Tuesday, 8 January 2008
New Year, New You: Fast Runners on Film
posted @4:36 p.m. by Richard Kelly
How's it going with the fitness regimen then? Yeah, me too. Some folk I know have gone teetotal for a month. Another friend assures me it's a man's inviolable human right to have a beer in the evening. But what about the whole gym membership thing? Jogging, even? You could always live it vicariously. Take this list of Ten Runners from guest contributor ANDREW BENBOW, whose choice of neurotic pianists appears in the print-version TBDwDN. In my dreams I can still pelt 100 metres like the T-1000 in Terminator 2; my actual style is closer to Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in the first half of Stripes.
THOSE RUNNING MEN IN FULL
1. David in Massacre At Central High
In the forerunner to Heathers (and, possibly, The O.C.), Derrel Maurey plays the ultimate outsider - refusing to run with the cool crowd of his new school. The pace is upped once David, who manages to keep a perspective through the solitary pursuit of running, is deliberately crippled by the group, and finds it hard not to turn into a bottled-up-psycho-revenge killer, with a limp.
2. Babe Levey in Marathon Man.
Perhaps best known for the superfluous dentistry, this gets the nod for Larry’s terse attitude towards method man Dustin’s insisting on working up a real sweat by running before a scene rather than acting it. One can only presume that the tooth removal sequence had already been shot thus preventing Larry from extracting the ultimate revenge.
3. Archy Hamilton and Frank Dunne in Gallipoli.
Back in the days when the Big O.E. was a bit more dangerous than a wet tee-shirt competiton at the local Walkabout, followed by a Combi-van trip to ‘Pamps’ and Oktoberfest, Mark Lee and Young Mel join the horseless Anzac cavalry in Gallipoli. Archy is the faster of the two but quite selflessly sacrifices the role of communication runner to Frank... When the final straight comes into view, will Frank be able to run as fast as a leopard?
4. Harold Abrahams and Lord Andrew Lindsay in Chariots of Fire
Another couple of competitors who learn mutual respect whilst running away from the futuristic synth symphony of Vangelis. (This excellent film would have featured higher up if it weren’t for the slight possibility that this film is the reason why ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ rather than the more apt 'Jerusalem' is sung by supporters of the English National XV).
5. Lola in Run Lola Run
Franka Potente has a lot of bounce in her stride but is it enough to save her endangered boyfriend, Manni? With a great techno beat as a pacemaker this Rashomon-esque tale probably features the most running of any film.( Not to be confused with Run, Fat Boy, Run).
6. Rocky Balboa in Rocky
I accept that ‘the Italian Stallion’ is a pugilist rather than a runner but the scenes of running in this film are inspirational. It still makes me want to think about buying a grey flannel hooded sweat top and pounding the streets.
7. Atanarjuat in Atanarjuat The Fast Runner
In this Inuit tale Atanarjuat is a famed warrior known for his ability to run vast distances across the frozen Arctic wastes. This gets in for the pure endurance.
8. Sidney Stratton in The Man in the White Suit
This gets on the list to represent that as a genre it is the farce that probably contains the most sequences of running. The film poster itself is the very visual essence of running.
9. Colin Smith in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Tom Courtenay gets fit representing the reformatory cross country team – excellent endurance training for his role in King Rat.
=10. Ben Richards in The Running Man
It can’t be a proper film list without Arnie and/or a Stephen King adaptation. This is also in because it is directed by Michael Paul Glaser, who was able to run brilliantly, wearing tan flares, in Starsky and Hutch.
=10. Chief John Anderton in Minority Report
It can’t be a proper list about runners in film without the appearance of the Cruise, who has run in everything from The Firm to Eyes Wide Shut. Next to Michael J. Fox no actor is more deserving of an honorary Olympic medal. In this film he actually goes on the run, which brings to mind other great runs from the likes of Logan’s, David Banner’s, Dr Richard Kimble’s, et al.
Comments
Wot!! No Michael York in Logan's Run... the sub-text of losing your youth as the age of Thirty and middle age (it was the late 70's, people grew up quicker then) desecends. Not forgetting Jenny Agutter screaming 'Run Logan Run' a lot.
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