… a/k/a Miracle at Oxford (US dvd title), 1996. I imagine this movie might largely be known only to our friends across the pond, rowing buffs and other random characters. I started this movie in 1996 on a British Airways overseas flight. I fell asleep and never saw the ending, even though I paid the damn $5 for the headphones. It seemed to be a very compelling sports flick about The Boat Race, the annual 4 mile rowing race b/w Oxford and Cambridge. There’s a little bit on the race itself at wikipedia too.
I signed up for Blockbuster online a few months ago and found it in the library and put it in the queue. I am guessing they don’t have many copies bc after a few months it moved to #1 in the queue and noted “immediately” available, but oddly 3 other movies got shipped before it.
I finally watched the ending (the whole movie actually), 11 years later, and it didn’t disappoint. It stars young and then-unknown Josh Lucas and Dominic West (Jimmy McNulty from HBO’s The Wire, here not masking his English accent). It is a true story (or based upon a true story) and it follows some of the sports movie script, but thankfully not all. For example, there is NO CHEESY LOVE STORY. No cheesy soundtrack either, just a good score and great sports scenes. I know NOTHING about rowing, so a lot of tactics were over my head, but it was a very good movie, highly recommended. And the final race is really good for intervals or climbing on the trainer.