Chariots of Fire
Dir: Hugh Hudson
1981
****
There is something quite hollow now in Colin Welland's infamous Oscar speech he made as he picked up Best Screenplay of Chariots of Fire. "The British are coming" he shouted, rather embarrassingly, and then disappeared into obscurity while director Hugh Hudson took the Oscar for best film and went straight into advertising. A good story is a good story, while I'm not sure it was worthy of best picture (although the competition wasn't great) it's screenplay is great and deserved its praise. There is a dream-like quality to the film that I think is one of the reasons it was so popular and the fresh faced cast were on top form, backed up nicely by some familiar greats. For me however, it is the soundtrack from the great Vangelis that really helps makes the film a classic.