...why, in the scene at the docks towards the start of the movie, Harold and Parky (the bent detective) are discussing the area being transformed into the site for the 1988 olympics? London was not even a candidate city bidding for the 1988 olympics (the only two bids were Seoul and Nagoya).
shareNot sure why. However the 2012 olympics will be held just down the road from where they were going to be built in the film.
shareWell the film isn't set around facts, it's just a film. The idea being that Harold and the Yanks will buy up the docklands through their connections with Harris the councillor and make a huge profit leasing or selling part of the land to the Olympic commitee. So we're asked to pretend that the Olympics were set in London in 1988.
--------------------
The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime
Also it would be helpful to know that in fact the area being referred to in the film was on the brink of being redeveloped.The docklands had lain derelict for years and were on the verge of being redeveloped with shops and houses being built on newly reclaimed land from filling in the disused wet docks.Although the reference to the olympics was a bogey the lucrative nature of the regeneration of the docklands was not.take a look at wapping and the surrounding area where much of this film was made and the results of redevelopment can be seen.
shareWatching it last night I was having difficulty as London has changed so much in the last 30 years.
Why quote other people when I like the sound of my own voice?
Did London bid on 1992 which were held in Barcelona?
shareNo Birmingham went for it.
shareThe movie was filmed in 1979. The bidding for the 88 summer Olympics took place in September 1981. Perhaps ,at the time the movie was made, there were some people pushing for London to bid on the 88 summer Olympics. There is usually a handful of folks always pushing for the Olympics. I live in Idaho and I can recall in the late seventies a vocal group stating the Idaho should bid for one of the winter Olympics coming up in the 80's. I guess they would have been held at Sun Valley. If this was happening I imagine the screenwriter seized on that as being a great motivator for Harold to want to develop the dock areas.
shareManchester tried both the 1996 and 2000 games with no British city going for the Olympics until London when to many people's surprise won the 2012 games.
share