Chariots of Fire (1981)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 53
Fresh: 45 | Rotten: 8
Decidedly slower and less limber than the Olympic runners at the center of its story, the film nevertheless manages to make effectively stirring use of its spiritual and patriotic themes.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2
Decidedly slower and less limber than the Olympic runners at the center of its story, the film nevertheless manages to make effectively stirring use of its spiritual and patriotic themes.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 36,007
Movie Info
Based on a true story, Chariots of Fire is the internationally acclaimed Oscar-winning drama of two very different men who compete as runners in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a serious Christian Scotsman, believes that he has to succeed as a testament to his undying religious faith. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), is a Jewish Englishman who wants desperately to be accepted and prove to the world that Jews are not inferior. The film crosscuts between each man's life as he
Sep 25, 1981 Wide
Aug 27, 1997
20th Century Fox
Watch It Now
Cast
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Ben Cross
Harold Abrahams -
Ian Charleson
Eric Liddell -
Nigel Havers
Lord Andrew Lindsay -
Nicholas Farrell
Aubrey Montague -
Ian Holm
Sam -
Daniel Gerroll
Henry Stallard -
John Gielgud
Master of Trinity -
Alice Krige
Sybil Gordon -
Lindsay Anderson
Master of Caius -
Cheryl Campbell
Jennie Liddell -
Struan Rodger
Sandy -
Patrick Magee
Lord Cadogan -
Dennis Christopher
Charles Paddock -
Brad Davis
Jackson Scholz -
Robin Pappas
Clare -
Ruby Wax
Bunty -
David Yelland
Prince of Wales -
Peter Egan
Duke of Sutherland -
Yves Beneyton
George Andre -
Colin Bruce
Taylor -
Peter Cellier
Savoy Head Waiter -
Rosy Clayton
Linda Wallis -
Kim Clifford
Sybil's Maid -
Nigel Davenport
Lord Birkenhead -
Richard Griffiths
Head Porter Caius Co... -
Gordon Hammersley
President Cambridge ... -
Andrew Hawkins
Secretary Gilbert an... -
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Alan Polonsky
Paxton -
Jeremy Sinden
President Gilbert an... -
Jack Smethurst
Sleeping Car Attenda... -
James Usher
Steven Ambrose -
Ed Wiley
Fitch -
Benny Young
Rob Liddell -
John Young
Rev J.D. Liddell -
David John
Ernest Liddell -
John Rutland
Caius Porter -
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Yvonne Gilan
Mrs. Liddell -
Philip O'Brien
American Coach -
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Chariots of Fire Trailer & Photos
All Critics (53) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (8) | DVD (21)
Although it is extremely well made, I frankly don't understand what the shouting is about. Good, yes; great, no.
Top CriticLike every element in this picture, the actors look right; they seem to emerge from the past, instead of being pasted on to it, as so many characters in historical movies seem to be.
No imbalance mars the pic, whose cross-the-board achievement lifts it to an impressive level of unified accomplishment.
The battered Britons may have some excuse for enjoying this nostalgic re-creation of empire ideology, but what's ours?
Really this is an overblown piece of self-congratulatory emotional manipulation perfectly suited for Thatcherite liberals.
This is strange. I have no interest in running and am not a partisan in the British class system. Then why should I have been so deeply moved by Chariots of Fire?
Granted, this is a British film and so you expect a restrained, understated reaction from the runners, but it's this decided lack of fun that makes the movie drag so much.
What fails as drama are the races themselves, shot front-on so that we don't know who's winning until the tape is breasted, but Hugh Hudson's decision to use slow motion and David Watkin's beautiful lighting lend them a proper heroic burnish.
It's an uncomfortable reminder of how the memory can cheat and the Academy Awards can favor nostalgic sentimentalism over strong storytelling.
Is it possible to run in slow motion and not hear Vangelis? This is the signature of all great films, a classic scene forever imprinted in your imagination.
As world events have proved time and again, this is a timeless story, rooted in an era long before anyone had thought of Spandex or terrorist attacks.
Vangelis was the secret weapon that Riefenstahl didn't have.
The cast is impeccable from top to bottom, and the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat reliably go for the gut. [Blu-ray]
Unfairly dismissed by some as an empty exercise in cheap schmaltz, this has an old-fashioned innocence that celebrates the human spirit with a lot of careful detail.
Even after 31 years, Chariots of Fire doesn't simply impress; it inspires.
To be clear, there's no way -- no way -- this should have won the Best Picture Oscar over Warren Beatty's magnificent Reds, but it's a far better movie than its detractors claim.
In my opinion it stands on the podium of sporting movies just below Raging Bull.
The reason it succeeds with audiences around the world is that it's a stirring tale about inspiring people.
A bold, intelligent, romantic film with all the lineaments of a classic, and a score by Vangelis as instantly hummable as the music for Jaws.
An odd, malformed antique that still manages to retain a certain surface-level charm.
Enhanced considerably by Vangelis's stirring score - has a film ever owed so much to its music? - the picture also works as a poignant paen to youthful hopes and the passing of time.
[An] airless saga of university toffs building themselves up to run for God and country at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris...
There have been a lot of sports dramas made into films over the years, including "Rocky" and last year's over-praised "The Fighter," but "Chariots of Fire" remains one of the best because it transcends sports.
Brilliant true story of 1924 Olympic footrace.
Audience Reviews for Chariots of Fire
Super Reviewer
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Super Reviewer
Movies Like Chariots of Fire
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- Harold Abrahams: If I can't win, I won't run!
- Sybil Gordon: If you won't run, you can't win.
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- Eric Liddell: Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within.
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- Eric Liddell: I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.
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- Rev J.D. Liddell: You can glorify God by peeling a potato if you peel it to perfection.
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- Harold Abrahams: Aubrey, I've known the fear of losing but now I am almost too frightened to win.
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Foreign Titles
- Die Stunde des Siegers (DE)
- Les Chariots de feu (FR)
