Chariots of Fire (1981)

All Critics (53) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (9) | DVD (21)

Although it is extremely well made, I frankly don't understand what the shouting is about. Good, yes; great, no.

February 6, 2013 Full Review

Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

Top Critic

Like 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.

August 1, 2008 Full Review

Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

No imbalance mars the pic, whose cross-the-board achievement lifts it to an impressive level of unified accomplishment.

March 26, 2007 Full Review

Jack Pitman

Variety

Top Critic

The battered Britons may have some excuse for enjoying this nostalgic re-creation of empire ideology, but what's ours?

December 17, 2006 Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Really this is an overblown piece of self-congratulatory emotional manipulation perfectly suited for Thatcherite liberals.

February 9, 2006 Full Review | Comment (1)

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

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?

October 23, 2004 Full Review | Comments (2)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

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.

February 22, 2013 Full Review

Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

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.

February 22, 2013 Full Review

Anthony Quinn

Independent

It's an uncomfortable reminder of how the memory can cheat and the Academy Awards can favor nostalgic sentimentalism over strong storytelling.

February 22, 2013 Full Review

Ben Rawson-Jones

Digital Spy

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.

July 26, 2012 Full Review

Brian Henry Martin

UTV

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.

July 19, 2012 Full Review

Graham Young

Birmingham Post

Warner Home Video's Blu-ray release of this dubious classic features a spectacular A/V transfer that rightfully lends focus to the film's excellent technical merits, while adding a tonnage of solid extras.

July 18, 2012 Full Review

Chris Cabin

Slant Magazine

Vangelis was the secret weapon that Riefenstahl didn't have.

July 15, 2012 Full Review

Ed Whitfield

The Ooh Tray

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]

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews

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.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

John Marriott

Radio Times

Even after 31 years, Chariots of Fire doesn't simply impress; it inspires.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Robbie Collin

Daily Telegraph

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.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

In my opinion it stands on the podium of sporting movies just below Raging Bull.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

Grant Rollings

Sun Online

The reason it succeeds with audiences around the world is that it's a stirring tale about inspiring people.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

Christopher Tookey

Daily Mail [UK]

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.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian [UK]

An odd, malformed antique that still manages to retain a certain surface-level charm.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

David Jenkins

Little White Lies

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.

July 11, 2012 Full Review

Henry Fitzherbert

Daily Express

[An] airless saga of university toffs building themselves up to run for God and country at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris...

July 2, 2012 Full Review

Neil Smith

Total Film

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.

September 9, 2011 Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

Brilliant true story of 1924 Olympic footrace.

December 22, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

• 1. Harold Abrahams: If I can't win, I won't run!
  2. Sybil Gordon: If you won't run, you can't win.
  – Submitted by Roberto P (8 months ago)
• 1. 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.
  – Submitted by Nusfish K (15 months ago)
• 1. Eric Liddell: I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.
  – Submitted by Chad E (20 months ago)
• 1. Rev J.D. Liddell: You can glorify God by peeling a potato if you peel it to perfection.
  – Submitted by Chad E (20 months ago)
• 1. Harold Abrahams: Aubrey, I've known the fear of losing but now I am almost too frightened to win.
  – Submitted by Roberto P (23 months ago)

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