Chariots of Fire 1981

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: Although it is extremely well made, I frankly don't understand what the shouting is about. Good, yes; great, no. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: The battered Britons may have some excuse for enjoying this nostalgic re-creation of empire ideology, but what's ours? Read more

Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News: A movie that, with the help of Vangelis Papathanassiou's wonderfully stirring music, lifts the spirits to a new high. Read more

Vincent Canby, New York Times: It's an exceptional film, about some exceptional people. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Appreciation of this picture doesn't demand a love of sports, merely an understanding of human nature. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is strange. I have no interest in running and am not a partisan in the British class system. Then why should I have been so deeply moved by Chariots of Fire? Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Like every element in this picture, the actors look right; they seem to emerge from the past, instead of being pasted on to it, as so many characters in historical movies seem to be. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Oddly, for a film about triumph over adversity, there's nothing as uplifting as the opening and closing jogs along a windswept beach. Read more

Jack Pitman, Variety: No imbalance mars the pic, whose cross-the-board achievement lifts it to an impressive level of unified accomplishment. Read more

Gary Arnold, Washington Post: Despite its bombastic tendencies, Chariots has a healthy glow that's charming. Read more