevin the high school track meet Sold Out because of him. Ah, Not True to Life. at all.

Still can't believe Tim Roth didn't survive the film's first five minutes.

Some good strategy talk with Crudup. Wish he would have said something "Race to see who has the most guts", and then winked at the camera.

And like that other movie, they run a mile, not 1600.

This movie is like IT, but instead of a clown, there is a School Bus.

Hey he just broke 4 minutes in the mile in the most anti-climatic scene possible.

Now running on the road, maybe chasing a bus?

Cool thought: Kevin was on the bus and did die. And the rest of the movie is his brain coping with his death, Jacob's Ladder style.

Wait, Kevin just jumped off the bridge! New chick drives up in Mini Cooper! IS HE DEAD?

Who is that chick? Old or new? I CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE! IS HE DEAD? THE WHOLE TIME? ALL A DREAM?

...

Damn, new chick is there. Not a death-dream. Not even an ambiguous ending.

Or was it?

Closing running shot - soft indie acoustic guitar music. Kevin runs down the road. To the afterlife...or college...you decide.

Sorry yall wrote:

This movie is so bad lol also it was on YouTube for free for a while...if you watch it with the right approach it can actually be really funny. Would love to see a real runner commentary version

Are you talking about the HS 4 minute mile movie with the drug dealer or the HS 4 minute mile movie with the bus crash?

Ray Guy. This is the most compelling writing I have ever seen on LetsRun. That includes the front page. It has good grammar with complete sentences and punctuation (almost unheard of here), interesting, very funny. Thanks.

Ray guy, your writing kept me engaged and justified that movie's existence more than it has any right to. This movie sounds like a special kind of terrible, but your play-by-play was a special kind of good. Tip of the hat to you sir.

Never knew why the kid in the movie went straight from the 400 to the mile without running the 800 first. I guess '1 Minute 50 Second Half-Mile' didn't have much of a ring to it.

Ray guy wrote:

My question is about the final mile the guy ran on the docks. So, early on it seemed like the route he was running was a quarter mile. Did he run a double out and back to get the mile, or was that a different route than from earlier? Or, was it a mile route with the quarters marked? The movie was unclear on this point.

Also, was the route certified? With a wheel? I think the old man probably used the odometer in his crappy truck, so likely that was a short course.

Hopefully Calculo can clear this up for us.

Dayumdude Ray guy....you are a force of nature on a keyboard!

BTW The Pitt movie is my new all-time fave running movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iMf8y3krBI

I liked that movie a lot, I have to say. I have just got a Firestick for me, and installed some Kodi addons, so I have been watching a lot of interesting movies :D Maybe you will find it interesting to you too, have a look there, guys :)