Lake Placid’s second go-round offers an official film that wasn’t really official, made by an official sponsor, with Tony Maylam officially at the helm again.
Film
The Gems Beyond the Gold
A new docuseries from Olympian John MacLeod focuses on untold Olympic stories. We dive into Steve Genter’s gutsy exploits swimming at Munich 1972.
Cheers Amid the Tears
David Wolper’s unique Visions of Eight brings together a remarkable cast of directors to explore the meaning of sport at Munich 1972.
Greenspun Blues
I’m not going to bury the lede here. This film was disappointing. If the image above looks like a bit of an unfocused mess, that’s intentional.
First in a Class
First is the story of London 2012; or rather, the story of a selected group of first-time Olympians, a new, emotional and stylish approach to Olympic films.
Grit and Guts on Ice
In our ongoing review of Olympic films, we’ve begun to see some patterns emerge. And then there is Innsbruck 1976’s White Rock.
Long Did They Wait
The Games of the XV Olympiad were held in Helsinki, Finland in the summer of 1952. It was a long-awaited festival: Helsinki had originally been selected to host the 1940 Games after the original host, Tokyo, withdrew due to Japan’s invasion of China. But the city never got to welcome the world in 1940, because, […]
Greenspan in Italy
Bud Greenspan’s Torino 2006: Stories of Olympic Glory 200788 MINUTESBud Greenspan Torino 2006 marks the fourth Greenspan film we’ve watched, the first from the new century, and the penultimate outing in his collection of 10 films. His signature formula is familiar by now. This particular film has a somewhat peculiar provenance, however: it’s one of […]
Watching Olympic Films in Digital Formats
As a follow-up to last week’s summary of official films on the IOC’s YouTube channel, we thought it would be nice to take a look at another interesting selection. Criterion has broken out a subset of 11 films from the full box and made them available at digital retailers like iTunes. (All iTunes/Apple Books links […]
Watching Olympic Films Online
With the news of Tokyo 2020’s postponement, we’re looking for ways to fill the void. Happily, the Olympic YouTube channel contains a playlist of 15 official films for our (free) viewing pleasure! This is a great resource for a selection of films, and can certainly assist you in following our discussions as we go through […]