Cool Runnings
Tags: inspiring, cult, comedy, entertaining, feel-good

Plot synopsis:
In the beginning we see Derice Bannock (Leon) running across the island of Jamaica. Derice is training for the 1988 Olympic Games, and hopes to be a gold-medal winner just like his father.Before the trial run, Derice visits his friend Sanka Coffee (Doug E. Doug), who is competing in a pushcart race. Sanka wins the race but ends up crashing just after he crosses the finish line, to everyone's amusement.Later that day, Sanka joins Derice's family at the track for the Olympic trials. Derice is preparing to race, meeting a few other competitors, including a short athlete named Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis). The race starts off great, but halfway across the track, Junior stumbles and trips several runners, including Derice. Derice stumbles back to his feet as the finish-line tape is broken, watching his dreams go up in smoke.Derice confronts Coolidge (Winston Stona), who is charge of the Jamaican competition, and begs for a chance to run again, but Coolidge refuses. Derice then notices a photo of his father on his wall, next to an unfamiliar man. Coolidge identifies the man as Irving Blitzer, an American now living on the island and who had tried to convince Derice's father, Ben, to compete in bobsledding. Derice, seeing another chance to compete, as a bobsledder, takes the picture and goes to meet with Irv.Sanka hears about Derice's idea. At first he is excited but balks upon learning that bobsledding is a WINTER sport. Eventually Sanka is persuaded to help his best friend. The two men find Blitzer (John Candy) working as a bookie in a run-down pool hall. Having been disqualified from bobsledding due to cheating, and therefore disgraced, Blitzer is far from eager to help them, and does not want anything to do with the sport of bobsledding. However, the two athletes don't give up. Upon learning that Derice is the son of his old friend and colleague, Blitzer relents.Next day, Blitzer tries to recruit additional team members. The first newcomer is a bald man Sanka recognizes from the Olympic running trials, who introduces himself as Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba), and is more than willing to compete in bobsledding so long as it leads him to the Olympics. Only one other man shows up to join the team: Junior, the clumsy runner from the track. having been one of the other runners tripped up by Junior's fall, Yul is immediately hostile to Junior, but relents since without Junior, they don't have a full team.Blitzer begins training the four immediately. He builds a makeshift bobsled and has them push it down a steep slope, telling the team that if they can't get a push-start completed in under 6 seconds, they won't have a chance at competing. Yul is the second mlddle man, Junior is first middle man. Blitzer chooses Sanka as brakes, but Sanka resists. He reminds him that the driver in bobsledding has many more responsiblities than a push car racer, and can't go out to have fun with his teammates. Sanka relents and decides Derice can be driver.After the first day of training, Junior returns home with the intention of telling his father about the team. But Mr. Bevil (Charles Hyatt) comes home and tells Junior that he has gotten his son a job with a brokerage house in Miami, which he is expected to take by the end of the month. Intimidated, Junior clams up and cannot say anything more.Initially, the training does not go well. The group stumbles and falls several times, not even able to get into the sled. But after several tries, they climb in together and rocket down the mountain, eventually crashing into a police car. Blitzer runs after them cheering: they got started in 5.9 seconds! He tells them to bring the sled back up the mountain, making them groan.Now that the team is in good shape, Blitzer goes to Coolidge to ask for funding to get to the Olympics. But Coolidge refuses, believing that the team will be humiliated. Unshaken, Derice decides they will try to get the money elsewhere. After several fund-raising endeavors, they are far short of their goal. Junior comes back to the team after a day away, announcing that he has sold his car to get the required funds. Derice does not want to take the money from Junior at first, thinking it to be exploiting Junior. But Junior explains that he still feels guilty for costing Derice and the others their first Olympic chance, and gladly gives up the money.The team heads to Calgary for the Olympic Games. While Blitzer adjusts to the weather easily, the Jamaicans are unprepared for the severe cold and buy heavy-duty coats as soon as the plane lands.Blitzer registers the team for competition, and meets a few colleagues from his days in bobsledding. He has lunch with one friend, Roger (Paul Coeur) and asks him for a sled so his team can compete. Roger is reluctant but agrees to sell off an old backup sled from the US team.The team begins learning how to move and walk on ice, using a hockey rink for practice. It does not go well at first, but they eventually make progress. That night, Derice watches the Swiss bobsled team practicing and becomes enamored with their efficient performance.Blitzer shows off the sled he purchased to the team. It's is rusted and old, but still works fine.On their first day at the track, the Jamaican team is met with ridicule and scorn by other competitors. Blitzer tells them that a push-start will not be necessary for the initial run; they will just be nudged down the slide instead. While the run starts off fine, the sled ends up crashing before the finish line. Their next run does not go well either: They end up chasing the sled down the track. A photographer snaps a picture of the group running after the sled, and it makes the papers, which doesn't sit in well with Mr. Bevil and Coolidge.Derice is repairing the sled when he meets one of Irv's old colleagues, who tells Derice that during the1972 competition, Irv hid weights at the bottom of his sled to accelerate its speed. As a result, he was kicked out and had his gold medals revoked.The following night at the hotel, Sanka tries to pose as a maid, but Yul brushes him aside, thinking he's insane. Junior receives a telegram from his father. The news story about the Jamaican team alerted Mr. Bevil to Junior's activities, and he is now ordering his son home.While they are out in a bar that night, Yul encourages Junior to stand up for himself. Junior immediately responds by confronting the German team members who had insulted them earlier, resulting in a huge bar-fight between Yul, Sanka, Junior, and the Germans.At the Relax Inn Motel, Derice berates his teammates for what happened and tells them the Swiss team would never resort to stunts like that because they're awlays focused on their performance. Yul, Sanka, and Junior don't take Derice seriously and continue snickering. Sanka makes a crude joke about the Swiss team and what happens if they try to push a pretty girl off the ice. A few minutes later, Irv comes in and berates the three for not taking things seriously. He reminds them that everyone hates them and they need to get their act together.After thinking things over, the Jamaicans resume serious training. With Irv's help, they are quickly whipped back into shape.Finally, the night of the Jamaican team's qualifying run has arrived. Irv presents the team with special competition suits as a reward for their improved behavior. Irv then meets with the three judges, who remind him that the team must make it off the slope and across the finish line in under 1 minute in order to be eligible. The team sets out, and despite a few bumps, they cross the finish line safely. After several tense moments, their time is revealed: 59.46! Irv and the team are overjoyed.The guys celebrate by painting their sled with Jamaica's colors, and Derice decides to christen the sled "Cool Runnings." At that moment, Irv gets a letter from the judges informing him that the Jamaican team has been disqualified.Irv angirlly storms into the offices of the men in charge, demanding to know why. Apparently, there is a rule stating that a team must compete in an international race to qualify. Previously, an Olympic trial would be considered an international race, but this time the committee decided to change the rules. However, Irv isn't fooled and immediately discerns the truth: His former coach (from the '72 Games and currently a primary judge of the '88 Games) Kurt Hemphill, is still punishing him for embarrassing the USA by cheating. Irv confronts Hemphill and confesses that 16 years previously, he'd made the mistake of his life: He resorted to cheating because he wanted to win and didn't care what the consequences were. Instead, he ended up disgracing the Americans by embarrassing everyone -- his coach, teammates, friends, and family -- and his gold medals were revoked as a result. Irv also reminds Kurt that it was HIS mistake, and if Kurt wants revenge, he should punish him, not the Jamacian bobsledding team, as they deserve to represent their country by competing in the Winter Games as contenders and don't deserve to suffer because of his past mistakes. That night at their hotel, the team gets a phone call informing them that the committee has reversed its decision - the Jamaicans are back in!Everyone on the island of Jamaica watches the bobsled team wave their flag as they enter the Olympic stadium. After the opening ceremony, Irv tries to find some inspirational words for the team. But this conversation is cut short by the arrival of Mr. Bevil, who has come to collect his son. Bevil tells Junior that he is only looking out for his sons' best interest, and demands the young man gather his things. But Junior draws on Yul's advice and stands up to his father, telling him he's staying with his team, and that his father cares about his own interest in making himself look good more than his son's. Junior tells him he's an Olymic athlete now, not his puppet, and sends his father on his way.On the first day of competition, the Jamaican team is scheduled to compete last. Derice tries to psyche up his team, imitating the behavior of the Swiss. The team begins its run, essentially stumbling down the track and bouncing off the edges. Their end run time is 58.04, landing them in last place.Derice again tries to imitate the Swiss, but the team is fed up with his antics. Sanka sets him straight by pointing out that they cannot copy the movements of another team; they must get their own style. Derice insists that he just wants to be the best they can be. Sanka counters that "the best [they] can be is Jamaican," and that they didn't come all this way to forget about their heritage. Derice relents after realizing that his friend and their teammates are right.On the second day of competition, the Jamaican team is psyched for sledding. They pull together a push-start within a fraction of their previous time, and wind up getting off even faster than the Swiss team. Their finishing time is 56.53, rocketing them into 8th place! They are now considered contenders for the medal.That night while studying the track, Derice asks Irv about why he cheated. Irv explains that he'd become so focused on winning that he couldn't picture life without it, a horrible thing for an athlete to do. Irv tells Derice that he doesn't want him making the same mistakes that he's made 16 years earlier, and tells him to focus on tomorrow.The last day of competition arrives, and the fans are eager to see Jamaica's performance. They start off with an even better formation than yesterday, but the ancient sled is unknowingly in poor shape. A bad bounce sends it careening out of control, eventually turning over and sending the team on a terrible out-of-control trajectory.When the sled finally skids to a stop, several tense seconds pass before the team even moves. Finally, Derice regains consciousness and sees the finish line mere feet away. Paramedics rush down to tend to the Jamaicans, only to part as they rise to their feet. The guys hoist the sled over their shoulders and begin walking toward the finish line, determined to finish the race no matter what.The crowd, awestruck by the Jamaicans' performance, cheers them on as they finish. Everyone, even Mr. Bevil (now wearing a Jamaican souvenir shirt) shows their admiration: Even though their chances of winning are gone, Jamaica finishes with dignity and pride.Text at the end reveals that Derice, Sanka, Junior, and Yul returned to Jamaica as heroes - then four years later returned to the Olympics as equals.

Review: Make no mistake, Cool Runnings is not the true story of the Jamaican Bobsled team.
In a fun and entertaining way, the filmmakers displayed the true lesson of the team:  if you have a dream, go after it, no matter what anyone else says.This isn't the greatest film ever and it's full of cliches; but, they work.
It might not be historically accurate - and you know what, some of the best films aren't - but I believe, hand on heart, that Cool Runnings is one of greatest films ever made.Cool Runnings is absolutely hilarious with a wonderful blend of slapstick comedy, one liners, colourful characters and absurdity, however its comic achievements are well documented, and for this reason I will take them as read.Cool Runnings is an exploration of a number of the weightiest themes a film can deal with, such as racism, poverty, pride, passion, forgiveness and self-belief.
Cool Runnings tackles all of these themes head-on without losing an ounce of its charm, humour, or family-fun.A superbly played Joseph Gruel is the prime embodiment of the racism the Jamaicans face on the hill, and his story is very moving.
The bobsled coach declines citing as his reasons that there's no ice in Jamaica, that there's not enough time to train, that Derice doesn't have 3 other people which is needed to form a team, that he doesn't even think Derice was a good runner, and that he doesn't even like coaching anymore.Nevertheless, Derice manages to convince the coach, and get three teammates consisting of his best friend, the guy who tripped him in the trials, and another sprinter who got tripped in the trials along with him.
An excellent cast makes this a real feel good film telling the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team and their efforts to overcome the prejudices of a previous all white sport.
'Cool Runnings' is one of those prized and rare animals - a genuinely feel-good family movie that doesn't also make you feel stupid.Based (rather loosely, I suspect) on the true story of the Jamaican bobsled team who competed in the Winter Olympics, against outrageous odds, ridicule, complete lack of snow in Jamaica, etc, etc - 'Cool Runnings' hardly puts a foot wrong as it moves towards its rousing ending.
And since this is a comedy and not a documentary, that's all I'm asking of this movie.If you hope to see a documentary on how the first Jamaican bobsled team was created and how they got to the Olympics than you'll have to look for something else.
I loved to see how these four guys were transfered from sprinters to bobsledders and I couldn't help laughing all the time when seeing their reactions on, for instance, the cold and the snow.This isn't the greatest movie ever and yes it is full of clichés, but they all work and it never bothered me once.
This entertaining movie, based on the true story of the Jamaican Bob Sled Team's (yes, you heard right - Jamaican Bob Sled Team) participation in the 1985 Winter Olympics is a funny film with a warm heart that moves to an inspiring ending.
He meets the dishonored couch Irving Blitzer (John Candy), who is living in the tropical country after two gold medals and elimination due to cheating, and convinces him to couch the first Jamaican Bobsled Team.
In the end, they become winners without winning the game.Based on the true surprising participation of Jamaica in the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in the winter sport known as bobsleigh, or bobsled, in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled, this comedy gives a very important message: the importance of teamwork and objective to make winners.
Some true story movies can end up being really bad, but "Cool Runnings" is a great success.
Sure, it's not perfect, but who can resist the witty wisecracks of Sanka "How 'bout I draw a line down the middle of your head so it looks like a butt" Coffey, the determination of Junior "Bad Ass Mother" Bevil to break free from the shackles of his father, or the absolutely wonderful ending with the team carrying the sled up the track with everyone cheering?
Sit back and enjoy the hilarity of 4 Jamaican guys hilariously trying to compete as an Olympic bobsled team whilst still maintaining a certain dignity and heart!
That must be in real life a great feeling.I've seen many movies with a lot of special effects, but for a good movie there must be a good hidden message in the film, like in this one.For everyone that doesn't saw this movie yet, go and see it!.
Cool Runnings is loosely based on the amazing, but true story of the First Jamaican Bobsled Team that competed in the XV Winter Olympiad in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The late John Candy did a fantastic job portraying the Team's coach, Irv Blitzer, who had won a Gold Medal in Bobsled at the Sapporo Winter Games in '72, but was disqualified for making illegal modifications to his sled.
We've watched 'Cool Runnings' as part of our curriculum in a course for children who learn English as a Foreign Language.The moral values portrayed in this movie were really great for the children, who tend to compete in almost every aspect of their lives.
It's funny it's got story because it is based on a true one and has sentimental bits that aren't boring like other movies.This film is pleasure to watch from beginning to end and over and over again.A must see!.
Funny, family-oriented Disney film is the entertaining true story of the first ever Jamaican bobsled team.
Everything from the storyline to the comedy and to it being based on a true story, no other movie I've seen is anything like Cool Runnings.
Initially distraught, he soon discovers that a legendary bobsleigh coach (John Candy) lives on Jamaica and decides to start competing in the Winter Olympics as part of Jamaica's first bobsled team.
Cool Runnings is phenomenal and John Candy is always brilliant.What I love about this film is its heart.
Not too many films have heart these days, but this one definitely does.I also love the fish out of water context made funny and fresh.I think john Candy's character is wonderful.
Pulling together a broken down former medal winner for the US as his coach, two other failed sprinters and a driver in local soapbox derbies, Derice pins his hopes to making it to the Winter Olympics despite the fact he has never seen snow, far less driven a bobsleigh.If you buy the facts of this film as being "true" rather than based very loosely on truth then you probably will want to buy shares in the moon that I can get you cheap if you drop me an email, however even if you ignore these claims, this is still quite a fun family film from Disney.
Cool Runnings (1993) is a wonderful movie based on the true story of the 1st ever Jamaican bobsleigh team and how they qualified for the Olympics!!!
I have always loved this film, it's very funny in places, and very touching and moving in other places, the characters are all fantastic and John Candy is superb as Irv Blitzer, the Jamaicans coach!!
This past year, Team USA did the previously unthinkable...we won not one, not two, but three Olympic Bobsleigh medals, a task not seen in 56 years (The women, including the first African American: Vonetta Flowers) actually won Gold in 2 woman bobslieigh (USA men, took silver and bronze in the 4 man competition).I use the above example because bobsledding (or bobsliegh) is not for just anyone who can run and jump into a 500 pound sled and ride jt down a icy, hairpin-turning, half pike at 90 MPH.
An event that shattered many long held rules of winter sports competition.After pleading to no success to Jamaica's senior Olympic official to be reinstated on the 1988 Jamaican Olympic Track team, after failing to qualify to compete in the 100 meter run, defeated Jamaican sprinter Derice Bannock (Leon, in an above average acting  performance) notices an old photo of his late father (himself a track star) at a Winter Olympics 20 years before.
Seeing his chance again and determined to let nothing get in his way, not even Jamaica's utter absence of winter sports programs, Derice decides to try again for Olympic Gold in Bobsledding, using his highpowered running skills as his strategy for winning.
He has little clue about what obstacles he will have to overcome.Assembling a rag-tag team of equally defeated track sprinters, Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba) & Jr Bevil (Rawl Lewis), one patriotic loud-mouth "push-cart" driver, Sanka Coffie (Doug E Doug), and the long displaced and defeated bobsled champion (and former teammate of Derice's father) for a coach, Irv Blitzer (John Candy, in probably his last genuinely terrific performances before his untimely death in 1994), Derice and company make it to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Shaken and bruised, with no chance at victory, but determined more than ever to at least cross the finish line in spirit and leave their mark, Derice and the others pick up their sled and carry it across the finish to a thunderous applause including previously fickle and nasty competitors and bobsled officials, as well as countrymen back home.All in all, a great family-feel good movie.
Jamaica returns to the Olympic scene again, this time as equals.Although the movie hints at social issues many would rather sweep under the rug, such as cheating, racism, and jealosy, Cool Runnings accomplishes what most sports related movies always lose sight of: that victory doesn't always come on the playing fields (or in this case the track) but victory comes from friendship and determination just to compete.Check it out!!!.
Given the awful films that John candy made right before his death(Example...Canadian Bacon,Wagons East),It is Great to see that a film like this one stands out as not only a wonderful,funny film...But also as a Showcase for John Candys Great acting abilities which Unfortunately the late actor never had the Chance to show in most of his other films.He gives a wonderful performance as the Disgraced coach of the Jamaican bobsledders...A role which required acting,Not comic shtick..and Candy proved himself up to the challenge.The film makers deserve praise for Giving Candy that opportunity before his Death...One that few others did.The film itself is quite funny....the 4 actors playing the Bobsledders are very funny....(Doug e doug's busking scene was Hilarious)..and the film has sad moments...and some Great action scenes.Words simply dont some up this fabulous film which is a triumph for director john turtletaub...(Whose subsequent films have been pretty low grade),its a special film that will always remain in my heart..and one I will always think about.The film makers should take a bow...for giving us this Brilliant film..and giving the late John candy the chance to show his true acting ability...a chance he rarely had.I give it 10 out of 10...and as doreece says....Peace be the journey.
Cool Runnings is loosely based upon the actual Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the '88 Olympics in Calgary, Canada.
Still, the film is a nice portrait of a quite extraordinary event in sports history."Cool Runnings" is the story of a Jamaican runner named Derice (Leon) who wishes to follow in his father's footsteps and run the 100 meter dash at the Olympics.
An unfortunate event keeps him from qualifying at the trials, so he hunts down bobsledding coach Irv Blitzer (John Candy) to help him form the first Jamaican bobsled team.
Doug) and some fellow Olympic runners (Rawle Lewis and Malik Yoba), the team takes on the Winter Olympics world, including a hard-nosed Olympic Alliance, to prove the world wrong and show that they belong.The film is not extraordinary in any way, but it can make you feel emotions immensely.
People are always afraid of what's different." That was my favourite quote in the movie, I feel it was very moving.I also loved this quote from the move "All I'm saying, mon, is if we walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican, and *is* Jamaican, then we sure as hell better bobsled Jamaican." It teaches us to be who we are and not someone who we are not.'Cool runnings' was great and did not feel at all like a Disney movie, I think it was very mature and if I ever came across this movie being shown on television I would definitely watch it again, without a doubt..
Cool Runnings is a simple movie, based on the infamous exploits of the 1988 Jamaican Bobsled team.While not a fully faithful 'biopic', it does take the core idea and feeling behind the 1988 team and makes a Hollywood version of the story.
COOL RUNNINGS ****1/2 Based on the story of the four Jamaicans who made it to the national winter bobsledding Olympics despite all odds and returned to their home country as heroes, even though they didn't get a trophy; they had a profound impact on Jamaica's national heritage and history.
The story is exciting but light hearted and a pleasure to watch I would recommend this film to any one who enjoys good quality, feel good movies and any age.
well cool runnings is a great compenation of Laughs And Feeling I Don't Know Why but this movie made me actually cry in the end it is not like the end is like sorrow no the end is just so beautiful and so heart felt that you would like to see it many times more and what makes this movie even greater is the acting of john candy it is good for a time to see him in a more serious acting don't get me wrong the movie is really a laugh out but it is also really heart felt it has a lot of wrongs yeah but when you first are cut up in the motion you cannot stop watching it all in all it is a must see.
It's one of those rare films that you could watch over and over again without getting tired of it, and that is really what i liked most about Cool Runnings.I also loved this movie because of the fact it was based on a true story.
The late John Candy was very good as Irv Blitzer as well.Overall this film is an all-time great, and will be for years to come.5 stars ***** 10/10.
On a whole cool running a explores lightly the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team.
Loosely based on the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team trying to make it to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Doug.This film is loosely based on the true story of the Jamaica national bobsled team's debut in the bobsleigh competition of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Canada.Plot: Irving "Irv" Blitzer was an American bobsled two time Gold Medalist at the 1968 Winter Olympics who finished first in two events again during the 1972 Winter Olympics but was disqualified from the latter for cheating and retired in disgrace to Jamaica, where he leads an impoverished life as a bookie.
Later, Irving tells Derice the truth about his past and convinces him to think of himself as a champion even if he doesn't win the gold, saying, "A gold medal is nice, but if you're not enough without one, you'll never be enough with one." For the first half of the final day's race it looks as though they will break the world bobsled speed record, until tragedy strikes: their sled, due to one of the blades falling off, flips on its side coming out of a turn towards the end of their run, leaving them meters short of the finish line.
Based on the true story of first Jamaican Bobsled team on Winter Olympics 1988, this movie is one of funniest movies i've ever seen, yet contains lot of morals.
Disney has a handful of sports films such as The Mighty Ducks films, The Rookie (2002), Remember the Titans (2000), Angels in the Outfield (1994), Invincible (2006), Miracle (2004), etc.Cool Runnings made me laugh throughout the entire movie.The film stars John Candy, Leon, Doug E.
But team spirit and a healthy self confidence may lead to a few surprises in the upcoming Winter Games.This is one heck of a funny movie that I've seen in years.But too bad that John Candy passed away a year later after this is made, his official last movie for him was Wagon's East, but he did Canadian Bacon before that, but it came out in 1995.This is another movie you should see, you'll laugh like crazy.Cool Runnings gets 10 stars..
John Candy (who would have turned 57 today) plays one of his slightly more serious roles as the Jamaican bobsled team's manager; I always say that these movies show what we lost when he died.
The film is loosely based on a series of true events of the first ever Olympic Jamaican Bobsled Team during the 1988's Calgary Winter Olympic Games.
In one of John Candy last films and one I somehow missed to watch when released in 1993/94 (there was great hype surrounding it) it is certainly not one to be taken seriously but I can't recall a Candy movie that does.It is very loosely based on the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics in 1988 and nowhere near a biography.
I think it should be round about seven or somewhere near that...Seen films better but not bad...I like it where the Jamaican Bobsled team are doing lifts on the bars and The Coach has to push Sanka up because he cant do it himself.
Based on the true story, this sees disgraced bobsled athlete Irving 'Irv' Blitzer (John Candy, who tragically died of a heart attack not long after), and he meets disqualified Jamaican Olympics sprinter Derice Bannock (Leon).