Hoffman uses his memories of Ethiopian Abebe Bikila’s epic marathon wins at the Olympics to outlast his captors. An early scene shows Hoffmann pushing himself around Central Park. Hoffman plays Columbia grad student and running obsessive Thomas “Babe” Levy, who is hounded by Laurence Olivier’s sinister Dr Christian Szell over a briefcase of missing diamonds. The ‘Is it safe?’ scene where a bewildered Hoffman is tortured by Olivier’s Nazi war criminal will have you wincing. If you’re not a big fan of dentists, then it’s safe (or is it?) to say that you’ll probably never go again after watching this classic film, starring cinema heavyweights Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier. Everyone has their own favourite bit – ours is Nigel Havers as supposedly Lord Burghley practising the hurdles with glasses of champagne on them. It tells the story of British Olympians Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams in the lead up to their respective triumphs at the 1924 Olympic Games. It might have been mercilessly lampooned but it’s still a British classic, featuring a priceless soundtrack from Vangelis and plenty of beach slow-mos that everyone will want to recreate. Will Smith win the race to earn his freedom?Īsk anybody to name one running film and this is probably the answer you’ll get. His talent is spotted by the governor who offers the promise of early release if he runs for the reformatory in a race against a public school.

After being sent to a reformatory for his part in a bakery robbery, Smith turns to long-distance running to escape the boredom of his confinement. Tom Courtenay, playing Colin Smith, gives a compelling performance in this black and white classic from 1962, arguably the most poetic running film in cinematic history. It’s a simple plot: bad boy comes good with long distance running. Here’s our pick of the bunch.ġ) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Running hasn’t exactly been blessed with a bumper crop of decent films, but there are a handful of running films that really stand out. At their very best, they’re an intoxicating mix of gritty realism, detail and inspiration (I’m thinking Raging Bull and The Fighter) at their worst a schmaltzy sandwich of faux sentiment and improbable sporting endeavour (try cycling movie American Flyers for size).

Sporting films are notoriously hit and miss.

Films about running