Cool Runnings
Movie, 1993, The '90s, Set in The Jamaican bobsled team
Cool Runnings is #10 of 35 in release order and #10 of 35 in chronological order in the Sports Movies.
The story
When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican bobsled team.
Cool Runnings recap
Jamaican sprinter Derice Bannock is tripped in the trials for the 1988 Summer Olympics and misses his chance. He learns that Irv Blitzer, a former American bobsled champion now living in Jamaica, once tried to recruit sprinters for bobsled, and decides to form Jamaica's first bobsled team for the Winter Olympics in Calgary. He recruits his friend Sanka, a pushcart champion, and the two runners from his failed race, Junior and Yul. Irv, disgraced and bitter, agrees to coach them. The team trains on the island with no snow, and Junior sells his car to pay for the trip. In Calgary, they freeze, borrow an old sled and get mocked by other teams, especially the East Germans. Olympic officials, including Irv's old coach, disqualify them; Irv admits he was banned for cheating and pleads for them, and they are reinstated.
Cool Runnings ending explained
After two improving runs, the team is in contention, but on the final run the sled flips and crashes. The four men pick it up and carry it across the finish line, and the crowd, including the teams that mocked them, applauds. Irv watches them cross the line together. An epilogue says the team returned to the Olympics four years later and were treated as equals.
Post-credits scenes
No. There is no post-credits scene.
Where to watch Cool Runnings
Cool Runnings is streaming on Disney+ in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.0/10, Rotten Tomatoes 75%
Where it fits
- Release order: after A League of Their Own, before Rudy.
- Chronological order: after A League of Their Own, before Rudy.
Cast
- Leon as Derice Bannock
- Doug E. Doug as Sanka Coffie
- Rawle D. Lewis as Junior Bevil
- Malik Yoba as Yul Brenner
- John Candy as Irv
- Raymond J. Barry as Kurt Hemphill
- Peter Outerbridge as Josef Grool
- Paul Cœur as Roger
- Larry Gilman as Larry
- Charles Hyatt as Whitby Bevil, Sr.
- Winston Stona as Coolidge
- Bertina Macauley as Joy Bannock
Directed by Jon Turteltaub.