the silver screen

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http://bit.ly/clevvermovies - Click to Subscribe! http://Facebook.com/ClevverMovies - Become a Fan! http://Twitter.com/ClevverMovies - Follow Us! The 2012 Summer Olympics in London are finally upon us and nothing is more inspirational and dramatic than watching the world's greatest athletes competing on a global scale hoping to see their years of training and sacrifice turn into Olympic gold and eternal glory. The Olympic drama has been translated well to the silver screen and today we're taking a look at five films that did it best and will get you in the mood not only for the coming week's games, but will help keep the Olympic spirit alive and well all the way to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. First up is 1988's Cool Runnings starring John Candy as the coach of the First Jamaican bobsled team as they try to make their way to the Calgary Winter Olympics. Though their country never sees snow or ice, they are fast and that's the key to their success in this classic underdog tale that is both inspirational and funny. Next we have not one, but two movies based on track star Steve Prefontaine. 1997 brought us Prefontaine with Jared Leto in the title role, while Without Limits hit theaters a year later with Billy Crudup in the role of the young track star who competed in the 1972 Olympics and died in a car crash two years later. Prefontaine inspired people from around the world to take up running and created a boom in the 70's that remains today. If you're only going to watch one, we suggest checking out Without Limits, but you can't go wrong with either of them. We head back onto the ice for our next film, Miracle about the 1980 Olympic hockey team battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was the height of the Cold War and the underdog U.S. team made up of amateurs and collegiate players managed to beat the much stronger Soviet team in what has come to be known as the "Miracle On Ice". Kurt Russell plays coach Herb Brooks and though it comes from Disney and is filled with clichés and cheese galore, you can't get much more inspirational than this. Our next film is also based on a true Olympic story and one of the darkest in the history of the modern games. Munich from director Steven Spielberg tells the story of the 1972 Olympics in which members of the Israeli Olympic team were held hostage and killed. Though the film focuses mainly on the aftermath of that event and the killing of the members of the terrorist group involved, it's a powerful and important story and a damn good movie. Our final Olympic inspired movie is arguably the best of the bunch. Chariots of Fire tells the true story of Eril Liddell and Harold Abrahams, two track stars that competed in the 1924 Olympics for very different reasons. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and spawned a hit theme song that quite possibly could be more associated with the Olympics than the actual Olympics theme song. You may not be have Olympic gold in your future, but these movies will definitely get you in the Olympic mood. Let us know which is your favorite and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for news on all your favorite movies. I'm Joslyn Davis, thanks for watching!