Spyridon Louis was the Greek athlete who won the marathon. The man playing his father (the man with the cap seen at 2:09:48) was Greek actor Titos Vandis. Who was genuinely overcome with emotion during the shooting of this scene. He's the only actor in the scene who is actually singing the words to the Greek national anthem.
Thanks a lot! I watched it in 1984, when I was 8 years old and I never forgot several scenes. I believe the series was produced in the context of promoting the Los Angeles Olympics that year. I stayed up late with my dad and my older sister, as the time that was shown in Brazil was very late at night.
I was there during the shooting, my mom took us to Kallimarmaro stadium as they were asking for people to come to fill the seats of the stadium. I must have been around 8-9 and I remember they had instructed us to not wear specific colors and I think they were giving away hats. I have the memory of us being told to stand and celebrate loudly once a runner comes into the stadium so I guess it was the scene of Spyros Louis' entrance.
Wonderful!! And what gorgeous young actors they chose to play these young athletic heroes. However, there is one major, anachronistic point about the Panathinaikos stadium shown here. I belatedly learned that in 1896, only the lower bowl was completed in marble. The upper bowl used wooden bleachers painted white, and was converted to all marble later, for the Intercalated Games of 1906.
It´s a deep pride to see the participation of a Chilean athlete in the first edition of the Olympic Games of the Modern Era. His name was Luis Subercaseaux. Furthermore, he was the first Latin American athlete to compete in them.
Fred- I wasn’t a boy when I saw this and now I’m an old man of 67! But I will stand by you on your love of this movie! This stirs deep patriotic feelings that I love to replay over and over... and I don’t dim at all with time. When the team shows up just in time... when Connolly wins the first gold medal for the triple jump, Garrett wins his gold medals and world records, vertically every medal in the short range running events, but my heart is so proud of Edwin Flack of Australia and how he honored Skip by pulling him up on the victors box! Of course there are more! But I’ve got my work cut out for me. My grandchildren will eventually love it too... or I won’t let them watch my Charley Chaplain videos or my Three Stooges videos!!! Grandpa gotta do what he’s got to do! It’s fun sitting on the basement floor with a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds laughing their heads off at a comedian that was filmed over 100 years ago!
@@davidmcphail5653 Aussie Aussie Aussie! An Australian legend whom many have never of sadly. I am not into sport but remember this from long ago and have looked for periodically. So glad to have found it.
They actually have the correct number of stars on the U.S. flag for April,1896; even though Utah was admitted in January, the 46th star would not be added until July 4.
I have been searching 34 years for this,, to see my scenes, (I am in it at 6.55- 7.55) sadly a speaking part I also had is cut from this version, no doubt due to running times, (but they left in a scene at 18.43 (Italy April -2) as the steam train come to a stop LOOK RIGHT of screen and see "2 big modern lorry's/Trucks parked at the road side!!!!) woops set in 1896 with trucks that do not exist for another 88 years , -there were no mistakes in my cut scene!!!.
I have also been searching for this for many years. I remember watching this when it came on TV as a 5 day mini-series when I was 9 years old. I'm so glad someone put it on RU-vid. It was fun to get to watch it again.
For those that care about such things, the Greeks actually won more medals than this movie would have you believe. Here is the complete medal list. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Summer_Olympics_medal_table
The Greeks won the most medals overall (47), but America had the most gold medals (11). The most successful individual competitor was a German, Carl Schuhmann, who won 4 events.
@@GoatTalkOnly4 Better late than never... Only one US swimmer competed in the first Modern Olympiad He didn't Medal at all. They sort of made fun of him in the movie as well.
The story that I have heard about the marathon was that the Greeks really stacked the decks in their favor. I think there were 17 runners in the race 11 were Greek. If anyone has seen the film Olympia of the Berlin Olympics Spyridon Louis is in the delegation in the film
And those 11 Greek runners were selected from two practice runs a few days before the actual race -- whereas NONE of the 6 foreign runners had run this distance before.
Several ROBIN OF SHERWOOD members. The third and only 1984 Benedict Taylor TV miniseries where he survives! (THE FAR PAVILIONS & THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII).
Gran relato, pese a muchas modificaciones para hacerla mas comercial, se agradece mostrar el esfuerzo y la inocencia de esas primeras olimpiadas donde en maratón el que llego tercero fue descalificado por hacer parte de recorrido en carreta. Chile estuvo presente, no es pista, mas lindo ver nuestra bandera flamear en esta primera olimpiada moderna.
Estas equivocado, el chileno Luis Subercaseaux compitió en tres pruebas de atletismo; 100 metros donde terminó 10°, 400 metros, donde remató 12° y 800 metros donde también remató 12°. También habría participado en cinco eventos de ciclismo: 2000 metros, 10 000 metros, 100 kilómetros, 12 horas y carrera en ruta....Hay que opinar informado !
At 32:45 they talk about the USA having not adopted a national anthem prior to these games. The song that he has labeled The Star Spangled Banner began life as “ To Anacreon In Heaven ”, the constitutional song of the Anacreontic Society , a private gentleman’s drinking club in London.
The Star Spangled Banner also had Key's lyrics and was established as a popular patriotic song long before this. In fairness, story wise, the naval vessel might have only had an instrumental version of the piece. In real life I don't think national anthems were played at the first Olympics, but it works as a device in the movie to showcase the very real American dominance. And it allows for some entertaining scenes.
@@krl97a They weren't. The 1896 Olympics didn't technically have national teams either. Athletes represented their clubs or their schools. The Parade of Nations wasn't instituted until the first London Games of 1908. As a matter of fact, the US team almost got sent home because they refused to dip their flag to the British monarch.
Y'all this is way before steroids was injected and before it was banned, as for "to decide who was the winner of first place" yes as shown this really did happen, this was way before technology came to known. 1:36:52
Overall a good movie. However I really don’t like how the Americans win almost everything and Greece is always getting humiliated. And I don’t like how this movie portrays the British as pompous.
This is about primarily the American team. The Americans were dominating in track and field, much to the dismay of the Greeks. There was a Greek saying just prior to the marathon, “The rest to the Americans, the marathon to the Greeks!”
I think they took a lot of liberties with Garrett. He won those events yes, but in the disc he couldnt control his shots in his first atempts and he won just by 20 cm not 20 meters. He didnt participate in the Marathon at all. And if you dont want to get a bad memory of him dont see his stand in the civil rights movement.
The portrayal of Edwin Flack is a disgrace. The low point is where Flack wins the 800m in a controversial finish and does that handshake nonsense on the podium. Truth is that he won easily and there ware actually NO Americans even entered in the 800m event. His family were accountants, not butchers etc etc. I know this is an American production but there's no excuse for such shabby treatment of the "Lion of Athens". Thanks for uploading but I can't watch such a ficticious and poorly researched mini series of one of the modern eras iconic events. NBC fake news circa 1984
You keep acknowledging but then immediately disregarding that this is a DRAMATIZATION, not remotely suggested to be biographical. I can imagine that there were a few "inconsistencies" in this production...so what else is new? Where you are sabotaging your opportunity to responsibly weigh in with meaningful interjection is in your - to be frank - pretty childish insistence on obsessing over issues that one could reasonably take with virtually ANY reenactment...particularly one done as a Hollywood reproduction. You undermine your own, I presume, REAL agenda - which is to set the RECORD right, by making it less about historical accuracy and more about selfish pouting.
@@havan56 I know all that. OK maybe Hungarian appeal wasn't immediate, but still that doesn't give them the excuse to just ignore that. And yeah I know they focused on American's but still. Also no mention of Schumman was a big minus from, they didn't heave to show him but could at least mention him. An gonna be honest I liked 1st part but 2nd was the worst, so much inaccuracy.
Not strictly correct........ and often ignored. The idea of the Olmpics was with a village vicar in Shropshire. at Much Wenlockj Who the Batron met at his village Olympic games... In 1850 an Olympian Class was started by William Penny Brookes at Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, England. In 1859, Brookes changed the name to the Wenlock Olympian Games. This annual sports festival continues to this day. The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded by Brookes on 15 November 1860. In 1890, after attending these Olympian Games of the 'Wenlock Olympian Society', Baron Pierre de Coubertin then was inspired (Vicar no doubt discussing this idea with him) and went on to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Society staged a Games especially for the Baron and, inspired by the event and his discussions with Brookes, Coubertin wrote: "If the Olympic Games that Modern Greece has not yet been able to revive still survives there today, it is due, not to a Greek, but to Dr W P Brookes".[2] Coubertin went on to set up the International Olympic Committee in 1894, The IOC could not recognise a village local magistrate as the real founder of the modern olympic idea unless it had nobility associated with it to get the thing of the ground hence the Baron who gets the credit... which Brookes knew was needed to launch the concept of a world wide modern olympic games.....
The Greeks had over 100 athletes in the games (over 65% of all competitors), flooding the zone in many events. The USA won the most golds (actually silver for 1st place at the time), 11, despite sending only 14 athletes. The US especially dominated track and field, which as the movie says was the prestige sport. The Greeks really were disappointed and bitter over the games until winning the marathon salvaged their good feelings and made the games a success. The movie took some liberties but accurately captured this.
@@krl97a you are arrogant just like every american and Greece won most medals just as i said(in movie not a single word about Hungarian won gold on swimming or germans won gymnastic or any other just pure american propaganda and you wonder why so many countries hate america,you just prove me right 100% !!!
@@dzonnyblue3065 HA HA well it's an American movie, genius, and probably gave more time to plots following foreign characters like the Greek and Aussie athletes than a Greek or Chinese film would to foreigners, but I appreciate you confirming that your ignorant comment was motivated by anti-American bigotry (not capitalizing "american" was a nice touch, lol). Thanks!
@@dzonnyblue3065 Of course the film primarily told the story of the US team and track and field, and didn't have time to cover every sport, but I noticed another poster here who liked the movie (guess he's not a bigoted moron like you) said he'd like to see a German version. The Germans had a great Olympics in wrestling and gymnastics and there might be a good story to tell there. As for Greece. Sure. Make a film focusing on them. But it's easy to win the most overall medals if you're flooding the zone with 65% of the athletes, with many events ONLY featuring Greeks, lol. What's amazing is that the US won more golds than Greece despite only sending 14 guys. If you want to complain about omissions then tell the WHOLE story.
This movie is primarily about the American team. They dominated in track and field, much to the dismay of the Greeks. Read the Greek press reactions to the Greeks losing to the Americans in their own sports (discus and shot put). Prior to the marathon the Greeks had a saying, “The rest to the Americans, but the marathon to the Greeks!”
