- Actors: David Caruso, Angela Lansbury, Louis Jourdan, David Ogden Stiers, Alex Hyde-White
- Directors: Alvin Rakoff
- Producers: William Hill
- Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English, French
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- Release Date: Aug 5 2008
- Run Time: 237 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B001A4YNPI
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#37,013 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
- #36 in DVD > Special Interests > Sports > Olympics
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
This television miniseries tells the story of the founding of the modern Olympics by focusing on individuals in several countries and their preparations and eventual competition in Athens in 1896. David Ogden Stiers (a familiar face to viewers of M*A*S*H reruns) portrays a Princeton classics professor whose knowledge of the ancient Olympics means he's given the task of recruiting an American team for the 1896 games. The stories of how some athletes have to be convinced to join the team may seem contrived, but they do reinforce the idea of how fragile the concept of reviving the Olympics was at the time. A young David Caruso (years before he'd swagger through the stationhouse of N.Y.P.D. Blue) portrays a cocky Boston Irishman who walks away from a Harvard scholarship to participate in track events. And if Caruso does veer perilously close to doing an extended James Cagney impression, he serves as a sturdy focal point to the American team. Once in Athens, the focus is very much on the American athletes and their surprising success, and there are some interesting and humorous touches in the plot. For instance, the fledgling American team had enlisted a local blacksmith to render an iron discus, thereby giving them an unexpected advantage when presented with the much lighter "official" discus in Athens. Even if the various plots and subplots about the athletes don't always hold up very well, the scenes of competition in Athens do provide an entertaining re-creation of the first modern Olympics. --Robert J. McNamara
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Chariots of desire.,
By Ohio Media Man (Columbus, OH, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: First Olympics (VHS Tape)
If you have 280 minutes to spare, this is an engaging and enjoyable account of the first modern Olympic games, held in Athens in 1896. At such a length, one might expect a tedious documentary approach, but instead we get a nicely-paced story of privileged young men enjoying some pure athletic rivalry and old-fashioned male bonding. This film manages to avoid Chariots of Fire's melodramatic themes while still delivering an exciting depiction of those first Olympic games, where athletes competed because of their simple desire for greatness.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First Olympics - First Rate,
By
This review is from: First Olympics (VHS Tape)
This is a magnificent and wonderful movie about the Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens... the first Olympics in 2000 years. The characters are generally well cast, the dialogue is fitting, and the relations between characters is well developed. I don't know if all the scenes are historically accurate, but I know that a great deal of it is... especially the names of the athletes, the results of the events and the Olympic Stadium in Greece. Although centered around the American team and its athletes, there is considerable attention paid to the lives of athletes from other countries, most notably Greece and Australia. Unfortunately a couple of the athletes portrayed could have been played by actors who were more appropriate for the events they were in, and you'll pick them out right away.This is a FAMILY MOVIE, no sex, no vulgar language, nothing that shouldn't be seen by anyone in your family. It is a true classic in my mind, and one which I enjoy watching on a regular basis. Now, if it would only come out on DVD I'd buy it in an instant. There's so much garbage out there on DVD, why can't this and other classics be brought out on DVD?
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First Olympics,
By A Customer
This review is from: First Olympics (VHS Tape)
The movie The First Olympics is not just an educational movie it also demands your attention for the full 4 hours and 40 minutes. In fact at demands my attention as well as my siblings that everytime we visit our grandparents house in Utah we have to watch it, even if it means staying up until early in the morning. It shows how the first olympics of modern days actually was and what American athletes, as well as other athletes went through, both on their way there and at the Olympics. I would definetely suggest this movie to anyone!!
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