Chariots of Fire

6.8

United Kingdom

Drama History

123 min

1981

Peter Cellier Patrick Doyle John Young David John Benny Young Yves Beneyton Alan Polonsky Jeremy Sinden Jack Smethurst Richard Griffiths Ruby Wax John Rutland Peter Jones Michael Lonsdale Ted Robbins Kenneth Branagh Stephen Fry Lindsay Anderson Ian Charleson Cheryl Campbell Alice Krige Nigel Havers Ian Holm Nicholas Farrell Daniel Gerroll John Gielgud Ben Cross Nigel Davenport Dennis Christopher Brad Davis Patrick Magee Peter Egan Struan Rodger David Yelland

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.