Rotten
Oddly, for a film about triumph over adversity, there's nothing as uplifting as the opening and closing jogs along a windswept beach.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Chariots of Fire
This is the story of two men who run, not to run, but to prove something to the world. They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals... except their honor.
1981 · 2h 3m · PG
Drama, History
Directed by
Hugh Hudson
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Chariots of Fire
Overview
In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.
Director and cast
- Hugh Hudson Director
- Ben Cross as Harold Abrahams
- Ian Charleson as Eric Liddell
- Cheryl Campbell as Jennie Liddell
- Alice Krige as Sybil Gordon
- Nigel Havers as Lord Andrew Lindsay
- Ian Holm as Sam Mussabini
- Nicholas Farrell as Aubrey Montague
- Daniel Gerroll as Henry Stallard
- John Gielgud as Master of Trinity
- Lindsay Anderson Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
82%
Tomatometer
Fresh
A movie that, with the help of Vangelis Papathanassiou's wonderfully stirring music, lifts the spirits to a new high.
Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News
Fresh
Although it is extremely well made, I frankly don't understand what the shouting is about. Good, yes; great, no.
Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
Fresh
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.
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine
Fresh
No imbalance mars the pic, whose cross-the-board achievement lifts it to an impressive level of unified accomplishment.
Jack Pitman, Variety
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