Chariots of Fire - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Chariots of Fire or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Chariots of Fire

[sandra]

Though it is not mentioned in the movie, Eric Liddell won bronze in the two hundred meters, and Harold M. Abrahams a silver with the 4x100 meters relay team.

[edgar]

The producers intentionally added profanity to the movie to avoid a "G" rating because they thought people would associate a "G" rating with a movie for children.

[victoria]

This was the first non-American movie since Oliver! (1968) to win the Best Picture Oscar.

[chad]

The lesson that Eric Liddell reads in the church in Paris is from Isaiah 40: 26, 29-31, King James version. It's interspersed with shots from the Olympic Games, but is basically: "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

[sylvia]

Uncredited theatrical movie debut of Sir Kenneth Branagh (Cambridge Student - Society Day crowd).

[jim]

About six years after this movie's release, Trinity College reenacted the quad dash with British Olympic athletes Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe taking part. Nigel Havers agreed to act as starter. At lunch after the event, the Dean confessed it had been a great mistake not to cooperate with the making of this movie.

[ava]

When the athletes are running off the beach (in reality West Sands at St. Andrews in Scotland) they run towards a large red building clearly marked as a hotel. This is, in fact, Hamilton hall of residence, a student accommodation hall belonging to the University. The white picket fence that they jump, borders the first and eighteenth holes of the old course, famed for many British Golf Opens.

[frederick]

Although Harold Abrahams won gold in the one hundred-meter dash at the 1924 Olympics, he finished dead last in the two hundred-meter final.

[charlie]

Scenes of Eric Liddel courting a Canadian woman in Paris where cut out of the movie. She can be seen in the church audience when Liddel is preaching and sitting next to Sandy McGrath during the final race. She is presumably a surrogate for Eric Liddel's real-life wife Florence Mackenzie, who was from Canada. She and Liddel met several years after the 1924 Olympics.

[claude]

At the dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C. on November 13, 1982, the soundtrack to this movie was repeatedly broadcast over loudspeakers as thousands of Vietnam veterans, most wearing old service uniforms, walked up to The Wall, many for the first time. It was chilling to see.

[aaron]

Sir Sean Connery was offered a cameo role. He had to turn it down when filming on Outland (1981) overran.

[fred]

In real life, Eric Liddell introduced Harold Abrahams to Sam Mussabini.

[michele]

Producer David Puttnam was looking for a story in the mold of A Man for All Seasons (1966), regarding someone who followed his or her conscience. He felt sports provided clear situations in this sense, and happened upon the story by accident while thumbing through an Olympic reference book in a rented house in Los Angeles. Screenwriter Colin Welland took out advertisements in London newspapers seeking memories of the 1924 Olympics. Many athletes were still living, and Aubrey Montague's son sent him copies of the letters his father had sent home, which gave Welland something to use as a narrative bridge in this movie.

[jessica]

The real Eric Liddell found out about the one hundred meter heat being held on a Sunday several months in advance of the Paris games. The British Olympic team was then able to adjust and fit him into the four hundred meter race instead.

[ivan]

On the sign outside of the Paris church where Eric Liddell delivers his sermon, screenwriter Colin Welland's name is listed above as giving the preceding service.

[ava]

Featured Sir Ian Holm's only Oscar nominated performance.

[jim]

Pupils of Eric Liddell's old school, Eltham College, were shown a special preview of the film at the ABC cinema at Eltham Well Hall, London, England.

[ruby]

In the scene where the American athletes are training on the field, Dennis Christopher (Charles Paddock) is seen on his back with his legs up in the air, pedaling furiously, as if riding a bicycle. In Breaking Away (1979) Christopher played a young cycling enthusiast who competes in the Little 500 bicycle race held at the University of Indiana.

[kenzi]

Hugh Hudson's directorial movie debut.