Miracle

### Produced By

Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray, Ross Greenburg, Justis Greene, Jon Mone and Greg O'Connor

### Production Companies

Walt Disney Pictures
 Mayhem Pictures

### Release Date

February 20, 2004

**Miracle** is an American live-action film that was released on February 20, 2004.

## Plot

Herb Brooks, head ice hockey coach at the University of Minnesota, interviews with the United States Olympic Committee for the national team coach's job, discussing his philosophy on how to beat the Soviet team, calling for changes to the practice schedule and strategy. The USOC is sceptical, but ultimately gives Brooks the job.

Brooks meets his assistant coach Craig Patrick at the try-outs in Colorado Springs. Brooks selects a preliminary roster of 26, indifferent to the preferences of senior USOC hockey officials, after only a day. Needing to cut the roster to 20 before the Olympics, he convinces USOC executive director Walter Bush that he has their best interests at heart. Bush reluctantly agrees to take the heat from the committee for Brooks' decisions.

During the initial practice, tempers flare as forward Rob McClanahan and defenseman Jack O'Callahan get into a fight based on college rivalry. Brooks allows the fight to go on so they can get the bad blood out of their systems and then he bluntly tells all the players that they are to let go of old rivalries and start becoming a team. He then calls for introductions and the players each tell their name, hometown and which team they play for. As practices continue, Brooks uses unorthodox methods to winnow the roster down to 20 players. The players themselves worry about being cut at any time, knowing that Brooks himself was the last player cut from the 1960 Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal, so he will do anything to win.

During an exhibition game against Norway in Oslo that ends in a 3–3 tie, Brooks notices the players are distracted and not playing up to their potential. After the game, he orders them back on the ice for a bag skate. Brooks has them skate from one end of the ice to the other several times (doing, in other words, his infamous "Herbies," as the team would call them colloquially), continuing the drill even after the rink manager cuts the power. Exhausted, forward and team captain Mike Eruzione re-introduces himself in the same manner from the initial practice and cries out that he plays for the United States. Getting the answer he wanted all along, Brooks finally tells the players they are done. Eventually, the team comes together, with the players thinking of themselves as a family representing the United States. With their roster finalized, just before heading to Lake Placid, the Americans play the Soviets in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden. The Soviets manhandle the young American team, winning by a score of 10–3. During the game, O'Callahan receives an injury that could keep him out of the entire Olympics, and starting goaltender Jim Craig is shockingly told he may be benched in favour of backup Steve Janaszak. Brooks tells him that he hasn't been giving his very best and ultimately decides to keep Craig as the starter for the Olympics.

As the 1980 Winter Olympics begins, the Americans trail Sweden 2–1 in the first game. Brooks fires up the team during an intermission by throwing a table and accusing an injured McClanahan of quitting. McClanahan ends up playing despite his injury, which inspires the team. Bill Baker scores a goal with less than a minute remaining in the third period for a dramatic 2–2 tie. They then follow up with a 7–3 win over heavily favoured Czechoslovakia. As the Olympics continue, the team defeats Norway, Romania, and West Germany to earn a spot in the medal round. The Americans are considered overwhelming underdogs to the Soviets in the first medal round game. The game begins and the Soviets score the first goal. Then O'Callahan, having healed enough from his injury, enters the game for the first time. He makes an immediate impact by heavily checking Vladimir Krutov on a play that leads to a goal by Buzz Schneider (Billy Schneider). The Soviets score again to retake the lead. In the final seconds, Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak stops a long shot by Dave Christian, but Mark Johnson gets the rebound and scores with less than one second left in the period.

During the first intermission, Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov replaces Tretiak with backup Vladimir Myshkin. In the second period, the Soviets score a goal to go up 3–2. Early in the final period, the Soviet team is called for a penalty for slashing, putting the Americans on the power play. Johnson scores his second goal of the game just as the penalty is about to expire. Later, Eruzione puts them ahead 4–3 with 10 minutes left. The Americans hold off the Soviets to win the game, completing one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Two days later, the team would go on to defeat Finland 4–2 to win the gold medal. The movie ends with Brooks staring out over his team with pride as the entire team crowds together on the gold medal platform.

Before the credits, the film is dedicated to Herb Brooks who unfortunately died right before principal photography was finished and states "He never saw it. He lived it."

## Cast and Characters

* Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks
* Patricia Clarkson as Patti Brooks
* Noah Emmerich as Craig Patrick
* Sean McCann as Walter Bush
* Kenneth Welsh as Doc Nagobads
* Eddie Cahill as Jim Craig
* Patrick O'Brien Demsey as Mike Eruzione
* Michael Mantenuto as Jack O'Callahan
* Nathan West as Rob McClanahan
* Kenneth Mitchell as Ralph Cox
* Eric Peter-Kaiser as Mark Johnson
* Bobby Hanson as Dave Silk
* Joseph Cure as Mike Ramsey
* Billy Schneider as Buzz Schneider
* Nate Miller as John Harrington
* Chris Koch as Mark Pavelich
* Kris Wilson as Phil Verchota
* Stephen Kovalcik as Dave Christian
* Sam Skoryna as Steve Janaszak
* Pete Duffy as Bob Suter
* Nick Postle as Bill Baker
* Casey Burnette as Ken Morrow
* Scott Johnson as Steve Christoff
* Trevor Alto as Neal Broten
* Robbie MacGregor as Eric Strobel
* Joe Hemsworth as Mark Wells
* Zinaid Memišević as Viktor Tikhonov
* Adam Knight as Tim Harrer
* Al Michaels as Himself
* Ken Dryden as Himself

## Production

Gavin O'Connor directed and Mark Ciardi produced the movie. Both are drawn to inspirational stories and they decided to take on the "Greatest Sports Moment of the 20th Century". They chose to focus on the determination and focus of coach Herb Brooks. O'Connor knew from the beginning that he wanted to cast Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks because he needed someone with an athletic background and a fiery passion for sports. The casting of the team consisted of real hockey players to give the film a raw and accurate feel. O'Connor figured it would be easier to teach hockey players to act than to teach actors to play hockey. On-ice try-outs were held in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Vancouver. Another try-out was held in Vancouver for the Soviet and European teams.

There are a total of 133 different hockey plays in the film. To accomplish this, the directors turned to ReelSports Solutions, who had helped with the producers on a previous movie, The Rookie. The ReelSports team referred to coach Herb Brooks for information on practices, plays, equipment, and uniform styles. Each fight and stunt scene was choreographed to ensure the actors' safety. Players went through a six-week training camp to relearn the game in older equipment.

Al Michaels re-recorded most of his television commentary for the film. However, the last 30 seconds of the USA-Soviet game, including "Do you believe in miracles?" used the original audio, as Michaels didn't feel he could re-create the call effectively.

Sadly, Coach Brooks died in a car accident before the movie was released. At the end, before the credits it states, "This film is dedicated to the memory of Herb Brooks, who died shortly following principal photography. He never saw it. He lived it."

## Release

Miracle was released with a rating of PG, meaning that Parental Guidance is suggested.

## Reception

### Box Office

Miracle grossed $19,377,577 on its opening weekend, February 8, on 2,605 screens. It closed with a worldwide gross of $64,445,708.

### Critical Response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Miracle has an approval rating of 81% based on 165 reviews, with an average rating of 7.01/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Kurt Russell's performance guides this cliche-ridden tale into the realm of inspirational, nostalgic goodness." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times stated that the movie "does a yeoman's job of recycling the day-old dough that passes for its story." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times referred to the movie as "a classically well-made studio entertainment that, like The Rookie of a few years back, has the knack of being moving without shamelessly overdoing a sure thing." O'Callahan said in an interview that while the fight between him and McClanahan was fictional, the film accurately portrayed the "pretty intense" rivalry between Boston Terriers and Minnesota Gophers players, and was overall "pretty darn close" to actual events.

As of January 2017 Miracle was rated the number two sports movie of all time with a rating of 8.85 out of 10 in the ongoing poll at Sports In Movies, after maintaining the number one spot for several years.

## Awards and Nominations

The film is recognized by American Film Institute on these lists:

* 2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - Nominated
* 2008: AFI's Top 10 Sports Films List - Nominated