The First Olympics: Athens 1896

i've seen this film a number of times. it is a great sports film. it is filmed well, has great actors, and the script has a wonderful storyline.

In response to this being American Arrogance, you're wrong. the movie doesn't just focus on America, but also British, Greek, and Austrialian athletes. The American athletes don't win everything, and in fact some of them are rude, bad, angry, drunks, and they lose. yeah the American anthem is played a lot, but if you've ever been to an olympics, anthems are played a lot, and the British, Greek, Austrialian and other anthems are also played. In fact in certain points it glorifies Greece, and the world for organizing the first olympic games.

this is one of those movies that if you like sports, it should def be on your must see list.

A very fine, excellent movie. It was, on the most part, historically correct. The writers took some liberties with the story line. For example: 1) the American team didn't get to Athens during the opening ceremonies, they arrived well in time, and in fact were in Athens almost a full week before the Games started. 2) The American athletes were not as "weak" as most of the athletes from the other countries thought. Most knew of the Americans and their performance prior to the Games. 3) the American swimmer did place, taking second in his event. In spite of a few minor "changes," the movie still is one of the best movies on the start of the Olympic movement. Most people don't know the true story, and that is fine. The movie was a motivational tale, and should be viewed by any athlete who needs that "motivational" push before the big competiton. Few sports movie do that, but there are others out there (Rocky, For The Love Of The Game, Running Brave to name a few). An excellent movie. Don't miss it.

I watched this when it was first on TV back in 1984. I had fond memories of it so I did a quick search and found it on YouTube. My wife and I watched it to see if it holds up and it did. It's quite entertaining. There's a lot of embellishment to make it more entertaining, but it's in good fun. If you like history, track and field sports, and have a sense of humor, this is well worth watching. You'll definitely spend some time looking up the real history after you watch which is always a good thing.

This is one of my favorite sports films.

It has lots of historically accurate information much like a documentary but is presented in an entertaining narrative format with good story and plot.

Purists may be annoyed that the casting of the actors doesn't always respect the look of typical athletes in each discipline but it's otherwise pretty realistic.

The anecdotes around the discus event are hilarious and unforgettable.

Now if it could only come out on DVD I would buy it instantly.

-Ben

I just got done watching the DVD of the 1984 NBC Mini Series, The First Olympics and I want to say that I thought it was very thoroughly researched. The details concerning the life of Spiridon Louis may or may not have been true. That's because the details in his life have never been made quite clear. Edwin Flack had, in fact, already finished college by the Games the had commenced and was employed by the accounting form of Price, Waterhouse, and Company. The facts surrounding Robert Garret's participation in the Discus Throw were also 100% accurate, though I don't ever remember reading about a similar incident involving the Shot Put ever having taken place. I supposed some amount of "Literary License" had to be granted in making this fine and historically accurate (for the most part) film.