Olympic Movies

Well, we've had a week's worth of Olympics and there is quite a bit of excitement going on for sure.

All the current athletes, however, were inspired by other Olympians. Those stories were made into movies that have helped inspire countless more.

Oscar Winning Movies

• Chariots of Fire (1981): Nominated for 7 Oscars and winner of four Oscars including Best Picture beating out Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, Reds, and Atlantic City. The movie tells the real-life story of two British Olympic athletes participating in the 1924 Olympics. Devout Scottish Christian Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) and Jewish Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) are track starts of the highest caliber. Both athletes have a lot on their mind. Liddell, son of missionaries in China, wants to use his athletic talents to glorify God while Abrahams wants to overcome the lifelong anti-semitism he's had to endure his whole life.
  
• Ice Castles (1979): The movie tells the story of a young girl (Lynn-Holly Johnson) who makes it to the top of figure skating only to get a head injury that takes her sight. She grows discouraged until she meets a guy (Robby Benson) that turns her attitude around. The movie was Oscar nominated for Best Song for Through the Eyes of Life.
  
• The Other Side of the Mountain (1975): tells the real-life story of a female skier (Marilyn Hassett) who ends up a paraplegic after a tragic accident. Now, she has to find a new life for herself. On the way to that new life she meets a guy (Beau Bridges) that helps her along the way. The Oscar nominated song Richard's Window by Olivia Newton-John is memorable.
  

Romantic Olympic Movies

• The Cutting Edge (1992): Two athletes face a turning point while at the Olympics. One gets hit on the head at a hockey match and the other falls down at a pairs' figure skating performance. Both find themselves at a low ebb until a Russian figure skating coach invites the hockey player (D.B. Sweeney) to become the figure skater's (Moira Kelly) new partner. From that point on, sparks fly.
• Walk, Don't Run (1966): What happens when you arrive two days early for the Tokyo Olympics? You find a room to share with an attractive and conservative young woman (Samantha Eggar). Cary Grant arrives for a business meeting two days early and finds himself stuck without a place to sleep. He goes to the British embassy for help. He sees a note on the bulletin board for a room to share. Grant manages to charm Eggar into letting him rent the room. Later, Grant befriends a young American Olympic athlete (Jim Hutton) who also came to Tokyo two days earlier than expected and in need of a room as well. Grant invites him to stay where he is staying. Guess what happens...a lot of fun ensues. Great swang song for Grant's last appearance in a movie.
  

Olympic Action Movie

• Downhill Racer (1969): This movie details the life of an arrogant skier (Robert Redford) who shakes up the U.S. Hockey team and butts heads with the coach (Gene Hackman). The movie features one of the most amazing ski sequences in movies.

Real-Life Olympic Inspirational Movies

• The Loneliest Runner (1976) stars Lance Kerwin in this autobiographical story written and directed by Michael Landon. Details the story of a young 14 year-old boy who races home from school every afternoon in order to pull down the pee stained bed sheet his mother put up on the balcony in order to embarrass her son into quitting the habit. His racing talents gets noticed in school and begins to work hard in order to achieve his goal of the Olympics. This made for TV movie won an Emmy for cinematography and was nominated for its film editing.
  
• The Jesse Owens Story (1984) stars Dorain Harewood in the title role of an African-American who achieves Olympic gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted by Adolf Hitler himself forever taking away the idea of the superiority of the Aryan race.
• Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story (1997): starring Mario Lopez in the title role of a young diver who makes it to Olympic gold. While diving at the Seoul Olympics, Louganis bumps his head. This worries the athlete as he had just been diagnosed with HIV. The movie deals with his life as a gay man and his relationship with his parents.
• The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984): actually, this is the story of the first modern Olympics. We all know that the Olympics started in ancient Greece but then the games stopped at about 396 A.D. So, this is the story of the return of the Olympics by Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin (Louis Jourdan). In 1894, de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee and in 1896 the first modern Olympics were held in Athens. The movie also tells the story of the first American Olympic team and the obstacles it had to endure in order to make it to Athens.
  

Fictional Olympic Inspirational Movies:

• Cool Runnings (1983): is the fictionalized comedic account of the Jamaican bobsled team starring John Candy as the team's coach. What a crazy idea!! A tropical country participating in a winter sport Olympics? But, that's just what happened. Jamaica participates in its first Winter Olympics in the 1988 Calgary games. This movie details the creation of the team and the obstacles they have to overcome in order to get to the games.
• International Velvet (1978): is the sequel to 1944's National Velvet, the story of a young equestrian (Elizabeth Taylor) who wishes to win the national title. The sequel stars Tatum O'Neal as the niece of that girl this time portrayed by Nanette Newman. This time O'Neal tries to go for Olympic gold.