The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are almost upon us, and to celebrate, we thought we’d pick some fun flicks about the Games to get in the mood for the real ones. The 2024 Olympics start on July 26 and run through August 11, with the opening and closing ceremonies bookending the start and finish of the Games. Along the way, the best athletes in the world will be competing against each other to bring honor and glory to themselves, their teammates, and their countries.
Fascinating storylines abound during the Olympic Games, and the movies about the Olympics are no different. Of the movies on this list, some are poignant and dramatic, some are suspenseful and tense, and some are just plain funny.
Miracle (2004)
Arguably the quintessential American Olympics movie and one of the best movies about hockey ever made, Miracle tells the true story of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The “Miracle on Ice” is one of the greatest moments in sports history, when a bunch of college-age amateur American hockey players beat the big, bad professional Soviet Union team during the medal round. Kurt Russell plays the late, legendary Team USA Coach Herb Brooks, and the cast is full of then-unknown young talent, which only adds to the feel of them being a team of amateurs. Miracle might just be a movie, but it comes about as close as one can get to capturing the David vs. Goliath dynamic at play in the U.S.A-Soviet Union game and the belief in each other that eventually drove the young American team to win gold.
Chariots of Fire (1981)
There’s a reason why Chariots of Fire was nominated for seven Oscars and won for at the 1982 Academy Awards: it’s that good. It tells the true story of two remarkable runners at the 1924 Olympics, each of whom was running for something to prove. Scotsman Eric Liddell ran for the glory of God, while English Jew Harold Abrahams ran to thumb his nose in the face of antisemitism. The cast is stacked with stars, including Alien and The Lord of the Rings star Ian Holm and Star Trek icon Alice Krige, and is also the film debut of future star Kenneth Branagh. Those who love uplifting stories will find a lot to love in Chariots of Fire.
Foxcatcher (2014)
Not every movie about Olympians is heartwarming or uplifting, or even comedic. Instead, 2014’s Foxcatcher is a biographical thriller that tells the true story of the murder of gold medalist wrestler David Schultz by the du Pont family heir John du Pont. In 1986, du Pont recruited Olympian Mark Schultz and later his brother, David, also a gold medalist, to coach wrestlers for the Olympics. Over the course of the movie, their relationship deteriorates, leading to a tragic end. Foxcatcher was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and in five categories at the 2015 Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director.
Race (2016)
Few Olympic stories are as well-known or as legendary as the performance of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics. At the time, the Nazi Party was rising to power in Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and his laughable ideas about Aryans being a “master race.” As such, the 1936 Olympics in Berlin were meant to be a showcase of German superiority and athletic prowess. Hitler was outraged and his Nazi propaganda trounced, however, when Jesse Owens, a Black man, literally and figuratively ran circles around the white sprinters against whom he competed to win a record-breaking four gold medals. Stephan James is fantastic as Jesse Owens, as is the supporting cast of Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt and Carice van Houten as they navigate the politics and the racism of the era.
Munich (2005)
When you get a historical drama from Stephen Spielberg, you know it has to be good. Such is the case with 2005’s Munich, based on the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas. Munich tells the story of the Mossad operation after the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, in which the militant Palestinian group Black September carried out an attack that killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. The movie has been alternately praised for its craftsmanship and criticized for its historical inaccuracies, but it’s worth a watch thanks to its enduring and recent relevance; one of the themes of the movie is the Israeli assassins questioning whether their methods were justified or if they go too far in the wake of the attack. It is, unfortunately, as timely today as when it was made almost 20 years ago.
The Cutting Edge (1992)
Sometimes, you just need a little bit of romance with your movie about Olympics competitors, and that’s why The Cutting Edge is on this list, a cult classic for many. D.B. Sweeney stars as Doug Dorsey, the former captain of the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team before an injury cuts short his NHL career and Moira Kelly stars as Kate Moseley, a talented but utterly spoiled figure skating diva. When Kate drives away all her potential professional partners, Doug is offered a wild proposition: learn how to figure skate and be Kate’s partner, and he can get a shot at the Olympics. What follows is a very entertaining, very quotable enemies-to-lovers story that sees both Kate and Doug pushing each other to greater heights than they thought possible.
Champions (2023)
It’s not just the Olympics that deserves love: the Special Olympics do, too, which is why why 2023’s Champions is on this list. Woody Harrelson stars as Marcus Marakovich, a talented but hot-headed minor league baseball coach. When he gets drunk one night after losing his temper and hits a cop car, Marcus is given a choice: spend a year and a half in prison, or do community service by coaching The Friends, a basketball team for people with learning disabilities. Marcus soon finds himself committed to and being changed by the players he coaches, and determined to get them to the Special Olympics in Winnipeg. It’s a genuinely funny and heartwarming story that’s perfect for those who want something a little different with their Olympics movie.
