The Games (film)

The Games
The Games
	Promotional poster
Directed by	Michael Winner
Written by	Erich Segal
Produced by	Lester Linsk
Starring	Michael Crawford; Ryan O'Neal; Charles Aznavour; Jeremy Kemp; Elaine Taylor
Cinematography	Robert Paynter
Edited by	Bernard Gribble
Music by	Francis Lai
Production; company	Twentieth Century-Fox Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	9 July 1970 (London); August 7, 1970 (New York City);
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$4,895,000

The Games is a 1970 British sports drama film directed by Michael Winner. It is based on the 1968 Hugh Atkinson novel and adapted to the screen by Erich Segal. The plot concerned four marathon competitors at a fictitious Olympic Games in Rome, played by Michael Crawford, Ryan O'Neal, Charles Aznavour and Athol Compton. Elton John recorded one song ("From Denver To L.A.") for the soundtrack.

Plot

American athlete Scott Reynolds, British athlete Harry Hayes, Czechoslovak athlete Pavel Vendek, and Indigenous Australian athlete Sunny Pintubi train for the Rome Olympics marathon.

Cast

Michael Crawford as Harry Hayes, British competitor
Ryan O'Neal as Scott Reynolds, American competitor
Charles Aznavour as Pavel Vendek, Czechoslovak competitor
Jeremy Kemp as Jim Harcourt
Elaine Taylor as Christine
Stanley Baker as Bill Oliver
Athol Compton as Sunny Pintubi, Australian competitor
Rafer Johnson, Ron Pickering & Adrian Metcalfe as Commentators
Kent Smith as Kaverley
Sam Elliott as Richie Robinson
Mona Washbourne as Mrs. Hayes
Reg Lye as Gilmour
June Jago as Mae Harcourt
Don Newsome as Cal Wood
Slim de Grey as Hunt Driver

Production

Athol Compton was an Aboriginal Australian postman who had never acted before being cast in the film.^[3]

To simulate vast crowds of people, thousands of life-sized dummies were placed in the stadium's seats in Rome's Olympic stadium.

Reception

According to Fox records, the film required $7,500,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $2,825,000, meaning a loss to the studio.^[4]

Howard Thompson of The New York Times declared that "this beautifully scenic and perceptive drama, centering on four marathon contestants at the Rome Olympiad, is a nice antidote for the hot weather. The real star of the picture is Michael Winner, who has directed some previous British exercises with brisk adroitness and stamps this unstartling but engrossing eyeful with the same visual appeal."^[5] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety opined that "with the outdated polemics of director Michael Winner, the banalities of Erich Segal's adaptation of a Hugh Atkinson novel, and a rather lifeless and cardboard cast, the 20th-Fox release amounts to a dull Frank Merriwell yarn, hyped a bit to the level of high-school mentality."^[6] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "If Erich Segal's screenplay had its tongue in its cheek, the four stories could be dismissed as comedy of stereotypes."^[7] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "what strikes you about 'The Games' is what is such beautiful scenery doing in a dumb script like this?" He elaborated that the screenplay contained "almost every cliche known to sports."^[8] The Monthly Film Bulletin commented, "A cliché-ridden script with much high-flown dialogue and the kind of flashy shooting one has come to expect from Michael Winner (all staccato cutting and ugly zooms) make it difficult to work up much interest in the fate of the four protagonists of The Games."^[9]

References

^ "'The Games' Has Openings Across U.S. and Canada". BoxOffice. May 4, 1970. 9.
^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p256
^ Carr, Valerie (1969-01-15). ""Postie" Wins Star Part in Film". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. p. 5. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 329.
^ Thompson, Howard (August 8, 1970). "'The Games' Brings Four Marathon Runners Into Sharp Focus". The New York Times. 13.
^ Murphy, Arthur D. (April 8, 1970). "Film Reviews: The Games". Variety. 16.
^ Siskel, Gene (May 13, 1970). "The Games". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 5.
^ Champlin, Charles (May 15, 1970). "Olympic Setting Featured in 'Games'". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 12.
^ "The Games". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 37 (439): 166. August 1970.