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 EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 1,078

DramaHistory

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“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.”

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Cast

Ben Cross
Harold Abrahams
Ian Charleson
Eric Liddell
Cheryl Campbell
Jennie Liddell
Alice Krige
Sybil Gordon
Nigel Havers
Lord Andrew Lindsay
Ian Holm
Sam Mussabini
Nicholas Farrell
Aubrey Montague
Daniel Gerroll
Henry Stallard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hugh Hudson
Writers: Colin Welland
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $59M — a 10.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

45 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hugh Hudson, shot by David Watkin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Vangelis. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Terry Rawlings shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ben Cross and Ian Charleson and Cheryl Campbell carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "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.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hugh Hudson directs. David Watkin behind the camera. Vangelis scores. Terry Rawlings cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $59M — a 10.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
245 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
4Directed by Hugh Hudson, shot by David Watkin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Vangelis. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Terry Rawlings shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Ben Cross and Ian Charleson and Cheryl Campbell carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "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.".
9IMDB entry: tt0082158 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 22 themes, including "underdog", "sports", "scotland", "missionary".

The technical file

Cinematography: David Watkin
Original score: Vangelis
Editing: Terry Rawlings
Costume design: Milena Canonero
Makeup / hair: Hilary Steinberg
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,500,000
Box office: $58,972,904
Return: 1072% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Chariots of Fire (1981)

Awards

National Board of Review Award for Best Film
Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Costume Design
Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Hugh Hudson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-07-02
★ 6/10
The opening bars of the Oscar-winning Vangelis score coupled with the shot of the athletes running along the beach, barefoot, at St. Andrews is amongst the most iconic opening scenes from any film, but somehow the rest of this strays all too often into mediocrity thereafter. It tells the story of two British athletes who strove to thrive at the Olympiad in Paris in 1924. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) comes from a Lithuanian Jewish background. who is welcomed to Cambridge University, but never quite accepted. The other is Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Christian who comes from missionary stock and who believes that he must serve God before himself - and that includes not running any races on the Sabbath. Both of these men have considerable athletic skills, and the story intertwines their efforts to get to the Games, whilst both must deal with their differing priorities and challenges. It's this middle portion of the film, the prologued character development phase, that all plods along too slowly. It has too little pace and too many characters, and that just drags the film down. The last fifteen minutes liven up considerably though, not just with the events on the track - but amongst those determined to ensure that the whole team attains success making sacrifices and compromises along the way. It has a classy look to it, the costumes and settings are top drawer, but I found the leading performances rather disjointed and at over two hours long, I did struggle to stay engaged.

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