Three great sporting movies from the archives

There are few moments better in life than settling down in front of the TV with your favourite drinks and snacks in total darkness to watch a movie about sport that you expect to be thoroughly entertaining.

So lucky you – here we have there for you to cast your eye over and none of them will leave you disappointed.

National Velvet

The first is a movie from 1944 which marked a young Liz Taylor’s first real breakthrough in Hollywood. National Velvet’s clue is in the name. The movie is a great tale about a girl who lives on the south coast of England and is obsessed, as many young girls are, with horses.

One day whilst walking along the coast road, Velvet (played by Elizabeth Taylor) meets a guy on the road who turns out to be one Mi Taylor. Coincidentally, Mi was trying to find Velvet’s mother because his father had trained Velvet’s Mum to be the first girl to swim the English Channel a generation earlier – all fictional of course.

As they talk, they see a horse which has broken free in a field. It jumps a wall and Mi explains that the horse has just jumped the equivalent of Becher’s Brook. Velvet enquiries what Becher’s Brook is and Mi explains that it’s the most famous fence in the world’s greatest steeplechase – the Grand National held at Aintree near Liverpool each April.

So the story progresses from there. The horse is called The Pie by Velvet who wins it in a raffle and becomes determined to enter it into the Grand National with Mi’s help as he’s a former stable lad.

They book a Russian jockey to ride in the great race, but Velvet doesn’t believe in him and decides to ride the horse herself posing as the Russian jockey. Of course, she wins against all the odds, but is disqualified when she falls off after the line and the Doctors on the course find out she’s a girl. This makes Velvet into a national Grand National hero.

The movie is a real ripping yarn that is a great one for all the family to watch. But save this one until the late spring when the race is nearly upon us. The Grand National is beamed all around the world with millions watching it live in every continent. The race is a British obsession with tens of millions being wagered on the betting exchanges like Betfair and the bookmakers on the outcome of what is the most gambled-on race in the horse racing world. Horse racing in itself is a tremendously popular sport, but watching this film can help you fall in love all over again!

In the film, even Velvet’s Dad has a few pounds on the race but unfortunately, he isn’t able to collect on the odds of 100-1 on his daughter due to her disqualification.

Phar Lap

Another great movie about racing for the whole family deals with a factual story unlike the purely fictional National Velvet.

Phar Lap was a real racehorse from Australia in the 1930s. During the era of the great depression, Phar Lap came from relatively humble origins to take on the best horses in the world. He even won the Melbourne Cup – by far the biggest horse race down-under. The Melbourne Cup is actually a public holiday in its native state of Victoria – and is often said to be the day when the whole of Australia comes to a halt.

It’s another national obsession and equally as big as the Grand National – though the Melbourne Cup is a flat race.

The real-life Phar Lap won the race then was sent across the water to compete in Mexico and the USA.

He then died under what remain, to this day, to be rather suspicious circumstances – with possible “Mob” involvement.

But whilst National Velvet is a great family yarn – it’s probably fair to say that Phar Lap is one of the greatest sporting movies ever made from an artistic merit point of view. It really is that good – so we won’t spoil story by telling you any more than these basics. Made in 1983 in the horse’s native Australia (though he had actually been bred in New Zealand) the movie stars Tom Burlinson and was penned by the well-known Australian playwright David Williamson. You have to see it if you love your sporting movies!

Chariots of Fire

Staying with running racers now, but of the two-legged variety – if you’ve never seen the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire” – rectify this at once. This is a factual-based UK historical drama telling the story of a number of different British athletes of the 1920s. In particular, it deals with the story of English Jew Harold Abrahams, and Scottish devout Christian Eric Liddell. The former is running partially against racial prejudice and the latter doing it for the glory of God as they build up to the 1924 Olympics which were held in Paris.

The story is essentially true though some of the details were slightly changed to make it more entertaining. But don’t let this put you off.

The film was based on an initial idea by British movie producer David Puttnam, who also produced it. It was written by Colin Welland, directed by Hugh Hudson and won four Oscars. The film is particularly memorable for its music score by Vangelis, which bagged one of the Oscars Best Original Music Score.

The title comes originally from a William Blake poem “Bring me my chariot of fire”. This line is included in the hymn “Jerusalem” which was traditionally sung at many British private schools. The very original phrase “chariot of fire” comes from the Bible; Kings 2:11 and 6:17.

It’s a wonderful and true story, it’s very well written and directed – and is a must-see movie for all sports fans even today.

– and the real-life story of Harold Abrahams…

The real-life story of Harold Abrahams is particularly interesting. The 100 metres is the longest running and most fabled of all Olympic races. To take the title of the “world’s fastest human being” at the Games themselves is an honour unequalled in sport.  Harold Abrahams was the first Briton to join that exclusive club of sprinters who know how it feels to hold the title.

Abrahams was arguably the first British Athlete to take a “professional” approach to running.

One of the most memorable scenes of the film depicts Abrahams racing round the Great Court of Trinity College, Cambridge. But in fact, he did no such thing, though Lord Burghley, also depicted in the epic, did. Nor did Abrahams see the 100-metre final as his last chance of a gold medal after his disappointing showing in the 200. In fact, the 100 preceded the 200.

What is unquestionable though, is that Harold Abrahams was the first truly great British sprinter and the first-ever European to win an Olympic 100 or 200 sprint title.

Abrahams was born into a wealthy family in 1899 in Bedford.  An excellent student, he went on to study Law at Cambridge where he excelled in athletics and became President of the Athletics Club.

He represented Britain at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp to gain experience and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 100 and 200 and finished 21st in the long jump. His two older brothers were also gifted athletes.  Sidney had competed in the 100 and long jump at the 1906 and 1912 Games.  A motivating factor for the young Abrahams was undoubtedly the strong desire to exceed the achievements of his brothers.

He considered his showing at the Antwerp Games as something of a debacle and, determined to improve, hired Coach Sam Mussabini in 1923.  It was the first time a British amateur athlete had paid for personal training and it caused a bit of a stir in an age when professionalism was a dirty word in sport.

Mussabini became involved in sprint coaching in the 1890s.  His analytical approach put him streets ahead of his contemporaries.  He coached South African Reggie Walker to Olympic 100 gold in 1908 and went on to coach eleven Olympic medal winners.

He and Abrahams worked together on the ideal length and number of strides for sprints.  During training, the athlete would place pieces of paper at the correct intervals and try and pick them up with his spikes as he ran.  Before races, he would take a piece of string from his pocket that was the exact length of his ideal first stride and make a mark on the track accordingly.

A month before the Paris Olympiad of 1924, Abrahams shattered the British long jump record with a leap of 7.38 metres which would have comfortably won him the gold in Antwerp.  The record was to stand until 1956.

Consequently, he was selected to represent Britain at the long jump as well as the 100, 200 and 4 x 100 relay for Paris; a decision he was unhappy about as he wished to concentrate solely on the sprints.

Few people realised that a letter appearing in the Daily Express criticising the decision to select Abrahams for the long jump as well as the sprints, and signed “A Famous International Athlete” was actually penned by Harold himself.  Officials got the message though, and he was excused the event.

As the Paris Games of 1924 opened, Abrahams was not considered a serious medal prospect, “I did not think I had a chance of a gold medal,” he said, “nor did anyone else.”  Defending champion Charley Paddock of the USA and his fellow countrymen, Jackson Scholz and Loren Murchison were expected to share the medals amongst themselves; Paddock had recently completed 110 yards (more than 100m) in the then unheard of time of 10.2 seconds.  But Abrahams made the world sit up and take notice by equalling the Olympic record of 10.6 in the quarter-final and then again in the semi, despite a poor start.

The final was to be held 3 ¾ hours after the semi and the pressure started to take its toll as Abrahams began to realise he had a real chance of taking gold. In his own words he “felt like a condemned man feels like before going to the scaffold”.

Mussabini’s words of advice were to come in useful.  As Harold crouched into the starting position at 7.05 p.m. on 7 July 1924, he remembered his coach’s advice:  “Only think of two things – the report of the pistol and the tape. When you hear the one, just run like hell till you break the other.”

When the pistol fired, the six runners got off to an even start. Paddock, Scholz, Murchison and Chester Bowman representing the USA were joined by Arthur Porritt, a young outsider from New Zealand.  At the halfway stage the sprinters were still locked together, but then the Briton began to edge ahead.

By the time his chest hit the tape two feet clear of the field, Harold Abrahams knew that his hard work and professionalism had paid off.  He was followed by Scholz and Porritt. Scholz went on to take gold in the 200.  When asked what he remembered of Abrahams after “Chariots of Fire” was released, the then 84-year-old Scholz replied, “I remember his ass!”

Abrahams had peaked at exactly the right moment. He was never to run that well again.  Later at the Paris Games, he finished sixth behind Scholz in the 200 and earned a silver medal as lead off man for the British 4 x 100 team.  The following year he broke his leg whilst competing in the long jump and retired from competition.

He went on to commentate on sport and become president of the British Amateur Athletic Association.  Bronze medallist Arthur Porritt was to become Governor General of New Zealand and Surgeon to the Royal Family.  He and Abrahams met up every year for dinner, at 7pm on 7 July, the exact time and date of the race, until Harold Abrahams’ death in 1978.

Anyway – see the movie and get a flavour of what sport was all about in an era when amateurism still dominated proceedings – but men like Abraham were just beginning to change things – you won’t regret it.