Top Movies about the Olympics

As the Beijing Games approach, it’s fitting to look at the best of the movies that have been made about the Olympic Games, both Summer and Winter. Some are inspiring, some somber, and some light-hearted. All are worth renting:

1. Chariots of Fire. This 1981 film won the Academy Award for best picture as well as three other Oscars. It tells the story of two British athletes training to compete in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

2. Blades of Glory. This 2007 campy comedy features Will Farrell as a championship figure skater that has been banned from competition for fighting and will do anything to get back on the ice.

3. Cutting Edge. “Cutting Edge” is another figure skating movie, this one a sweet and poignant one. Released in 1992, it’s the tale of a washed-up hockey player who transforms himself into a winning figure skating pairs partner.

4. Munich. “Munich” is the 2006 telling by director, Steven Speilberg of the darkest days in Olympic history–the taking hostage and subsequent murder of 11 Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village. The movie begins with the events at the Munich Games and continues through Israel’s quest to bring the guilty to justice.

5. Cool Runnings. This feel-good story from the Disney people is based on the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Calgary Games, even though the Caribbean-based team had never seen snow. The story embellishes the true story somewhat, but it’s still fun.

6. Miracle. Another Disney film, “Miracle” tells the story about the 1980 US Hockey team’s determination and surprise defeat of the Russian team for the Gold Medal. Kurt Russell stars as the team’s tenacious coach.

7. The Jesse Owens Story. The 1984 film, starring Tom Bosley and LaVar Burton, tells the story of Jesse Owens, the African-American track and field star who won four Gold Medals at the 1936 Berlin Games, disproving Hilter’s theory of Aryan supremacy.

^{(photo courtesy of Amazon.com)}