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| Cool Runnings - 1993 |
Our next film is 1993's "Cool Runnings", a story about the first-ever Jamaican bobsled team and their path to make it to the Olympics.
The film's cast includes Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba, John Candy, Raymond J. Barry, Peter Outerbridge, Bertina Macauley, and Pauline Stone Myrie.
In Jamaica, track superstar Derice Bannock is ready to qualify for the Olympics. He's been training like crazy and is ready for the event.
When one of the other runners trips him up, Derice's hopes of getting to the Olympics are bashed.
Derice desperately wants to get to the Olympics somehow. He decides on creating the first ever Jamaican bobsled team. With his buddy Sanka, he approaches a former Olympic bobsledder and an old friend of his father named Irv. Irv initially wants nothing to do with the proposition, but he ultimately agrees to coach them if they can get a team together.
A huge crowd gathers. Two people will be selected to join the team. Irv begins a presentation. Sanka starts up the projector and says, "You're on the air, sled god!".
By the time the presentation is over and the lights have come back on, there is nobody left in the building. Irv hasn't exactly made the sport seem too exciting.
Eventually, two others show up and the team is complete. "Hey, Irv, say hello to the first Jamaican bobsled team," says Derice proudly. Irv just rolls his eyes and says, "Oh, goody".
Irv puts the guys through their paces, trying to get them into some sort of shape so they can get to the qualifying runs for the Olympics.
When they are ready to go, the guys take a plane and exchange the warm, sunny skies of Jamaica for the cold and snowy lands of Canada.
They are definitely unprepared for the fierce winter blizzard they see raging outside the airport.
Before stepping outside, Sanka puts on every article of clothing he's brought and then slips his duffle bag over all of that. Not used to the freezing conditions and the frosty breath they are creating, Derice looks at Sanka and asks what he is smoking. "I'm not smokin'. I'm freezin'!" says Sanka.
When they get an old, rickety sled to practice with, the guys are ready to begin. Right away they are made to feel like outsiders and that they don't belong there by some of the more experienced Olympians.
Irv continues to work the guys. They've got to study the turns of the tracks that they are going to be racing on and they've got to keep their physical condition up as well. To their immense relief, they qualify to be in the Olympics.
To celebrate, the team jazzes up their sled. They name it "Cool Runnings", which means "Peace be the journey".
On the first day of the Olympics, everyone back in Jamaica watches proudly as the guys wave the Jamaican flag. Things don't start off well for the team. They quickly become the underdogs.
But by the final day of competition, everyone seems to be rooting for them, even the sportscasters!
On their final run down the course, something goes horribly wrong and the sled crashes. Everyone on board is okay, though.
Derice says they need to finish the race. All four guys carry their sled across the finish line. By the time they cross, the crowd has erupted into applause in support of the Jamaicans.
Even their competitors cheer for them and promise to see them in four years for the next Olympics.
Cast rundown:
Leon............................................Derice Bannock
Doug E. Doug...............................Sanka Coffie
Rawle D. Lewis..............................Junior Bevil
Malik Yoba....................................Yul Brenner
John Candy...................................Irv
Raymond J. Barry..........................Kurt Hemphill
Peter Outerbridge.........................Josef Grool
Bertina Macauley...........................Joy Bannock
Pauline Stone Myrie.......................Mamma Coffie
And that's all for Cool Runnings. This is very loosely based on the Jamaican bobsled teams origins and their debut at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. The crash scene at the end of the film was real footage from the 1988 Olympics. The Jamaican bobsled team continues to excite Olympic viewers today.
One of the funny things about Sanka is his always wanting to kiss his lucky egg. In a 2015 interview, Doug E. Doug stated that he still had all of Sanka's lucky eggs, which were made of rubber.
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