The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

blog.laemmle.com

The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

  • All
  • Theater Buzz
    • Claremont 5
    • Glendale
    • Newhall
    • NoHo 7
    • Royal
    • Santa Monica
    • Town Center 5
  • Q&A’s
  • Locations & Showtimes
    • Claremont
    • Glendale
    • NewHall
    • North Hollywood
    • Royal (West LA)
    • Santa Monica
    • Town Center (Encino)
  • Film Series
    • Anniversary Classics
    • Culture Vulture
    • Worldwide Wednesdays
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube

“I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure.” CHARIOTS OF FIRE 40th Anniversary Screenings.

July 14, 2021 by Jordan Deglise Moore

To celebrate the 2021 Olympics, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present one of the best-loved sports movies of all time: the 1981 Oscar-winning drama, ‘Chariots of Fire.’ The picture retrieved a largely forgotten chapter of Olympic lore, the British triumphs at the 1924 games in Paris. In a neat parallel to the story told on screen, the film’s victory at the Academy Awards ceremony has to be considered one of the most surprising but gratifying upsets in Oscar history. We’ll screen the film July 20 at the Newhall, Playhouse and Royal at 7 PM.

The year 1981 was one of the most competitive years in recent memory. The other films nominated for Best Picture were Warren Beatty’s ‘Reds’ (with a total of 12 nominations), ‘On Golden Pond’ (10 nominations), ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (eight nominations), and Louis Malle’s ‘Atlantic City.’ ‘Chariots of Fire‘ came into the ceremony with a total of seven nominations, and unlike the other contenders, it had no major stars in the cast. Yet audience and industry love for the movie pushed it over the finish line. In addition to winning Best Picture, it also won Best Original Screenplay for Colin Welland, Best Costume Design, and Best Musical Score by Vangelis. The film also earned nominations for Hugh Hudson as Best Director, Ian Holm for Best Supporting Actor for his delightful portrayal of the track coach who guided the winning runners, and Best Film Editing.

The two leading roles in the film are portrayed by Ian Charleson as Eric Liddell and Ben Cross as Harold Abrahams. Both of them confronted daunting obstacles in their preparation for the 1924 Olympics. Liddell, the son of Scottish missionaries, came from a strict Christian upbringing, and he created complications for the British team when he refused to race on Sunday. Abrahams was Jewish and faced discrimination as a student at Cambridge and as an Olympic competitor. The excellent supporting cast includes Oscar winner John Gielgud and acclaimed director Lindsay Anderson as two stuffy, bigoted Cambridge dons, Alice Krige, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell, and young American actors Dennis Christopher (‘Breaking Away’) and Brad Davis (‘Midnight Express’).

Producer David Puttnam (‘Midnight Express,’ ‘The Killing Fields,’ ‘Local Hero’) had conceived the film as a drama about faith and principle, in the tradition of such earlier award winners as ‘A Man for All Seasons.’ He assembled a first-rate team, including award-winning cinematographer David Watkin (‘Out of Africa,’ ‘Moonstruck,’ ‘Yentl’) and first-time feature director Hudson. Perhaps Puttnam’s boldest move was to hire Greek-born electronic composer Vangelis to provide an innovative musical score. Vangelis said that he was inspired by the fact that his father was a runner, and the score was intended as a kind of family tribute. His music has proved especially durable, serving as the theme for the 2012 Olympics held in London 30 years after the film’s release.

Reviews were largely celebratory. Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News praised “a movie that, with the help of Vangelis’s wonderfully stirring score, lifts the spirits to a new high.” Time magazine’s Richard Schickel added, “Like every element in this picture, the actors look right; they seem to emerge from the past, instead of being pasted on to it.” Roger Ebert declared, “’Chariots of Fire’ is one of the best films of recent years.” Later evaluations echoed the praise. Writing in 2012, Kate Muir of the UK Times said “From the opening scene of pale young men racing barefoot along the beach, full of hope and elation, backed by Vangelis’s now famous anthem, the film is utterly compelling.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, Films, Newhall, News, Playhouse 7, Repertory Cinema, Royal

Search

Featured Posts

Upcoming films in our Worldwide Wednesday series include movies from Brazil, Japan, France, Australia and Kazakhstan.

CROUPIER 25th Anniversary Screening with Clive Owen in Person June 4 at the Royal.

Instagram

Part of the #AnniversaryClassics Series! 🎟️ l Part of the #AnniversaryClassics Series! 🎟️ laem.ly/42NC2NX

Croupier actor #CliveOwen will participate in a Q&A following the June 4 screening at the Royal.  Producer-marketing consultant #MikeKaplan will introduce the screening.

Clive Owen, who had mainly appeared in British television dramas before this, rose to full-fledged movie stardom as a result of this movie. He plays an aspiring writer who takes a job at a casino where he juggles a few romantic relationships and also has to contend with a robbery threat. Alex Kingston, Gina McKee, Kate Hardie, and Nicholas Ball costar. The script was written by Paul Mayersberg, who also wrote Nicolas Roeg’s 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' and 'Eureka,' as well as Nagisa Oshima’s 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.'
A NEW GIVEAWAY! Laemmle has 2 epic prize packs for A NEW GIVEAWAY! Laemmle has 2 epic prize packs for the new Wes Anderson film The Phoenician Scheme opening June 6th!

How to enter:
⭐ Like this post
⭐ Enter the contest from the bio
#ThePhoenicianScheme #Giveaway #Laemmle

A winner will be randomly selected from all entries on June 10!
🗓️ Giveaway ends June 6th, 2025.
“Are you tired of streaming movies from your cou “Are you tired of streaming movies from your couch?” Conan O’Brien has a solution for you.
"Wait, isn't this just a movie thea-......"

Epic films, elevated food, and LA's best popcorn! Visit your local Laemmle this Memorial Day Weekend and all summer! Serving cinephiles since 1938. 

Get tickets: laemmle.com
Part of the #WorldwideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ l Part of the #WorldwideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ laem.ly/42k5iM0
#Niki 
Paris, 1952. Niki has recently moved from the U.S. with her husband and daughter.
Despite this newfound distance from a family and country that were suffocating her, disturbing flashbacks of her childhood continue to invade her thoughts. From the hell she is about to discover, Niki will find in her art a weapon to free herself.
Follow on Instagram

Laemmle Theatres

Laemmle Theatres
Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/lost-starlight | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3b8JTym | In 2050 Seoul, an astronaut dreaming of Mars and a musician with a broken dream find each other among the stars, guided by their hopes and love for one another.

Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/lost-starlight

RELEASE DATE: 5/30/2025
Director: Han Ji-won
Cast: Justin H. Min, Kim Tae-ri, Hong Kyung

-----
ABOUT LAEMMLE: Since 1938, Laemmle [Theatres] has been showing the finest independent, arthouse, and international films.

Subscribe to Laemmle's E-NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/3y1YSTM
Visit Laemmle.com: http://laemmle.com
Like LAEMMLE on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/3Qspq7Z
Follow LAEMMLE on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/3O6adYv
Follow LAEMMLE on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3y2j1cp
Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/echo-valley | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3b8JTym | Kate lives a secluded life—until her troubled daughter shows up, frightened and covered in someone else's blood. As Kate unravels the shocking truth, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child

Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/echo-valley

RELEASE DATE: 6/13/2025

-----
ABOUT LAEMMLE: Since 1938, Laemmle [Theatres] has been showing the finest independent, arthouse, and international films.

Subscribe to Laemmle's E-NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/3y1YSTM
Visit Laemmle.com: http://laemmle.com
Like LAEMMLE on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/3Qspq7Z
Follow LAEMMLE on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/3O6adYv
Follow LAEMMLE on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3y2j1cp
Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/drop-dead-city | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3b8JTym | NYC, 1975 - the greatest, grittiest city on Earth is minutes away from bankruptcy when an unlikely alliance of rookies, rivals, fixers and flexers finds common ground - and a way out. Drop Dead City is the first-ever feature documentary devoted to the NYC Fiscal Crisis of 1975, an extraordinary, overlooked episode in urban American history.

Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/drop-dead-city

RELEASE DATE: 5/23/2025
Director: Michael Rohatyn, Peter Yost

-----
ABOUT LAEMMLE: Since 1938, Laemmle [Theatres] has been showing the finest independent, arthouse, and international films.

Subscribe to Laemmle's E-NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/3y1YSTM
Visit Laemmle.com: http://laemmle.com
Like LAEMMLE on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/3Qspq7Z
Follow LAEMMLE on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/3O6adYv
Follow LAEMMLE on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3y2j1cp
Load More... Subscribe

Recent Posts

  • Upcoming films in our Worldwide Wednesday series include movies from Brazil, Japan, France, Australia and Kazakhstan.
  • CROUPIER 25th Anniversary Screening with Clive Owen in Person June 4 at the Royal.
  • The Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP) @ Laemmle NoHo ~ The World’s Greatest: Photography On and Off Stages.
  • A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY Q&A’s June 12 at the NoHo and June 14 at the Monica Film Center.
  • NORTHERN LIGHTS restored.
  • 1970s New York City on the brink ~ DROP DEAD CITY opens tomorrow.

Archive