Crazy Canucks

I just read the other comment on this board and i must say i totally agree. I was really impressed with this film on a whole, and you really do get to see the trials and tribulations of the team on their way to the top. The end result of the work that they put in is excellence and respect, a great lesson for anyone at anytime to see over and over again. I have read a lot on this team, and it was such a joy for me to see that this project was in production. It really show's us Canadian's that there is more to life that hockey, and it was the perfect time to air this project, with a lockout that may last another year and Thomas Grandie winning 2 medals, we should just boycott hockey all together and turn to skiing for our fun.

Good job Canada, and great job to all of those who brought this project to fruition.

Usually any attempt to capture a moment in Canadian history ends up being ruined by changing the story to satisfy the demands of Canada's so called 'elite'. Sanitized, dramatized, re-written to suit today's standards, we end up with a wash-out version, usually on the CBC. Not this time. Here is an excellent film that captures the spirit and excitement of the Canadian men's downhill ski team of the late 70's. Suddenly we became a respected power in a European dominated sport and most of us were more then happy to jump on the bandwagon. The film accurately portrays the team's hard fought wins and rising profile along with a excellent sound track to boot. If you get a chance to see it, you'll understand exactly why and where the term 'Crazy Canuck' came from.

The movie was a good idea: recreating the halcyon days of the Crazy Canuck ski team. I liked the 70s clothes and hair, the story had potential. However, the more I watched the movie, the more irritated I became. Everything was slanted to make Ken Read look so much better than the other skiers, including the two who won Olympic medals. Read was so much wiser, more intelligent and better-looking, we were supposed to believe. This puzzled me until I looked up the movie and discovered it was based on a book by Read. The actor in the Read role was far more compelling than the other actors; you just wanted to look at him & not the others. (Someone noted that the Dave Irwin actor was made to look like Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys.) I think Jungle Jim Hunter got shortchanged in this film, as did Steve Podborski. I didn't mind the predictable soundtrack or the acting, just the slant.

The opening credits state that this movie is based on Ken Read's book White Circus: A Skiing Life with the Crazy Canucks (1987). This book is purported to be Ken's autobiography, but the movie credits it as being "a novel". Clearly this movie is a manifestation of Ken Read's over inflated imagination of his so called accomplishments. This is the story of a man that only won a handful of races and then failed miserably when it really mattered at the 1980 Olympics.

Ken is well known in sports circles of being the most egotistical athlete Canada has ever produced. His shameless self promotion includes a museum he created about himself in a shopping mall in Banff Alberta, a fictional book about his exploits, the order of Canada and a star on Canada's walk of fame. Seems like overkill for a very sub par athlete. This movie is simply horrible.