Watching sports is one of the most fun activities for many people. Nothing is more thrilling than seeing your favourite team win, especially if you have backed them for success through the best betting sites nz.
Movies don’t tend to do well if they are made about sports as it is already so entertaining. However, there are many examples of films which have completely won over the hearts of sports fans with their inspiring stories, and below we will discuss a few of them.
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is one of the most inspirational movies about running. The film, titled after a line in William Blake’s poem Jerusalem, recounts the story of two sprinters who have very different ambitions.
Harold Abraham is a Lithuanian Jew who is well-respected by his classmates and to some degree the school administration because of his excellent running ability. The other lead character is Eric Liddell who is a devout member of the Church of Scotland. He also is a great sprinter but sees his ability as a gift of God and wants to run to honour God and that gift. He has vowed to not run in a race on Sunday, but unfortunately the race happens on that very day.
Things get interesting when the lives of the two lead characters intersect at the 1924 Paris Olympics, something the sprinters as well as the fans most anticipate. It is a beautiful movie that will surely warm your heart.
Chariots of Fire was a big success and received very good reviews from critics. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won four of them, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The Games
Another good movie on our list is The Games which features Michael Crawford as the protagonist, who is a milkman excellent at running from house to house at a record speed. Things take an interesting twist when his talent is spotted by a controlling coach who believes the protagonist can be a huge success in running.
However, there are many other interesting characters in the film too. Ryan O’Neal is portrayed as an American College athlete who relies on stimulants to enhance his performances. Charles Aznavour has retired from the sport but is asked to run again by his political masters. And then there is Athol Compton who is a young black athlete who gets asked to give up his dream of competing in the Olympics just minutes before the start of the race.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
If you are seeking a feel-good movie, then you cannot do better than The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner. This coming of age film is directed by Tony Richerdson and it first came out in 1962. It is about a young man named Colin Smith who gets imprisoned after his involvement in a robbery at a bakery. However, he starts to get privileges while in confinement after the Governor notices his gift for running. During that time, he starts to think about his life and his status as the Governor’s prize runner. Along the way, he faces difficult moral choices about whether or not to defy authority to regain his self-esteem.
The movie failed to be a success commercially, but it was received very well by the critics who praised the acting as well as the story.
The Long Run
If we are talking about inspiring movies about running, then we cannot miss The Long Run, which first hit the screens in 2000. It recounts the story of a man trying to turn an amateur into a champion. Barry Bohmer spots the talent of an amazing woman while jogging one day, and he believes that she has the ability to win the Comrades Marathon, which is a grueling 55-mile race that stretches between two cities in the South African desert.
The movie shows that you can become a huge success even if you don’t have a background in running or don’t have the necessary experience. We can see examples of that in real-life horse events too, where amateurs end up beating some of the pros in the sport.
Running
Running is an excellent sports drama film, which was written and directed by Steven Hilliard Stern, with Michael Douglas and Susan Anspach in the lead roles. It tells the story of American marathon runner Michael Andropolis who aims to represent his country at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
Andropolis hopes that success on the field will help with his work and family problems. Running is what gives him the purpose in his life that eluded him in the past. Watching the film, you will see the determination involved in running and get an experience of the Olympic Trials. You will find your emotions hard to control by the end of the movie.
