Chariots of Fire

1981 • 2h 3m •

Drama History

MOVIEVIBE Rating

★ 6.8/10

1,076 reviews

Your Rating

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.

"This is the story of two men who run, not to run, but to prove something to the world. They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals... except their honor."

Top Billed Cast

Ben Cross

Harold Abrahams

Ian Charleson

Eric Liddell

Cheryl Campbell

Jennie Liddell

Alice Krige

Sybil Gordon

Nigel Havers

Lord Andrew Lindsay

Ian Holm

Sam Mussabini

Nicholas Farrell

Aubrey Montague

Daniel Gerroll

Henry Stallard

Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews

C CinemaSerf Verified TMDB Critic

2022-07-02

The opening bars of the Oscar-winning Vangelis score coupled with the shot of the athletes running along the beach, barefoot, at St. Andrews is amongst the most iconic opening scenes from any film, but somehow the rest of this strays all too often into mediocrity thereafter. It tells the story of two British athletes who strove to thrive at the Olympiad in Paris in 1924. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) comes from a Lithuanian Jewish background. who is welcomed to Cambridge University, but never quite accepted. The other is Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Christian who comes from missionary ...